The Portland Anchor - December 2019

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The Portland Anchor - November 2019

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The Portland Anchor - October 2019

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The Portland Anchor - September 2019

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The Portland Anchor - August 2019

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Portland Porch Party @ Portland Library, Saturday, July 20, 2-5pm

Porch parties are a tradition in Portland and LFPL would like to invite everyone to the library to share in the food, fun, games, and live music!

Join the corn hole tournament, enjoy catered food by Farm to Fork, and don’t miss out on the raffle to benefit the Friends of the Portland Library.

The Portland Anchor - July 2019

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The Portland Anchor - June 2019

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The Portland Anchor - May 2019

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The Portland Anchor - April 2019

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The Portland Anchor - March 2019

The Portland Anchor newspaper is the property of Anchor Publications, Inc and is reproduced with permission of Anchor Publications, Inc.

 

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The Portland Anchor - February 2019

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We fixed the neighborhood school, but what about the neighborhood kids?

If you live in Portland and don’t apply to go to another middle school, your kids will be sent across town to either Westport or Kammerer Middle school by default. It’s not because the schools closest to the neighborhood are full, and can’t take any more kids. The 2019-20 enrollment projections for Western Middle, show a program capacity of 825 students, but a projected enrollment of 613, leaving space for 212 more students. The next closest middle school at The Academy @ Shawnee, shows a program capacity of 225, and a projected enrollment of 125 students, leaving space for 100 additional students to attend that school. So, there is space for 312 students at middle schools within our neighborhood, or right outside it. Westport Middle currently has 171 students from our neighborhood, and Kammerer Middle has 60. Those 231 students could easily fill the 312 empty slots in schools close to their own homes instead of passing 5 other middle schools on the way to their assigned schools. However, you must apply (and be accepted) to attend school at Western or Shawnee Middle schools. This wasn’t always the case, of course. Neighborhood kids attended Western Middle for generations until it was converted to a Magnet School around 2010. Western Middle by most accounts was plagued by serious issues and was not performing well by any standard. To avoid a state takeover of the school, it was converted to a magnet school and the neighborhood students sent to Westport or Kammerer, unless they applied to (and were accepted) to another school. With an influx of new, hand-picked, students Western Middle is now a thriving Magnet School for the Visual and Performing Arts, and avoided further scrutiny from the State. While we should certainly celebrate Western Middle’s successful turnaround, one has to wonder what the outcomes have been for the population of students who would have formerly attended there.

I recently asked JCPS to provide me the “School Report Card” data for students at Westport and Kammerer Middle, but with Portland neighborhood students’ data and outcomes separated from non-Portland students. So, demographics, attendance, test scores, discipline, etc. I’m sorry to report that the numbers do not show significant improvements in the outcomes for these students in any category. In the 2017-2018 school year, 54.1% of the Portland neighborhood students at Westport Middle were Chronically Absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of the school days. 31.4% missed more than 25+ days. It’s difficult for working families with means to drive a kid who has missed the bus across town in traffic. It’s impossible for families without a car. 33% of Portland households don’t have a car. It would take two TARC buses and over 90 minutes to travel from the middle of Portland to Westport Middle.

With attendance numbers so low, it’s no wonder that Portland students’ test scores lag behind not only state averages, but also non-Portland students at the same school by sometimes more than 500%. Only 6.9% of 2016-17 Portland students at Kammerer Middle achieved Proficient or Distinguished in Math, while 40.3% of the non-Portland students did. It almost seems as if the students were sent to larger schools in order to dilute their test scores so no one would notice. Since scores aren’t published by neighborhood, there was no way for anyone to notice.

Outcomes at our neighborhood middle school have improved, but outcomes for many middle school students from our neighborhood have not. It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and point fingers at JCPS for engineering a system that seems like it was designed to set up our kids to fail.  However, these kids presumably sit in the same classrooms and receive the same education as the kids that outperform them.  What can the citizens of our neighborhood do to make education a priority in our neighborhood and help close that gap?  Are you involved in your child’s education?  Your grand-kids, nieces, nephews?  Your neighbor’s kids?  What is our neighborhood ready, willing, and able to do to improve the outcomes of all of our neighborhood’s students?  If we, knowing what we know now, continue to stand by and watch the majority of our neighborhood children fail in school, we are complicit in their failure and have just as much blame as anyone else. No one is going to advocate for our neighborhood kids better than we can, and it’s time for us to start.

