Old Louisville is a historic district and neighborhood in central Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is the third largest such district in the United States, and the largest preservation district featuring almost entirely Victorian architecture. It is also unique in that a majority of its structures are made of brick, and the neighborhood contains the highest concentration of residential homes with stained glass windows in the U.S. Many of the buildings are in the Victorian era styles of Romanesque Revival, Queen Anne, or Italianate, and many blocks have had few or no buildings razed. There are also several 20th-century buildings from 15 to 20 stories.
Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center, a convention and shopping facility owned by an arm of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, which is located next to the Lexington Hyatt and Hilton hotels. Rupp Arena also serves as home court to the University of Kentucky men's basketball program, and is named after legendary former Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp with an official capacity of 20,500. In 2014 and 2015, in Rupp Arena, the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team was second in the nation in college basketball home attendance. Rupp Arena also regularly hosts concerts, conventions and shows.
Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home of the University of Louisville Cardinals and, from 2020 to 2024, as the home of the Bellarmine University Knights. It has hosted Kiss, Grateful Dead, Chicago, AC/DC, WWE events, Mötley Crüe, Elvis Presley, The Doors, Janis Joplin, Creed, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Coldplay and many more. As well as the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team from 1956 to 2010, the arena's tenants included the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association from 1970 until the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976, and the Louisville Cardinals women's team from its inception in 1975 to 2010. The Kentucky Stickhorses of the North American Lacrosse League used Freedom Hall from 2011 until the team folded in 2013. From 2015 to 2019 it has hosted the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship Finals yearly in mid-April.
Cardinal Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Louisville, Kentucky. It was on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, and was called Fairgrounds Stadium when it first opened for an NFL exhibition football game between the Baltimore Colts and Philadelphia Eagles on September 9, 1956. It was demolished in 2019.
The Kentucky State Fair is the official state fair of Kentucky which takes place at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville. More than 600,000 fairgoers fill the 520 acres (2.1 km2) of indoor and outdoor exhibits; activities include sampling a wide variety of food and riding several roller coasters during the 11-day event. The Kentucky State Fair includes competitions in crafts such as quilt-making, homebrew beers, and home-made pastries, as well as fine arts and agricultural competitions. Exhibitor spaces are available and are popular with area and regional businesses.
The Louisville Icehawks were a professional ice hockey team competing in the East Coast Hockey League. The team, based in Louisville, Kentucky, played from 1990 to 1994. Their home venue was Broadbent Arena at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The mascot was called Tommy Hawk, a play on tomahawk, and resembled The San Diego Chicken, but with coloration and costume matching the team's. Tommy Hawk was "banned" from the inside portion of the arena for a period of time, due to an altercation with a visiting player who was in the penalty box. In the 1995–96 season, the team was renamed and moved to Florida to become the Jacksonville Lizard Kings.
The Louisville Panthers were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Louisville, Kentucky. Their home venue was Freedom Hall at the Kentucky Exposition Center. The mascot was a light brown "panther" named Paws. They were affiliates of the Florida Panthers. The team became dormant following the 2000–01 season, until it was resurrected in 2005 as the Iowa Stars. Today, the franchise is known as the Texas Stars.
The OVW Tag Team Championship formerly known as the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship is the tag team titles of Ohio Valley Wrestling. Created in 1997, the first champions were Nick Dinsmore and Flash Flanagan. There have been 190 reigns shared between 116 different teams consisting of 159 distinctive champions and 15 vacancies. The current champions are Beaches and Cream, who are in their third reign as a team, but in their third and fourth reigns respectively.
The Louisville RiverFrogs were a professional ice hockey team competing in the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL), which was a mid-level professional American hockey league with teams from all over the United States as well as one franchise from Canada. The team was based in Louisville, Kentucky and played from 1995 to 1998. Their home venue was Broadbent Arena at the Kentucky Exposition Center.
North American International Livestock Exposition (NAILE) is a livestock show held each November in Louisville, Kentucky and lasts for two weeks. It is billed as the "world's largest all-breed, purebred livestock exposition", with nine major livestock divisions with competitors from the 48 contiguous states. These divisions are beef cattle, Boer goats, dairy cattle, dairy goats, draft horses, quarter horses, llamas & alpacas, sheep, and swine. A PRCA rodeo, the North American Championship Rodeo, is also held.
The Kentucky Exposition Center (KEC), is a large multi-use facility in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Originally built in 1956. It is overseen by the Kentucky Venues and is the sixth largest facility of its type in the U.S., with 1,300,000 square feet (120,000 m2) of indoor space. KEC has two arenas, almost 700,000 sq. ft of Class A exhibit space, nearly 500 acres of outdoor planning space. A majority of the 1.3 million square feet is contiguous.
Central Park is a 17-acre (69,000 m2) municipal park maintained by the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Located in the Old Louisville neighborhood, it was originally the country estate of the DuPont family. Early in its existence, the park was the site of the Southern Exposition, but later became mostly known for hosting the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival and northern portions of the annual St. James Court Art Show.
Louisville Gardens is a multi-purpose, 6,000-seat arena, in Louisville, Kentucky, that opened in 1905, as the Jefferson County Armory. It celebrated its 100th anniversary as former city mayor Jerry Abramson's official "Family-Friendly New Years Eve" celebration location. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Highland Park was a city near and eventually neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, that was razed as a part of the expansion of Louisville International Airport. Its boundaries were roughly the CSX railroad tracks to the west, and what would become the Kentucky State Fair & Exposition Center and the airport on all other sides.
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.
Truist Arena, formerly The Bank of Kentucky Center and BB&T Arena, is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on the campus of Northern Kentucky University. The arena was topped off on June 21, 2007, and the first event held there was NKU's graduation ceremony on May 10, 2008. A grand opening ceremony was held on September 22, 2008.
The Appalachian Wireless Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Pikeville, Kentucky. Opened in October 2005, it hosts various local concerts and sporting events for the area. The facility, which can seat 7,000 for concerts and 5,700 for sporting events, is owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and managed by the City of Pikeville.
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 Street and 3rd Street, 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 following is a timeline of the history of the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA.
Interior 2008
