Little Loomhouse

Last updated
Little Loomhouses
Wistaria Cabin.JPG
Wisteria Cabin
USA Kentucky location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Louisville, Kentucky
Coordinates 38°9′27.71″N85°46′14.62″W / 38.1576972°N 85.7707278°W / 38.1576972; -85.7707278 Coordinates: 38°9′27.71″N85°46′14.62″W / 38.1576972°N 85.7707278°W / 38.1576972; -85.7707278
Built1870
NRHP reference No. 75000770 [1]
Added to NRHPJune 30, 1975

The Little Loomhouse is a place on the National Register of Historic Places in the Kenwood Hill neighborhood on the south side of Louisville, Kentucky. It consists of three cabins constructed between 1870 and 1896: Esta Cabin, Tophouse, and Wisteria Cabin. It not only displays weavings, but has active education and resident artist programs. The organization participates in several local festivals, giving demonstrations of spinning, dyeing, and weaving. It is the biggest repository of original and classic textile patterns in the United States. [2]

Contents

Among the history of the cabins have been the visits of past First Ladies of the United States, and the composition of the song "Happy Birthday to You".

Esta Cabin

Esta Cabin Little Loomhouse Esta Cabin.JPG
Esta Cabin

The Esta Cabin encapsulates the history of the Loomhouse, and is the cabin where the song "Happy Birthday to You" was first sung. [2] [3] The cabin was first built by a Beoni Figg in 1870 as a business office for his charcoal, lumber, and quarries interests. It has been enlarged since then from a two-room cabin. One of these enhancements replaced the vertical split log siding with board and batten. [4] In 1939 Lou Tate acquired the cabin and based her weaving business there, living on the property until her death in 1979. On a visit in the 1940s while still the First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt crushed a floorboard, which she later signed; it is now lost. While visiting the Loomhouse, Mrs. Roosevelt bought woven mats that would see use in the White House. [5] Displays of weaving decorate the interior. [6]

Other cabins

Wisteria, which houses the office and giftshop, was built in 1895 and similarly became endangered. In fact, it had to be closed for years due to erosion damage; in 1986, Jefferson County Judge/Executive Harvey Sloane helped in a rededication ceremony celebrating the restoration of the cabin. [7]

Tophouse Cabin Tophouse Cabin.JPG
Tophouse Cabin

The Tophouse was built as a summer home for the well-to-do Sam Stone Bush in 1896. It was made of oak harvested from the hill upon which it stands. It was acquired by Tate in 1939 for using her looms. Since that time it has been used for looms, save during World War II when supplies dwindled, and she rented out the cabin for both funding and providing a defense worker's family a place to live. Although endangered by development in the 1960s and 1970s, it still stands today as the home of the looms from which the Little Loomhouse gains its name, and where weaving is still taught. [8]

Collective history

Looking downhill at the cabins Little Loomhouse downhill.JPG
Looking downhill at the cabins

For many years the Loomhouse has sold a small portable table loom designed by First Lady Lou Henry Hoover, wife of President Herbert Hoover. [5]

In his 1948 visit to Louisville, Frank Lloyd Wright praised both the cabins and the setting. [5] In 1940, he described it as "board-and-batten summer houses, set down in the dignity of nature". [9]

By 2007, the cabins were deteriorating. Stefanie Buzan wrote in a book about the site that, "They weren't built to last this long." [10] Problems include tree trimming, sagging floors, and preventing the cabins from falling down the side of Kenwood Hill by using reinforcements. It was hoped that a second edition of Buzan's book would raise funds for needed repairs, as the money made normally by the Loomhouse was not enough for the needed repairs. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohio River</span> Major river in the midwestern United States

The Ohio River is a 981-mile (1,579 km) long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illinois. It is the third largest river by discharge volume in the United States and the largest tributary by volume of the north-south flowing Mississippi River that divides the eastern from western United States. It is also the 6th oldest river on the North American continent. The river flows through or along the border of six states, and its drainage basin includes parts of 14 states. Through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes several states of the southeastern U.S. It is the source of drinking water for five million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Weaving</span> Technology for the production of textiles

Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft, woof, or filling. The method in which these threads are interwoven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is usually woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band that meets this definition of cloth can also be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other techniques that can be done without looms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Happy Birthday to You</span> Birthday song

"Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 Guinness World Records, it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". The song's base lyrics have been translated into at least 18 languages. The melody of "Happy Birthday to You" comes from the song "Good Morning to All", which has traditionally been attributed to American sisters Patty and Mildred J. Hill in 1893, although the claim that the sisters composed the tune is disputed.

Patty Smith Hill was an American composer and teacher who is perhaps best known for co-writing, with her sister Mildred Hill, the tune which later became popular as "Happy Birthday to You". She was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association for Nursery Education (NANE) which now exists as the National Association For the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Churchill Downs</span> Thoroughbred racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky, United States

Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was prominent in Kentucky for many years. The first Kentucky Derby, a Thoroughbred sweepstakes and part of today's horse racing Triple Crown, and the first Kentucky Oaks were held in the same year. Churchill Downs has also hosted the renowned Breeders' Cup on nine occasions, most recently on November 2 and 3, 2018.