Article written by mike.neagle@argo-networks.com

Westport Middle School Resides Area Map

Kammerer Middle School Resides Area Map

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
Broken by Gender
			Gender
School Name	Portland	Year	Female	Male	Grand Total
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	481	496	977
		2012-2013	485	478	963
		2013-2014	518	430	948
		2014-2015	455	387	842
		2015-2016	437	396	833
		2016-2017	412	429	841
		2017-2018	409	442	851
		2018-2019	440	476	916
	Inside	2011-2012	33	33	66
		2012-2013	42	51	93
		2013-2014	39	52	91
		2014-2015	41	49	90
		2015-2016	30	39	69
		2016-2017	39	36	75
		2017-2018	34	24	58
		2018-2019	35	25	60
			Gender
School Name	Portland	Year	Female	Male	Grand Total
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	319	357	676
		2012-2013	312	383	695
		2013-2014	334	370	704
		2014-2015	414	463	877
		2015-2016	447	508	955
		2016-2017	511	529	1040
		2017-2018	516	540	1056
		2018-2019	530	578	1108
	Inside	2011-2012	71	68	139
		2012-2013	89	94	183
		2013-2014	95	114	209
		2014-2015	88	121	209
		2015-2016	95	115	210
		2016-2017	87	106	193
		2017-2018	73	99	172
		2018-2019	81	90	171

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
							Broken by Race
			Race
School Name	Portland	Year	African American	White	Other	Grand Total
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	395	509	73	977
		2012-2013	423	448	92	963
		2013-2014	415	447	86	948
		2014-2015	342	405	95	842
		2015-2016	347	399	87	833
		2016-2017	341	395	105	841
		2017-2018	332	403	116	851
		2018-2019	363	429	124	916
	Inside	2011-2012	31	30	5	66
		2012-2013	44	46	3	93
		2013-2014	45	44	2	91
		2014-2015	51	37	2	90
		2015-2016	42	23	4	69
		2016-2017	46	25	4	75
		2017-2018	29	25	4	58
		2018-2019	31	25	4	60
			Race
School Name	Portland	Year	African American	White	Other	Grand Total
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	274	290	112	676
		2012-2013	259	303	133	695
		2013-2014	244	330	130	704
		2014-2015	302	401	174	877
		2015-2016	312	445	198	955
		2016-2017	323	480	237	1040
		2017-2018	307	475	274	1056
		2018-2019	344	480	284	1108
	Inside	2011-2012	60	73	6	139
		2012-2013	79	97	7	183
		2013-2014	108	95	6	209
		2014-2015	104	99	6	209
		2015-2016	105	98	7	210
		2016-2017	95	87	11	193
		2017-2018	82	79	11	172
		2018-2019	82	74	15	171

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
Broken by ECE
			ECE
School Name	Portland	Year	No	Yes	Grand Total
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	851	126	977
		2012-2013	848	115	963
		2013-2014	838	110	948
		2014-2015	761	81	842
		2015-2016	741	92	833
		2016-2017	746	95	841
		2017-2018	762	89	851
		2018-2019	803	113	916
	Inside	2011-2012	56	10	66
		2012-2013	79	14	93
		2013-2014	74	17	91
		2014-2015	75	15	90
		2015-2016	56	13	69
		2016-2017	63	12	75
		2017-2018	46	12	58
		2018-2019	49	11	60
			ECE
School Name	Portland	Year	No	Yes	Grand Total
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	563	113	676
		2012-2013	570	125	695
		2013-2014	586	118	704
		2014-2015	758	119	877
		2015-2016	809	146	955
		2016-2017	891	149	1040
		2017-2018	917	139	1056
		2018-2019	959	149	1108
	Inside	2011-2012	117	22	139
		2012-2013	148	35	183
		2013-2014	167	42	209
		2014-2015	171	38	209
		2015-2016	171	39	210
		2016-2017	160	33	193
		2017-2018	142	30	172
		2018-2019	139	32	171

