20090502155637, originally uploaded by massmoga.
Not far from downtown Lexington and the University of Kentucky campus, in a low-lying area adjacent to the railroad tracks lies Davis Bottom. This linear stretch of small houses lines both sides of DeRoode Street, and a small community of people live here. In fact, people have lived here for more than 140 years. Davis Bottom was one of places where African Americans settled in Lexington following the Civil War, according to a 1977 article by a UK graduate student in geography. Soon, however, the community will be transformed. As a recent article by Jill Laster in the university paper describes, a road-building project, planned for decades, will soon get underway:
“In the next five years, an extension of Newtown Pike will begin as a four-lane boulevard at Main Street and cut through the Bottom, about a 10-minute drive from UK, and will stretch to the university, where South Broadway meets Scott Street.To make room for the extension, the century-old wooden houses that run along De Roode Street will be demolished.”
Read more about Davis Bottom, including a profile of some of the current residents, and see photos from a local documentary photographer in the links at the right side of this page.
Thanks for informing me about a forgotten Kentucky landscape bc I was unaware of Davis Bottoms and didn’t even know it existed. Keep up the great research.