Thomas Walker was a physician, planter and explorer in colonial Virginia who served multiple terms in the Virginia General Assembly, and whose descendants also had political careers. Walker explored Western Colony of Virginia in 1750, 19 years before the arrival of Daniel Boone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Louisville, Kentucky</span>

The geology of the Ohio River, with but a single series of rapids halfway in its length from the confluence of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers to its union with the Mississippi, made it inevitable that a town would grow on the site. Louisville, Kentucky was chartered in the late 18th century. From its early days on the frontier, it quickly grew to be a major trading and distribution center in the mid 19th century, important industrial city in the early 20th, declined in the mid 20th century, before revitalizing in the late 20th century as a culturally-focused mid-sized American city.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cave Hill Cemetery</span> Historic cemetery in Jefferson County, Kentucky

Cave Hill Cemetery is a 296-acre (1.20 km2) Victorian era National Cemetery and arboretum located at Louisville, Kentucky. Its main entrance is on Baxter Avenue and there is a secondary one on Grinstead Drive. It is the largest cemetery by area and number of burials in Louisville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Old Kentucky Home State Park</span> State park in Kentucky, United States

My Old Kentucky Home State Park is a state park located in Bardstown, Kentucky, United States. The park's centerpiece is Federal Hill, a former plantation home owned by United States Senator John Rowan in 1795. During the Rowan family's occupation, the mansion became a meeting place for local politicians and hosted several visiting dignitaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapidan Camp</span> Historic house in Virginia, United States

Rapidan Camp in Shenandoah National Park in Madison County, Virginia, was built by U.S. President Herbert Hoover and his wife Lou Henry Hoover, and served as their rustic retreat throughout Hoover's administration from 1929 to 1933. The first family's residential cabin was known as the "Brown House" in contrast to their more famous residence, the White House.

Kenwood Hill is a hill and neighborhood on the south side of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Its boundaries are New Cut Road, Kenwood Drive, Southside Drive and Palatka Road. The hill, earlier known as Sunshine Hill and then Cox's Knob, was used by Native Americans to spot buffalo. By 1868 Benoni Figg owned the area as a part of his charcoal business. His family oversaw development on the land until it was sold in 1890 to a development company which named the area Kenwood Hill. Southern Parkway was opened soon after in 1893.

Iroquois is a neighborhood on the south side of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is split into two parts by Beechmont. From a historical perspective, the northwestern section would be the Bryn Mawr neighborhood and the southeastern section would be the Kenwood neighborhood. The Iroquois neighborhood is roughly bounded by Hazelwood Avenue, Beechmont, Third Street, Kenwood Drive, and Iroquois Park. Located near the Louisville International Airport, residents have frequently complained of noise and challenged airport expansion. The largely residential neighborhood was developed as a suburb after World War II and into the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iroquois Park</span>

Iroquois Park is a 725-acre (3.0 km²) municipal park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed Louisville's Cherokee Park and Shawnee Park, at what were then the edges of the city. Located south of downtown, Iroquois Park was promoted as "Louisville's Yellowstone". It is built on a large knob covered with old growth forest, and its most prominent feature are the scenic viewpoints atop the hill.

Mildred Jane Hill was an American songwriter and musicologist, who composed the melody for "Good Morning to All", later used as the melody for "Happy Birthday to You".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ada Dietz</span>

Ada K. Dietz was an American weaver best known for her 1949 monograph Algebraic Expressions in Handwoven Textiles, which defines a novel method for generating weaving patterns based on algebraic patterns. Her method employs the expansion of multivariate polynomials to devise a weaving scheme. Dietz' work is still well-regarded today, by both weavers and mathematicians. Along with the references listed below, Griswold (2001) cites several additional articles on her work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louisville Water Tower</span> United States historic place

The Louisville Water Tower, located east of downtown Louisville, Kentucky near the riverfront, is the oldest ornamental water tower in the world, having been built before the more famous Chicago Water Tower. Both the actual water tower and its pumping station are a designated National Historic Landmark for their architecture. As with the Fairmount Water Works of Philadelphia, the industrial nature of its pumping station was disguised in the form of a Roman temple complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial Gardens</span>

Colonial Gardens is a former entertainment complex located in the Kenwood Hill neighborhood across New Cut Road from Iroquois Park in Louisville, Kentucky. In its early existence, it was a part of Senning's Park, the site of the first zoo in Louisville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture of Kentucky</span> Overview of the culture of Kentucky

Although the culture of Kentucky is considered to be firmly Southern, it is also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia, blending with the native upper Southern culture in certain areas of the state. The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distilling, tobacco, horse racing, and college basketball. Kentucky is more similar to the Upper South in terms of ancestry which is predominantly American. Nevertheless, during the 19th century, Kentucky did receive a substantial number of German immigrants, who settled mostly in the Midwest and parts of the Upper South, along the Ohio river primarily in Louisville, Maysville, Covington, and Newport. Only Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia have higher German ancestry percentages than Kentucky among Census-defined Southern states, although Kentucky's percentage is relatively smaller than the previously named states' percentages.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 Volunteer with Little Loomhouse - Louisville, KY
  3. KET - History: Little Loomhouse Archived 2012-07-17 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Happy Birthday Song Archived 2007-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
  5. 1 2 3 Kleber, John E., ed. (2001). "Bousman, Lou Tate". The Encyclopedia of Louisville. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. p. 107. ISBN   0-8131-2100-0 . Retrieved May 14, 2015.
  6. Esta Cabin
  7. Wisteria Cabin Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Tophouse Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Nold, Chip. Insiders' Guide to Louisville, Kentucky & Southern Indiana, 2nd p.154
  10. Pike, Bill. "Preserving the Loomhouse: Iroquois, Kenwood history re-issued to pay for repairs." Louisville Courier-Journal. November 14, 2007