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
Broken by Lunch
			Lunch
School Name	Portland	Year	Free/Reduced	Paid	Grand Total
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	415	562	977
		2012-2013	463	500	963
		2013-2014	479	469	948
		2014-2015	423	419	842
		2015-2016	427	406	833
		2016-2017	424	417	841
		2017-2018	418	433	851
		2018-2019	462	454	916
	Inside	2011-2012	> 95%	< 5 %	66
		2012-2013	87	6	93
		2013-2014	85	6	91
		2014-2015	> 95%	< 5 %	90
		2015-2016	> 95%	< 5 %	69
		2016-2017	68	7	75
		2017-2018	51	7	58
		2018-2019	55	5	60
			Lunch
School Name	Portland	Year	Free/Reduced	Paid	Grand Total
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	479	197	676
		2012-2013	470	225	695
		2013-2014	452	252	704
		2014-2015	572	304	876
		2015-2016	617	338	955
		2016-2017	680	360	1040
		2017-2018	685	371	1056
		2018-2019	667	441	1108
	Inside	2011-2012	132	7	139
		2012-2013	177	6	183
		2013-2014	> 95%	< 5 %	209
		2014-2015	> 95%	< 5 %	209
		2015-2016	202	8	210
		2016-2017	186	7	193
		2017-2018	162	10	172
		2018-2019	163	8	171

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
															KPREP Proficiency Levels
School Name	Portland	Year	# Tested	Reading % PD	# Tested	Math % PD	# Tested	Soc. Studies % PD	# Tested	Science % PD	# Tested	WOD % PD	# Tested	Lang Mech % PD
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	970	42.2%	970	42.0%	324	49.7%	296	55.1%	674	36.1%	350	38.3%
		2012-2013	963	43.0%	963	37.6%	352	60.8%	284	56.0%	611	35.5%	327	39.1%
		2013-2014	946	46.6%	946	38.5%	346	53.2%	310	48.4%	636	34.7%	290	33.4%
		2014-2015	816	52.3%	816	42.0%	294	57.8%	-	-	537	35.4%	244	49.6%
		2015-2016	829	50.5%	829	42.2%	311	49.5%	-	-	564	42.6%	253	38.7%
		2016-2017	836	54.7%	836	43.9%	267	56.9%	*	*	267	33.0%	303	51.5%
		2017-2018	847	57.5%	847	40.3%	259	54.4%	300	26.7%	259	37.1%	-	-
		2018-2019	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Inside	2011-2012	66	16.7%	66	15.2%	7	71.4%	27	25.9%	39	7.7%	32	9.4%
		2012-2013	93	17.2%	93	10.8%	32	53.1%	31	19.4%	61	13.1%	30	23.3%
		2013-2014	90	25.6%	90	10.0%	23	30.4%	33	36.4%	57	8.8%	34	5.9%
		2014-2015	83	27.7%	83	13.3%	33	51.5%	-	-	64	9.4%	31	9.7%
		2015-2016	69	10.1%	69	4.3%	20	45.0%	-	-	43	7.0%	*	*
		2016-2017	75	17.3%	75	9.3%	26	42.3%	-	-	26	3.8%	22	9.1%
		2017-2018	58	20.7%	58	6.9%	18	55.6%	19	5.3%	18	5.6%	-	-
		2018-2019	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
School Name	Portland	Year	# Tested	Reading % PD	# Tested	Math % PD	# Tested	Soc. Studies % PD	# Tested	Science % PD	# Tested	WOD % PD	# Tested	Lang Mech % PD
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	673	26.3%	970	19.2%	250	58.0%	230	30.9%	443	28.4%	193	19.2%
		2012-2013	693	35.4%	963	25.3%	202	56.4%	239	41.4%	491	32.0%	252	31.0%
		2013-2014	702	41.0%	946	30.9%	205	53.7%	259	39.0%	443	37.7%	238	34.9%
		2014-2015	848	40.8%	816	34.0%	274	50.7%	-	-	607	27.3%	333	36.0%
		2015-2016	951	41.5%	829	34.4%	278	53.2%	-	-	620	31.1%	342	25.4%
		2016-2017	1033	42.0%	836	35.7%	350	52.9%	18	16.7%	350	18.9%	342	36.8%
		2017-2018	1052	50.0%	847	35.8%	347	55.0%	345	23.8%	347	32.0%	-	-
		2018-2019	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Inside	2011-2012	139	11.5%	66	5.8%	22	68.2%	49	16.3%	90	11.1%	68	14.7%
		2012-2013	183	17.5%	93	7.1%	67	46.3%	52	25.0%	116	10.3%	64	15.6%
		2013-2014	208	13.5%	90	7.7%	64	53.1%	68	20.6%	140	16.4%	*	*
		2014-2015	206	13.6%	83	6.3%	64	67.2%	-	-	130	7.7%	66	10.6%
		2015-2016	207	16.4%	69	10.1%	69	56.5%	-	-	133	8.3%	64	7.8%
		2016-2017	185	12.4%	75	8.6%	66	45.5%	-	-	66	3.0%	59	6.8%
		2017-2018	168	23.2%	58	11.3%	52	65.4%	*	*	52	7.7%	-	-
		2018-2019	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
*Data set percentages below 5% therefore numbers are to small

