There was a 14th Street in Louisville for much of the city's history, but what happened to it?

An answer to the question you never thought to ask: why does Louisville not have a 14th Street?

Think about it. You’re driving west down Broadway, watching the street signs go by. 10th, 11th, and 12th all come consecutively without a hitch. The 13th Street sign lulls you into a false sense of security. And then, the next sign you see reads 15th Street, and your whole world comes crashing down.

What? Just me? Okay, then. Be that way.

Some very astute people online noticed this earlier this summer, and it’s been bugging me ever since. I set out to find the answer, which proved far more difficult than I was prepared for. After many emails and calls, though, I finally found Kelly Dunnagan—who works in history and genealogy for the Louisville Free Public Library—who was able to pull the pieces together.

“There are just myriad questions that get asked here, and it is our job to know the resources well and to know which trees to shake and how we can make this information fall down to help people out,” Dunnagan said.

As it turns out there was a 14th Street for much of Louisville’s history. If you look at city directories and maps from the 1800s and early 1900s, you’ll find it. If you drive over those spots today, though, you’ll find railroad tracks—and that is the key clue to solving this puzzle.

“In around 1870 there was this buzz that L&N railroad was going to expand because we needed to connect Louisville to Indiana, Kentucky to Indiana,” Dunnagan explained. “So L&N railroad said we’re going to do it. We’re going to build a bride—which is that little bridge with a house on it--and we’re going to connect that all the way down 14th Street Until about Maple, and then it’s going to curve east and go all the way around.

“Residents were pretty upset. This is where their homes were and they’re about to have a train go right through it…in 1875 you see that residents of 14th street have sued the L&N railroad company, ‘because our houses are filled with black smoke at night, we can’t sleep because of the sound.’ It also references several times residents not being able to have the clean air they need for a healthy life. So I imagine living on 14th street was pretty awful at that time. So, they sued the railroad company. I’m not sure they got anything in return for it.”

The lawsuit did not end the railroad, and slowly but surely folks living on 14th Street moving away to flee the noise and soot and smoke. While the street did not die right away—there were still businesses and warehouses that 14th Street addresses for most of the early 20th century—even those faded away. By the 1990s, you were hard pressed to find a mention of it in city directories.

“As for when an official sign was taken down, of ‘this is no longer 14th street,’ I don’t know,” Dunnagan said. “I asked the city and it’s just kind of a difficult question to answer. But, it’s still on maps. It’s on maps both ways. It can be called 14th Street, and it also has the train line on it.”

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