Smoketown is the oldest black neighborhood in louisville. After the Emancipation Proclamation, former enslaved Americans migrated north to escape Jim Crow laws of the south. Thousands of black people arriving in Louisville found the Ohio Falls made crossing the Ohio river too treacherous and so settled in Smoketown.
Historic Marker #1985 on Broadway at Hancock reads:
This historically black community began to flourish following end of slavery in 1865, when thousands of African Americans moved to Louisville. Shotgun-type houses on closely spaced streets and alleys allowed both black and white landowners to profit from the dense settlement. Washington Spradling, Jr., a prominent African American, owned vast real estate in area. (Reverse)
Historic Area – Many in Smoketown worked in tobacco warehouses as cutters, processors, and haulers. Community had one of city’s first African American public schools, founded 1874. Smoketown is only post-Civil War neighborhood settled mainly by African Americans that remains in city of Louisville. Presented by Louisville and Jefferson County African American Heritage Committee, Inc.