JEFFERSON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS
External Request: 8 Year Trend for Students Attending Kammerer and Residing Inside and Outside the Portland Neighborhood
							* Percent Attendance ((Total Membership - Total Absences) / Total Membership)
*Percent Chronic:
School Name	Portland	Year	% Attendance	% 25+ Days Absent	% Chronic	% with 1+ Suspensions
Kammerer Middle	Outside	2011-2012	95.0%	5.7%	14.1%	9.2%
		2012-2013	95.4%	4.3%	12.0%	10.7%
		2013-2014	95.2%	4.1%	13.2%	10.3%
		2014-2015	95.2%	4.2%	15.2%	9.7%
		2015-2016	94.8%	5.2%	14.3%	15.6%
		2016-2017	94.3%	8.3%	18.5%	17.6%
		2017-2018	94.2%	8.8%	18.3%	23.6%
		2018-2019	94.9%	0.2%	17.1%	11.7%
	Inside	2011-2012	91.4%	13.6%	40.9%	25.8%
		2012-2013	91.4%	15.1%	36.6%	20.4%
		2013-2014	91.1%	17.6%	39.6%	16.5%
		2014-2015	91.9%	11.1%	31.1%	26.7%
		2015-2016	90.0%	21.7%	46.4%	39.1%
		2016-2017	91.0%	17.3%	33.3%	30.7%
		2017-2018	88.5%	29.3%	43.1%	43.1%
		2018-2019	90.0%	1.7%	33.3%	25.0%
School Name	Portland	Year	% Attendance	% 25+ Days Absent	% Chronic	% with 1+ Suspensions
Westport Middle	Outside	2011-2012	94.3%	5.9%	19.1%	16.7%
		2012-2013	94.8%	5.9%	14.1%	10.4%
		2013-2014	95.4%	4.1%	12.5%	8.8%
		2014-2015	95.2%	4.3%	13.3%	14.0%
		2015-2016	94.8%	6.7%	16.4%	17.5%
		2016-2017	94.9%	7.5%	16.2%	14.7%
		2017-2018	94.3%	8.2%	18.6%	12.3%
		2018-2019	95.1%	0.9%	15.3%	5.1%
	Inside	2011-2012	90.7%	19.4%	38.8%	34.5%
		2012-2013	92.0%	15.3%	31.7%	19.7%
		2013-2014	91.5%	15.8%	33.5%	23.9%
		2014-2015	90.9%	16.3%	38.8%	39.7%
		2015-2016	89.5%	21.4%	44.8%	41.9%
		2016-2017	89.8%	21.8%	44.0%	42.5%
		2017-2018	87.1%	31.4%	54.1%	44.8%
		2018-2019	91.1%	1.2%	39.2%	19.3%

School Name	Portland	2017-2018 Top 5 Reasons
Kammerer Middle	Outside	12B Fighting/Striking - Student
		02B Failure to respond to questions or requests
		06B Profanity/Vulgarity toward staff
		02B Horseplay
		14L (W/Staff) Intimidation/Harassment/Harassing communications
	Inside	12B Fighting/Striking - Student
		02B Failure to respond to questions or requests
		06B Profanity/Vulgarity
		02B Taunting, baiting, inciting a fight
		02B Intentionally throwing/releasing an object causing disturbance,injury or property damage...
School Name	Portland	2017-2018 Top 5 Reasons
Westport Middle	Outside	12B Fighting/Striking - Student
		02B Failure to respond to questions or requests
		06B Profanity/Vulgarity toward staff
		14L (W/Staff) Intimidation/Harassment/Harassing communications
		19B Dangerous Instrument (carrying or use)
	Inside	12B Fighting/Striking - Student
		02B Failure to respond to questions or requests
		14L (W/Staff) Intimidation/Harassment/Harassing communications
		06B Profanity/Vulgarity toward staff
		13B Fighting/Striking faculty/staff, or other officials

The Portland Anchor - January 2019

The Portland Anchor newspaper is the property of Anchor Publications, Inc and is reproduced with permission of Anchor Publications, Inc.

