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Phoenix Hill was founded by German settlers in 1861, but fell upon hard times in the mid-1900s and is now undergoing a revitalization. The neighborhood, bounded by Main Street to the north, Preston Street to west, Broadway to the south and the Baxter/Broadway intersection to the east, actually began as a small park in 1861. It was one of many German communities formed during the period from 1847 to 1867, when about 1 million Germans emigrated to the United States. At the end of the Civil War, Louisville had more than 14,000 German natives in its population of approximately 100,000.
Until about 35 years ago, the community was populated by German families. Then blacks began moving in and whites began moving out.
Over the years, businesses began to leave the area and much of the housing fell into disrepair. Then, the Phoenix Hill Association was organized in 1975 by local businesses.
In 1977, Phoenix Hill was declared a model revitalization area by then-Louisville Mayor Harvey I. Sloane. In 1978 a 58-block area was made eligible for federal funds for revitalization.
In 1979, Grace Blake was hired as executive director of the Phoenix Hill Association. She remembers the neighborhood then.
"It was old buildings and poor people. Many of the houses had been sitting for 100 years. They're very old buildings, not well-insulated. Heating bills are high, and many of the houses required repairs and the families couldn't afford to keep them up," she said.
With the backing of the Phoenix Hill Association, several renovations and building projects took root in the early 1980s. These include:
- Creation of a comprehensive modernization plan for Clarksdale Public Housing.
- Constructing Phoenix Place, 268 apartments, at a cost of $21 million.
- - Turning the former Kentucky Lithographing site, 600 E. Main St., into Billy Goat Strut, which has 32 units and a commercial first floor.
- - In 1988 the Chestnut Street Corridor was built to connect Jefferson Street and Baxter Avenue to Gray and Campbell streets. This helped "get some of the heavy traffic out of the residential core of Phoenix Hill," Blake said. Portions of Phoenix Hill were placed on National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Some of the area's most prominent landmarks are also undergoing renovation, including the Cloister, in the 800 block of East Chestnut Street. It was built in the 1860s and originally housed the Ursuline Convent and the Ursuline Academy of the Immaculate Conception, a Catholic girls' school. The school closed in the early 1970s.
In 1977, Ray Schuhmann developed it into a shopping complex called The Cloister, which takes up most of a block. In 1981 Schuhmann sold most of The Cloister to The Louisville School of Art, which closed in 1983. Late that year, a restaurant moved in, but it closed the next summer.
The building lay dormant for five years, but now is being renovated as housing for low-income, single-parent families.
The steeple of St. Martin Catholic Church at 639 S. Shelby St., has decorated the Phoenix Hill skyline since 1853, when it was built by German immigrants.
The church contains full-size statues of saints and an angel, a vibrant organ, stained-glass windows and an elevated pulpit. The remains of St. Magnus, a martyred centurion and St. Bonosa, who both died in the year 207 A.D., are kept in separate glass enclosures located off to the side of the altar.
Restoration is under way to maintain the historic aura of the church, and in August the Tridentine Mass returned. The Mass, spoken in Latin by a priest facing the altar and with some of the prayers said silently, had been absent from Catholic worship services since the 1960s.
Mary Frances Smith, a neighborhood association board member who lives on Marshall Street, has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. For her, at every turn, images of once was come to mind.
"When I first moved here the houses up and down Marshall had wooden fences," Smith said. "Sidewalks were brick.
"Up and down Walnut streets were private homes. Some had brick walks and iron fences. There used to be a dry goods store which is now the condominums. Where the townhomes are was Nick's Bakery. Across from Nick's Bakery was the French Drugstore."
Many believe the neighborhood, living up to its name, has risen back to life.
Today, the trash-strewn vacant lots, ragged sidewalks and shabby housing are almost gone. The determined nudge of businesses and residents committed to the area has awakened the neighborhood, residents say.

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