Economy of Louisville, Kentucky

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Bourbon bottle, 19th century. One-third of all bourbon whiskey comes from Louisville. Bourbon-bottle from Gettysburg.jpeg
Bourbon bottle, 19th century. One-third of all bourbon whiskey comes from Louisville.

Since it earliest days, the economy of Louisville, Kentucky, has been underpinned by the shipping and cargo industries. Today, Louisville is home to dozens of companies and organizations across several industrial classifications.

Contents

Shipping and logistics

The city's location at the Falls of the Ohio, and its unique position in the central United States (and other origins) to the mouth of the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and beyond. The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was also an important link between the industrialized northern cities and the South.

Louisville's importance to the shipping industry continues today with the presence of the Worldport air hub for UPS. The city's location at the crossroads of three major Interstate highways (I-64, I-65 and I-71) also contributes to its modern-day strategic importance to the shipping and cargo industry. In addition, the Port of Louisville [1] continues Louisville's river shipping presence at Jefferson Riverport International. As of 2003, Louisville ranks as the seventh-largest inland port in the United States. [2]

Health care and medical sciences

Louisville has emerged as a major center for the health care and medical sciences industries. Louisville has been central to advancements in heart and hand surgery as well as cancer treatment. Some of the first artificial heart and hand transplants were conducted in Louisville. The James Graham Brown Cancer Center is well-renowned. The city's thriving downtown medical research campus includes a new $88 million rehabilitation center and a health sciences research and commercialization park, that in partnership with the University of Louisville, has lured nearly 70 top scientists and researchers.[ citation needed ] Louisville is also home to Humana, one of the nation's largest health insurance companies.

Norton Healthcare is the second largest employer in the Louisville area, with over 20,000 employees, and a major health care provider throughout Greater Louisville and Southern Indiana.[ citation needed ]

Product manufacturing: Automotive, home appliances, bourbon and more

Louisville is a significant center of manufacturing. Within the city's limits are two major Ford plants, namely the Kentucky Truck Plant and the Louisville Assembly Plant. Also located in the city is the headquarters and major home appliance factory of GE Appliances (a subsidiary of Haier).

The city is a major center of the American whiskey industry, with about one-third of all bourbon coming from Louisville. [3] [4] [5] [6] Brown-Forman, one of the major makers of American whiskey, is headquartered in Louisville and operates a distillery in the Louisville suburb of Shively. The current primary distillery site operated by Heaven Hill, called the Bernheim distillery, is also located in Louisville near Brown-Forman's distillery. Other distilleries and related businesses can also be found in neighboring cities in Kentucky, Barton 1792 (Bardstown), Jim Beam (Clermont), Wild Turkey (Lawrenceburg), or Maker's Mark (Loretto, with a restaurant/lounge in Louisville). Similar to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail that links these central Kentucky locations, Louisville offers tourists its own "Urban Bourbon Trail", [7] where people can stop at nearly 20 "area bars and restaurants, all offering at least 50 labels of America's only native spirit." [5]

Craft beer is an increasingly profitable business for the city, home to over 14 locally owned breweries including Bluegrass Brewing Company and Falls City Brewing Company. In 2013 overall beer sales were reported to be down 2% from the previous year, whereas craft beer sales had risen 18%. [8] To keep up the demand, Mayor Greg Fischer announced in 2015 plans to create "Lou Brew": a tour, similar to the Urban Bourbon Trail, that will highlight the local breweries and craft beer scene of Louisville to both natives and tourists. [9]

High tech

Not typically known for high tech outside of the previously identified industries, Louisville in the 2010s has been at or near the forefront of some high-tech-related developments. In April 2017, Google Fiber confirmed that the city will be wired for its ultrafast network, [10] though the company ultimately abandoned the plan. [11] Meanwhile, since October 2016, AT&T Fiber has been building out its similar service in the city as well as neighboring counties in Indiana. [12] Beyond networking, the city, through its public–private partnership called Code Louisville, recognized by President Barack Obama, is aiding area residents in the learning of software coding skills. [13] [14] [15]

Independent businesses

Louisville prides itself in its large assortment of small, independent businesses and restaurants, some of which have become known for their ingenuity and creativity. In 1926 the Brown Hotel became the home of the Hot Brown "sandwich". A few blocks away, the Seelbach Hotel, which F. Scott Fitzgerald references in The Great Gatsby , is also famous for a secret back room where Al Capone would regularly meet with associates during the Prohibition era. The room features a secret back door escape and was used as a starting point for rumrunners who would transport illegal moonshine from the hills of eastern Kentucky to Chicago. Also, in 1880, John Colgan invented a way to make chewing gum taste better for a longer period of time.