 

Clicking links below will open a large-ish PDF file (best viewing experience).  Mobile data charges may apply depending on your mobile plan...  It's best viewed on a computer...

The Portland Anchor - December 2018

The Portland Anchor newspaper is the property of Anchor Publications, Inc and is reproduced with permission of Anchor Publications, Inc.

 

Clicking links below will open a large-ish PDF file (best viewing experience).  Mobile data charges may apply depending on your mobile plan...  It's best viewed on a computer...

Updates coming to Portland's corridors

Over the past two months Portland Now, Inc. (PNI) has been working with several divisions and departments in Louisville Metro government to accomplish some important work our most visible corridors. 

In a series of discussions with stakeholders in the neighborhood we along with those government entities have developed a short but important list of items that we are going to get done in Portland. They are:

• Planting 50 trees along the streets in the business and pass-through corridors

• Hanging another 18 Portland Banners

• Installing 10 of the black wrought iron Historic Portland trash cans on the street

• Installing and filling 10 Bourbon Barrel Planters on the street

• Install a bench at 26th and Portland on the North side of Portland Ave. 

This is another step in the ongoing efforts of PNI to revitalize our neighborhood.  

You will probably begin to see work on these projects in the next weeks. 

The Portland Anchor - November 2018

The Portland Anchor newspaper is the property of Anchor Publications, Inc and is reproduced with permission of Anchor Publications, Inc.

 

Clicking links below will open a large-ish PDF file (best viewing experience).  Mobile data charges may apply depending on your mobile plan...  It's best viewed on a computer...

Colorful Portland

Coloring books are all the rage today! Color these pages while you learn about Portland’s Historic District!

Download a full PDF here

Colorful Portland Coloring Book

An Architectural Coloring Book

A Colorful Place to Live

The Portland neighborhood is a colorful place with many types of people and many styles of buildings. On every street, you can find interesting buildings. Every house has a history. Every building has a story.

The neighborhood around your school is a Historic District because the buildings help tell the story of Portland. Buildings in the Historic District are unique and need special care to make sure they will be here for many years to come.

Use this book to discover the stories of 12 important buildings in the Portland Historic District. Your school is one of them. The buildings are close to your school. They are organized into a walking tour with a map to show the way. The map is on the back page of this book. Look for other special buildings and architectural details in Portland. See how colorful your neighborhood can be.

1. Portland Elementary School, 3410 Northwestern Parkway

This school is really two buildings, one inside the other. Together the two make Portland Elementary the oldest public school in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The inside building is old Portland Elementary, built in 1853. This little four-room school was enlarged in 1901 to serve more students. By 1967, the school needed more improvements such as better bathrooms, a bigger library, and more classrooms. School officials asked architect Jasper D. Ward to make the school bigger. He did this by wrapping a new building around the old one. Even later, a new gymnasium was added.

Written by Caroline Aiken and Nathalie Andrews. Illustrated by Annette Cable. Published by the Portland Museum, 2308 Portland Avenue Louisville, Kentucky 40212 for Portland Elementary School with funds from JCPS in 1989. Re-issued with grants from Metro Louisville EAF and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Copyright © Portland Museum, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved.

The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to the Portland Museum with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The House that Peter Built, 3431 Northwestern Parkway

2. The House that Peter Built, 3431 Northwestern Parkway

Peter Portman, a wealthy grocer, and his wife Josephine had nine children and visiting relatives from Switzerland. They needed a big house and built this brick home at the time of the Civil War. Peter and Josephine chose the fashionable Italianate style with brackets along the roof, tall windows and rooms with high ceilings. High ceilings help keep a house cool in summer. Fireplaces kept it warm in winter. Shutters on the windows could be opened and closed to keep the temperature comfortable. Over the years, some details of the house changed. Look carefully. Do you see any brackets or shutters?

