Shippingport, the Dam & Canal
Shippingport was a commercial site and former settlement on a peninsula near the Falls of the Ohio. It was incorporated in 1785. From 1810 to 1820 the population jumped from 98 to over 500, and seriously challenged Louisville as Kentucky's most important port. The first settlers were mainly French families. Early features included Elm Tree Garden, where there was horse-racing, a long rope walk and the Napoleon Distillery. The Garden centered around a giant elm tree with a large wooden platform, more than 300 feet in circumference Below the treetop tavern were mazes and puzzle gardens. A six-story flour mill built in 1817 became a symbol of Shippingport's success.
Though the town frequently flooded, it reached its peak in the 1820s with a population of 600, but the digging of the Louisville and Portland Canal in 1825 made the peninsula an island, allowing ships to bypass the Falls and, by extension, Shippingport, which was hard hit by the loss of its traditional business. It’s decline also allowed it to be annexed by Louisville when the city incorporated in 1828. Many fine houses still dotted the settlement, and in 1834 James Howard began building boats there before moving his business to Jeffersonville.
The remnants of the settlement dwindled over the next century as the canal was gradually widened and a hydroelectric plant was built on the island. The area was devastated by the Ohio River flood of 1937, which forced most of the remaining families to leave. The federal government acquired the remaining private property there in 1958 to widen the canal, evicting the last families, some of whom had lived there for over a century.
One well known inhabitant of Shippingport was Jim Porter. Jim, born in 1810, was very small and sickly as a child. He became a jockey at the age of fourteen at Elm Tree Garden Racetrack. At age seventeen something began to happen to him that would change his life forever. He started growing and growing until he reached 7 feet 8 inches. He became known as "The Kentucky Giant". Jim Porter opened a tavern near the Portland Canal in 1836. He prospered early and was able to build an eighteen room house which had ten foot doors and furniture made to suit his large build. He died in 1859.
300 plus PDF pages about the canal, locks and dam history.
Though the town frequently flooded, it reached its peak in the 1820s with a population of 600, but the digging of the Louisville and Portland Canal in 1825 made the peninsula an island, allowing ships to bypass the Falls and, by extension, Shippingport, which was hard hit by the loss of its traditional business. It’s decline also allowed it to be annexed by Louisville when the city incorporated in 1828. Many fine houses still dotted the settlement, and in 1834 James Howard began building boats there before moving his business to Jeffersonville.
The remnants of the settlement dwindled over the next century as the canal was gradually widened and a hydroelectric plant was built on the island. The area was devastated by the Ohio River flood of 1937, which forced most of the remaining families to leave. The federal government acquired the remaining private property there in 1958 to widen the canal, evicting the last families, some of whom had lived there for over a century.
One well known inhabitant of Shippingport was Jim Porter. Jim, born in 1810, was very small and sickly as a child. He became a jockey at the age of fourteen at Elm Tree Garden Racetrack. At age seventeen something began to happen to him that would change his life forever. He started growing and growing until he reached 7 feet 8 inches. He became known as "The Kentucky Giant". Jim Porter opened a tavern near the Portland Canal in 1836. He prospered early and was able to build an eighteen room house which had ten foot doors and furniture made to suit his large build. He died in 1859.
300 plus PDF pages about the canal, locks and dam history.
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