The Highlands area of Louisville on Bardstown Road has many independent businesses, including the Preston Arts Center, Baxter Avenue Theater, Carmichael's book store, Heine Brothers' Coffee, John Conti Coffee, Wick's Pizza, Steilberg's String Instruments and O'Shea's Irish Pub, among others. Several local breweries such as Milewide Brewing, Gravely Brewing, Great Flood Brewery, Akasha, Apocalypse, Holsopple, New Albanian Brewery of New Albany, Indiana, Browning's Restaurant and Brewery, Cumberland Brews, and the Bluegrass Brewing Company offer an assortment of local brewing talent in the area. Publix, the Florida-based grocery store chain announced its first new store in Kentucky, in the Terra Crossing shopping center, scheduled to open in late 2023. [16]

Other industries

Louisville has connections to the entertainment industry. Several major motion pictures have also been filmed in or near Louisville, including Goldfinger , The Insider , Stripes , Lawn Dogs , Elizabethtown , Demolition Man , and Secretariat . [17]

Also located in Louisville is a branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

An other remarkable company in Louisville, Kentucky, is Omega National Products the largest manufacturer of mirror balls, which manufactured at times 90% of all mirror balls in the world .

Historical businesses

Louisville for a long time was also home to the Belknap Hardware and Manufacturing Company, at its peak one of the largest manufacturers and wholesale distributors of hardware in the United States, as well as Brown & Williamson, the third largest company in the tobacco industry before merging with R. J. Reynolds in 2004 to form the Reynolds American Company. Brands such as KOOL, Viceroy, Capri, Misty and Raleigh were introduced in Louisville. Brown & Williamson, one of the subjects of the tobacco industry scandals of the 1990s, was the focus of The Insider, a 1999 film shot around the Louisville area.

Notable companies, company divisions and organizations based in Louisville

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisville, Kentucky</span> Largest city in Kentucky, United States

Louisville 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shively, Kentucky</span> City in Kentucky, United States

Shively is a home rule-class city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States, and a suburb of Louisville within the Louisville Metro government. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 15,264, reflecting an increase of 107 (+0.7%) from 15,157 in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heaven Hill</span> American distillery company

Heaven Hill Distilleries, Inc. is a private, American family-owned and operated distillery founded in 1935 and headquartered in Bardstown, Kentucky, that produces and markets the Heaven Hill brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey and a variety of other distilled spirits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beer in the United States</span>

In the United States, beer are manufactured in breweries which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels (23.0 GL) of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly 28 US gallons (110 L) of beer per capita annually. In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constellation Brands</span> American alcohol company

Constellation Brands, Inc. is an American producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits. A Fortune 500 company, Constellation is the largest beer import company in the US, measured by sales, and has the third-largest market share of all major beer suppliers. It also has sizable investments in medical and recreational cannabis through its association with Canopy Growth. Based in Victor, New York, Constellation has about 40 facilities and approximately 9,000 employees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brown–Forman</span> American-owned spirit and wine producer and distributor

The Brown–Forman Corporation is an American-based company, one of the largest in the spirits and wine business. Based in Louisville, Kentucky, it manufactures several very well known brands throughout the world, including Jack Daniel's, Old Forester, Woodford Reserve, GlenDronach, BenRiach, Glenglassaugh, Herradura, Korbel, and Chambord. Brown–Forman formerly owned Southern Comfort and Tuaca before selling them off in 2016.

Kentucky common beer is a once-popular style of ale from the area in and around Louisville, Kentucky from the 1850s until Prohibition. This style is rarely brewed commercially today. It was also locally known as dark cream common beer, cream beer or common beer. The beer was top-fermented and was krausened up to 10% making it quite highly carbonated. Like cream ale, it was consumed fresh, usually as draught beer. In 1913 it was estimated that 80% of the beer consumed in Louisville was of this type. Many local breweries made only this style of beer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. T. S. Brown</span> Kentucky bourbon whiskey

J. T. S. Brown is a Kentucky bourbon whiskey produced by the Heaven Hill Distillery company. The distilling operation is in Louisville, Kentucky, and aging and bottling operations are in Bardstown, Kentucky. The primary expression of the brand is 40% alcohol by volume (ABV), or 80 U.S. proof. There is also a 100 proof bottled in bond version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sazerac Company</span> Alcoholic drinks company based in New Orleans, US

Sazerac Company, Inc. is a privately held American alcoholic beverage company headquartered in Metairie in the metropolitan area of New Orleans, Louisiana, but with its principal office in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is owned by billionaire William Goldring and his family. As of 2017, it operated nine distilleries, had 2,000 employees, and operated in 112 countries. It is one of the two largest spirits companies in the United States, with annual revenue of about $1 billion made from selling about 300 beverage brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whiskey Row, Louisville</span> United States historic place

Whiskey Row in Louisville, Kentucky refers to an area along Main Street, close to the Ohio River, which was home to the bourbon industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph & Joseph</span>

Joseph & Joseph is an architectural firm founded in 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky. The main services include architectural, engineering and design projects.