A Steamboat Mansion, 3411 Northwestern Parkway

3. A Steamboat Mansion, 3411 Northwestern Parkway

At one time, steamboats lined the wharf at Portland, bringing passengers and cargo up and down the river. Commerce flourished. Steamboat Pilot James Ostrander was proud of his success and wanted his house to show it. He built this handsome mansion with tall ceilings, plenty of windows and two porch galleries on the side. He ordered beautiful terra cotta dripstones for his front windows and a fine wrought-iron fence. Some say this fence is the most beautiful in Louisville. Today, the Ostrander House proudly stands as a symbol of Portland's beauty and its river heritage.

Portland's Oldest House, 719 North 34th Street

4. Portland's Oldest House, 719 North 34th Street

The carpenters, or house wrights, who built this house, did not have power tools. They used axes to fell, or cut down, trees. Then they used an adze to shape the tree into a house beam. An adze is similar to an axe, but the blade is at right angles to the handle. The carpenters had to make many long beams and fit them together with notches. They used wooden pegs to hold the joints tight. The carpenters made a beautiful staircase for the house, and a stylish mantel for each fireplace.

David Shields, a flat-boater, and his wife Jane bought the house in 1827. David loaded his boat with huge coils of rope, barrels of flour, pork and bundles of shingles and headed down river to Natchez, Mississippi. Then tragedy struck. His flatboat sank and David Shields lost everything, even his house. Later his brother-in-law, Squire Jacob Earick and his wife Mary Ann, bought the house. Today is it known as the Earick House.

The U.S. Department of the Interior named the Earick House an official "American Treasure."

A Store On the Corner, 800 North 34th Street

5. A Store On the Corner, 800 North 34th Street

Long, long ago, almost city block had a store on the corner. Some were general stores. Some were taverns and saloons. The design of a corner store is smart. The store had big windows and doors to attract customers. Upstairs, there was plenty of space for the owner's family to live. This corner store was built for Thomas Bannon and his family. The Bannon family lived here for more than fifty years. The handsome double doors on the side served as the family's front door. Look carefully and you can see another set of doors for people to visit the store.

Later Kentuckiana Ornamental Iron Company occupied the building and the Iron Workers Union met upstairs. Today this corner store is divided into eight apartments.

Campbell House, 3430 Rudd Avenue

6. Campbell House, 3430 Rudd Avenue

William H. Campbell, known as Billy Campbell, was an engineer on a steamboat that ran between Portland and New Orleans. A steamboat engineer was paid even more than a captain. So Billy Campbell could afford to build a fine home at the corner of 35th and Rudd. At the time, Rudd Avenue was named Market Street and Cedar Grove Terrace was named Ferry Street because it ran down to the Ferry landing on the river. This was a great location for a steamboat man to live.

The Campbell house is a beautiful example of an Italianate Town House. The exterior walls are 12 inches thick. The windows are tall and the window and door hoods are handsome. Can you see the dentils over the windows? Look closely at the side porch with its beautiful cast iron railings.

Beautiful cast iron like this was made in Portland at one time. Great steamboats carried the iron to New Orleans.

7. Notre Dame du Port (Church of the Good Shepherd), 3515 Rudd Ave.

As early as 1806, priests rode horseback to Portland to conduct services for the Catholic families that were settling here. As the town of Portland grew, so did its Catholic community. By 1839 the community was strong enough to build a beautiful brick church and name it Notre Dame du Port. This French name means Our Lady of the Harbor. The Church you see has been rebuilt twice but the steeple is original. Local brick masons fired, or made, the bricks right here on the land near the church.

8. Cedar Grove Apartments, 719 Cedar Grove Court

At one time, this entire city block was a beautiful school for girls. The Sisters of Loretto, an order of Catholic nuns, founded the school in 1842 to educate girls and young women. The school was named Mount Saint Benedict Academy but people called it Cedar Grove because the property had so many lovely evergreen trees. Students came from all over the South to live and study at the school. A low wall surrounded the campus where the Sisters maintained gardens, grape arbors, and large buildings. Mount Saint Benedict at Cedar Grove closed in 1925. The biggest building became Cedar Grove Apartments.

