Whiskey Row, Louisville

Louisville (varying pronunciations: US: LOO-ə-vəl, LOO-ee-vil, locally LUUV-əl) is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city, although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city. Louisville is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians. With the nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states. Today, the city is known as the home of boxer Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the University of Louisville and its Cardinals, Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and three of Kentucky's six Fortune 500 companies: Humana, Kindred Healthcare, and Yum! Brands. Muhammad Ali International Airport, Louisville's main commercial airport, hosts UPS's worldwide hub. Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, abbreviated to Louisville Metro. Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including the incorporated cities outside the "balance" which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of the 2020 census was 782,969. However, the balance total of 633,045 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings. The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties, seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana. As of 2019, the MSA had a population of 1,395,634, the 43rd largest in the nation.

Louisville National Medical College (1888–1912), was a historically Black medical school in the United States, located in Louisville, Kentucky. At the time it was founded, there were four other medical schools in Louisville. The first graduate of the medical school was a woman.

The KFC Yum! Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is named after the KFC restaurant chain and Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC. Adjacent to the Ohio River waterfront, it is located on Main Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets and opened on October 10, 2010. The arena is part of a $450 million project that includes a 975-car parking structure and floodwall. The Louisville Cardinals men's and women's basketball teams from the University of Louisville are the primary tenants of the arena complex. The U of L women's volleyball team began using the arena as a part-time home in 2011, and made the arena its main home in 2012. With 22,090 seats for basketball, it is the largest arena in the United States by seating capacity designed primarily for basketball, and the second-largest used for college basketball, behind the JMA Wireless Dome at Syracuse University, a venue built to house football and lacrosse in addition to basketball. The arena's current attendance record for a sporting event is 22,815, set March 9, 2013, against Notre Dame (men's basketball). The current attendance record for any event is 23,085, set March 9, 2019, when Metallica played their WorldWired Tour.From April to May 2021, it was home to the Louisville Xtreme of the Indoor Football League, but they were voted out of the league after five games.

Actors Theatre of Louisville is a non-profit performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Actors Theatre was founded in 1964 following the merging of two local companies, Actors, Inc. and Theatre Louisville, operated by Louisville natives Ewel Cornett and Richard Block. Designated as the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974, the theatre has been called one of America's most consistently innovative professional theatre companies, with an annual attendance of 150,000. The theatre presents almost 400 performances annually, including classics and contemporary work through the Brown-Forman Series, holiday plays, a series of free theatrical events produced by the Professional Training Company, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays. In addition, the theatre provides arts experiences to students across the region through its education department and supports a pre-professional resident training program, the Professional Training Company.The theatre has been the recipient of a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and the Margo Jones Award for the Encouragement of New Plays. The theater has toured to 29 cities and 15 countries. Currently, there are more than 50 published books of plays and criticism from the theater in circulation—including anthologies of Humana Festival plays, volumes of ten-minute plays and monologues, and essays, scripts and lectures from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival. Numerous plays first produced at the theatre have also been published as individual acting editions.

The Old Bank of Louisville, also known historically as the Southern National Bank building, is a historic commercial building at 316 West Main Street in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Completed in 1837, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971 for its exceptionally fine Greek Revival architecture. It currently serves as the lobby for the adjacent Actors Theatre of Louisville.

The Kentucky International Convention Center (KICC), formerly called the Commonwealth Convention Center, is a large multi-use facility in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The KICC, along with the Kentucky Exposition Center, hosts conventions for the Louisville area. It was built on the site of the Tyler Block and opened in 1977. The facility underwent a major renovation from 2016 to 2018, seeking more space and a more inviting presence.While the convention center does not have a permanent arena, it has hosted various sporting events, including the 2002 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball tournament and the NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament from 1995 to 2000. It also hosted select University of Louisville women's basketball games from the 1989–90 season through 1992–93, and again in the 1994–95, 2000–01, and 2008–09 seasons. One of the exhibit halls was temporarily turned into an arena, with seats for about 7,000.

Mayor Andrew Broaddus is a lifesaving station built by the United States Life-Saving Service located in Louisville, Kentucky, off the corner of River Road and Fourth Street. She is named in honor of Andrew Broaddus (1900-1972), a former mayor of Louisville (1953-1957). Her historic purpose was to protect travelers on the Ohio River from the Falls of the Ohio, with rescue crews for those who fell victim to the rapids. Louisville was the first place where a lifesaving station was placed in western waters. The first lifestation in Louisville was in 1881, with Mayor Andrew Broaddus as the third. A National Historic Landmark, she is the only surviving floating lifesaving station of the US Life-Saving Service.

The Todd Building, also known as the Belleview Building, was constructed at the northeast corner of Fourth and Market Streets in Downtown Louisville in 1902. It was developed by and named for James Ross Todd (1869-1952), an influential Louisville banker, businessman, and Republican Party Official. The ten-story structure was designed by the partnership of Charles Julian Clarke and Arthur Loomis, one of Louisville's prominent architectural firms at the beginning of the twentieth century.For nearly three decades the Todd Building was one of Louisville's leading office addresses, housing many financial, insurance, real estate, legal, and railroad firms. Occupancy declined during the Great Depression and World War II, when its major tenants were New Deal and defense agencies that required inexpensive office space. In 1940, Todd gave the building to Children's hospital, which sold it to the Hoffman Realty Co. of Evansville, Indiana, in 1944. Occupancy continued to decline during the 1960s and 1970s as tenants moved to newer quarters. It was demolished in 1983 to make way for a new state parking garage to support the Kentucky International Convention Center.

The Tyler Hotel opened in 1910 at Third and Jefferson Streets in Louisville, Kentucky, and for many years it was the only major hotel in the northern part of downtown. The hotel became the Earle Hotel in the late 1940s and then the Milner Hotel in the early 1960s after its new owner, Earle Milner. In 1995, it was torn down to make space for the Kentucky International Convention Center.

Belle of Louisville is a steamboat owned and operated by the city of Louisville, Kentucky, and moored at its downtown wharf next to the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere during its annual operational period. The steamboat claims itself the "most widely traveled river steamboat in American history." Belle of Louisville's offices are aboard Mayor Andrew Broaddus, and also appears on the list of National Historic Landmarks.

The Tyler Block was a three-story building in Louisville, Kentucky best known for its landmark 200-foot-wide (61 m) Renaissance Revival limestone facade. It was located on the north side of Jefferson Street between Third and Fourth streets. Built in 1874, it was designed by Henry Wolters and named after owner Levi Tyler. It was razed 100 years later in 1974 to make way for what is now the Kentucky International Convention Center. Many campaigned to have the Tyler Block's facade incorporated into the center, but the new building was instead built in the then fashionable brutalist architecture style.The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

The Columbia Building, originally named the Commerce Building, was Louisville, Kentucky's second skyscraper, designed by Cornelius Curtin and completed in 1890 at a cost of $1 million. It was located at the northwest corner of Fourth and Main streets and built of pressed red brick in the Romanesque Revival style. It was built just five years after the world's first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building in Chicago. It had 10 stories and a height of 162 feet.The Columbia was first called the Commercial Club Building, and was the tallest building in Louisville for over a decade. It was demolished in 1966 as a part of a downtown redevelopment plan, and a 24-story highrise, now called the BB&T Building, was built on the site in 1972.