Lost Community: Shippingport

Check out the two maps of Louisville below. The first is from the mid-1800s; the second is now. Look in the red rectangles. Notice how that island out in the Ohio River has shrunk and changed shape over time? Notice the streets that no longer exist? That's Shippingport, and 200 years ago, it wasn't even an island; it was a peninsula. Founded in 1785, it's one of the oldest parts of Louisville and once bustled with homes, schools, businesses, industries, etc. just like any other neighborhood. However, when the Louisville and Portland Canal was built (1825 - 1830), it cut Shippingport off from the rest of Louisville and made it an island. Over time, canal expansion, the construction of a hydroelectric power plant, and the 1937 flood further eroded Shippingport's land area, population, and prosperity. Finally, in 1958, the federal government came in and shooed off everybody who was left on the "island." Today, Shippingport is nothing but McAlpine Locks and Dam administration, a little industry, and woods. Kind of sad really.