9. The Old Tavern, 716 Cedar Grove Court

On this four-acre site there stood a tavern, built in 1827 to serve river travelers and boatmen. Before there was a church in Portland, services were sometimes held on the second floor of the tavern. Later, four Sisters of Loretto came to live in the tavern. The nuns hired brick masons to make additions to the building. They founded a school and named it Mount Saint Benedict Academy. Soon gardens, walkways, a laundry, a chapel, and a large dormitory for students filled the four acres.

Many years later a developer bought the land, the school, and the old tavern. He built new houses and put stucco over the brick to make it look Spanish. But, if you look hard, under the new stucco skin, you can still find the old brick building.

10. Mock's Mark, 3519 Northwestern Parkway

In the 1925, Otto Mock, an architect, bought the school and the four acres of land now called Cedar Grove Terrace. He planned a development of new homes around the old school buildings. He called it Cedar Grove Beautiful. Otto Mock transformed the old buildings with stucco and Spanish details. Using a popular style called Tudor, he designed new houses. A Tudor-style house has high, steep roofs and decorative wood beams called timbers. The Cedar Grove section of Portland looks very different than the older buildings in the neighborhood, thanks to the architectural taste of Otto Mock.

Italianate Shotgun, 3522 Northwestern Parkway

11. Italianate Shotgun, 3522 Northwestern Parkway

This perfectly preserved shotgun cottage is built in the Italianate style with a deep cornice, tall front door, handsome brackets, and long, slender windows topped with ornate window hoods. Look carefully at the house next door. Many years ago, the two houses looked very similar. Possibly the same person built both houses. Today they are very different. How many things can you find that are different?

Shotgun with a Hacienda Make-over, 3518 Northwestern Parkway

12. Shotgun with a Hacienda Make-over, 3518 Northwestern Parkway

In 1925 big changes were happening at Cedar Grove. I wonder if the owner of this house looked across the street at the changes and decided to make similar changes to his home. What can you see that is the same as the house next door? Can you see that the shape of the windows is the same, but the window hoods have been removed? Do you see the brackets under the cornice along the roof? Look next door to see if they match!

Details Make the Difference

Details Make the Difference

There is something special about almost every house. Sometimes it is the shape of the roof. Sometimes it is the windows, the number of chimneys or the columns on the porch. Does your house have a special detail?

A detail is a part of a house that makes it special and gives it style. When you walk through Portland, look for details. There are lots of them. Some are pictured below. Look carefully. Almost every house is different.

Antepodia - A pair of matching square stones on each side of a staircase. Sometimes they are carved. The word Antepodia comes from the Ancient Greek language and means "on opposite sides."

Bracket – A piece of wood or stone that helps support a roof or doorway. Brackets are often carved into pretty shapes.

Carpenter's Lace — Ornamental woodwork created by carpenters, especially after the invention of the scroll saw. Some shapes were inspired by decorations on steamboats.

Column – A cylinder made of wood, stone or metal. Columns come in many styles and usually occur in a series, called a colonnade. Five classic styles of columns are identified on the cover of this book.

Dentils — Decorative rows of square blocks found near the roof or windows of a building. Dentils are usually made of wood or stone. They get their names because they look like teeth.

Dripstone – A molding over a window or door that causes rainwater to run to the side. Dripstones are like eyebrows on a building. The Melcher Company in Portland made many of Louisville's beautiful terra cotta dripstones.

Fish Scales — Thin, flat layers of wood shingles shaped like scales on a fish. Fish scales keep water out of the house.

Ironwork – There are two basic types of ironwork, cast iron and wrought iron. Cast iron is heated to a liquid and poured into a mold. Wrought iron is hammered into shapes by a blacksmith Portland had many beautiful iron fences and porch railings. During World War II, citizens were asked to contribute iron to the war to be melted for armaments. Many of Portland's iron fences disappeared at that time.

Shutter – A hinged cover for a window. Shutters are usually made of wood and come in pairs. They help keep out the sun, wind and rain.

Spindles — Short, round ornaments used as spacers between wood. Spindles are made on a machine called a lathe.

The Portland Anchor - October 2018

The Portland Anchor newspaper is the property of Anchor Publications, Inc and is reproduced with permission of Anchor Publications, Inc.

 

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First 100 Years at Lewis Lodge #191

A book published by the Masonic Lewis Lodge #191, celebrating their first 100 years. Contains lots of information on the history of Masonry in Kentucky, and information about the history of Portland, its residents, and the Lodge built at 537 North 26th Street in 1904.