Alltech is an American company, headquartered in Nicholasville, Kentucky, with operations in animal feed, meat, brewing, and distilling. Alltech develops agricultural products for use in both livestock and crop farming, as well as products for the food industry. Alltech operates under three main divisions: animal nutrition and health; crop science; and, food and beverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company</span>

Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company is a brewery and distillery based in Lexington, Kentucky founded in 1999 by Pearse Lyons, the president and founder of animal nutrition company Alltech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lion (Australasian company)</span> Alcoholic beverage company operating in Australia and New Zealand, owned by Kirin

Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhinegeist</span> Craft brewery in Cincinnati, Ohio, US

Rhinegeist Brewery is a craft brewery and craft cidery based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company also sells their ciders under the name Cidergeist, using an alternative apple-shaped skull logo. The brewery's 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2) taproom and production facility is located in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood, and occupies the former, pre-Prohibition bottling plant of Christian Moerlein Brewing Co. Rhinegeist operates an additional shipping, storage and innovation brewing facility in Cincinnati's Camp Washington neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barrel-aged beer</span>

A barrel-aged beer is a beer that has been aged for a period of time in a wooden barrel. Typically, these barrels once housed bourbon, whisky, wine, or, to a lesser extent, brandy, sherry, or port. There is a particular tradition of barrel ageing beer in Belgium, notably of lambic beers. The first bourbon barrel-aged beers were produced in the United States in the early 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atherton Whiskey</span> American distillery company

Atherton Whiskey was a pre-prohibition brand of Kentucky Straight Bourbon whiskey first produced by J M Atherton & Co, a chemical and distilling business.

References

  1. ↑ "Port of Louisville" . Retrieved April 22, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Top 20 Inland U.S. Ports for 2003" (PDF). U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 20, 2013.
  3. ↑ Kiniry, Laura (September 2, 2015). "Beyond bourbon in Louisville". BBC . Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ Lufkin, Bryan (April 29, 2015). "In Louisville, Try the Bourbon and Zip Line (Not at Once)". Wired . Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  5. 1 2 "Things to Do in Louisville". Travel Channel . Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  6. ↑ Hall, Gregory A. (October 21, 2014). "Much of bourbon boom carries Louisville address". The Courier-Journal . Retrieved September 29, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Louisville, KY's Urban Bourbon Trail (UBT)". BourbonCounty.com. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ Puckett, Jeffrey Lee (February 1, 2015). "Beer me: Kentucky's craft beer scene exploding". The Courier-Journal . Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  9. ↑ Leonard, Connie (August 10, 2015). "Mayor announces plan to showcase Louisville's craft beer industry". WAVE . Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  10. ↑ Shafer, Sheldon S. (April 26, 2017). "Google Fiber confirms it will wire Louisville". The Courier-Journal . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  11. ↑ Welch, Chris (2019-02-07). "Google Fiber is leaving Louisville in humiliating setback". The Verge . Retrieved 2023-03-14.
  12. ↑ Sayers, Justin (February 17, 2017). "AT&T Fiber ultrafast internet launched to New Albany, Jeffersonville". The Courier-Journal . Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  13. ↑ "President Obama Wants More Programs Like Code Louisville". 89.3 WFPL. 2015-04-03.
  14. ↑ "Code Louisville Aims to Expand the Region's Available Tech Talent - 89.3 WFPL". 89.3 WFPL. 19 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Why Louisville's Tech Initiatives Are on a National Stage Today". 89.3 WFPL. 2015-04-02.
  16. ↑ "Publix Enters Kentucky with 55,702-Square-Foot Lease at Terra Crossing Development in Louisville". 9 September 2021.
  17. ↑ Jenn Shockley (November 15, 2016). "15 FAMOUS MOVIES FILMED IN KENTUCKY". filmoffice.ky.gov.
  18. 1 2 3 "Kentucky: Corporations – Fortune 1000 Rankings (2020)". globaledge.msu.edu. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  19. ↑ Mann, David A. (May 20, 2020). "Kentucky is down to one Fortune 500 company — here's who dropped off". Louisville Business First . Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  20. ↑ "List of Fortune 500 companies". 50pros.com. February 1, 2024. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  21. ↑ "Special Delivery: UPS Moving Ancient Terra Cotta Army". United Parcel Service. May 5, 2008. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved 2010-06-19. UPS air operations are headquartered in Louisville, Ky.
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