Fire & Police Department Building
Park Road, Shively

As of 2003, Shively has been under a Metropolitan form of government, in which this entire (Jefferson) County has been incorporated as 'Louisville.' This metropolitan government then pays for the extant local police and fire departments, as well as providing support services in this regard from Metro Louisville.

I have no direct idea as to how residents feel about this relationship with Louisville. I do see the Shively police-cars and firewagons on the road, and it would appear that these public mandates are being accomplished.

In a real way, I would regret any Louisville annulment of these local services; I know not whether such an abolition has ever been contemplated.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Typical' Apartment Complex in Shively--
Manslick Road @ Elderwood Drive

'Across the railroad tracks' from subdivision Shively one can find apartments-to-let, with rentals that can meet with the budgets-- say-- of those who are disabled (SSI or SSDI recipients) or the working-poor and betimes immigrants who are 'starting out' in the USA.

This makes for a culture of more-transience than would be the case in the home-owned neighborhoods here. I picture the folks who live over here as being honest, struggling, trying-to-do-what-is-best. Surprisingly there does not seem to be much overt crime, although the police do have to make an occasional showing around here.

I for one have a good landlord, who willingly does the requisite maintenance and who is honest in his dealings with the residents. I find this impressive, and do speculate that the other proprietors of these local rental properties accommodate their residents in the same way.

The apartment complex shown in the photograph above advertises rent a ~ $250 per month; correspondingly I pay $340 for a place with good heat, and air conditioning providing seasonal and economic comforts. It looks as though there are some more-upscale apartments at nearby Partridge Pointe, just to the west of here, bounded on both sides by high wooden fences suggesting a potential-- but not actualized-- 'gated community.' Across Manslick from here is a big complex which I think is called The American, and in that facility seem to be numerous folks with physical handicaps requiring 'scooters'/motorized-wheelchairs.

Neighbors here tend to keep a respectable distance, with an obvious yen 'not to bother anybody.' In the leasing contract I have there is a 'no pets' clause, but this is apparently abrogated locally by dog ownership by residents, and there may be other pets as well. A culture of cats congregates in these apartments, although the management sometimes tries to Have-A-Heart trap excess kitties and port them to the nearby Animal Control Center.

I am happy though petless here: would not do anything to spoil the relationship with my esteemed landlord. In this 'cheapside,' the living can nonetheless be-good.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Good Neighbors' at Walgreens
Dixie Highway & Crums Lane, Shively

I certainly esteem Walgreens Pharmacy to be a community asset: in its strategic location it operates to accommodate Shively not only with prescribed and OTC (over-the-counter) drugs, but health-care-related products, cosmetics, medical equipage, books/mags and even groceries. It is one place where one can get provisions on Thanksgiving and even Christmas.

When Krogers-- the local supermarket-- closes, there is always Walgreens here to fill the slack in distribution. The pharmacists are also available on a 24X7 basis and I have gotten vital psychotropics and other meds refilled at the 'wee hours,' always with smiles.

This good company also has a fledgling health-clinic operation: one betimes can be screened for diabetes (one of my medical problems) hypertension/high-blood-pressure (another problem with me, more/less historical); there is even an effort at Walgreens to provide clients with needed vaccinations, saving the indigent the complication and expense of transiting to the Health Department far downtown.

I enjoy the service I get too @ Walgreens with my Medicare D services; here the advice is helpful, the prices 'right' and the service always courteous-- night or day I say.

Thank you Walgreens: certainly you make great Shively 'neighbors.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Anne Braden, Local Civil Rights Leader
(Photo from University of Louisville Archive)

Presently, as I have reported here, Shively is a true melting-pot 'rainbow' community, with blacks constituting nearly half of the demographics here. This was not always the case however: housing discrimination once made Shively a 'locked out community' to African-Americans. The struggles of black folk to gain a foothold here required concerted effort, not-a-little marked by shameful treatment of those who would 'buck the trend' and make this village a mixed community.

'Lily-white' in the years after World War II, Shively made no secret of the coercion to which it would use to keep housing segregation. There were blacks and thoughtful white people in town at the same time who saw this unfairness, worked toward correction.

Thus in 1954 it came to be that labor-leader Carl Braden and his journalist wife Anne devised the idea of buying a house in Shively, then re-selling it to a Negro family (names unmentioned here for their protection.) The sale/re-sale was effected, with immediate consternation by the white neighbors. A 'fiery cross' (a token of KKK lore) was set in front of the house, gunshots were fired through its windows, and in few days the house-- which was new-- was dynamited.

The uproar here generated by 'outsiders trying to mix our neighborhood' was soon connected by rumor to the allegation that the Bradens were Communists, which in that ('Joe') McCarthy era was against federal law. The Bradens were charged with sedition, and Carl was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Anne was left penniless, but still persisted in advocacy in social-justice causes, particularly those promoting racial equality. She in the last decade attended St. George's Episcopal Church, a mission to the inner-city on Virginia Ave. I met Anne at this church, and found her to be a lively oldster, with a keen mind, and a compulsion for social justice.

Anne died in 2006 to a mourning liberal community in Metro Louisville; I know nothing about the fate or demise of Carl. But clearly here was a figure who inaugurated social change that lives today in happily-integrated Shively.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Anti-'Crack'/Meth-Amphetamine Poster
Manslick Food Mart, 2010

The 'crack'/meth-amphetamine culture everywhere in the USA is covert, due likeliest because of the grave social sanctions that are imposed on these users. I know nothing about this culture, would eschew it at all costs, and 'ask no questions.' But reliable folks have told me that there is such a drug culture in Shively; the public health sign about this problem posted on our local food mart last year may perhaps may be taken as 'smoke' for the 'fire' of meth use hereabouts.

I wouldn't even know what to look for as 'archeological' evidence of this underground. I have heard something about pipes and tubes used with this group, but would not really know what these look like, and have not seen anything even suspicious of such ilk in this neighborhood.

By contrast alcohol culture shows itself as a legal practice with residues openly and all over Shively, particularly along the railroad track, and of course as throw-aways in dumpsters. Of this I 'know something' by the evidence, but again do not indulge.

There is a Seven Counties Services community mental health center in Shively, on Crums Lane; this agency has a mandate to treat drug/substance problems in addition to mental disorders. While I frequent this place as a mental consumer, I because of confidentiality know nothing about the portion of clients with a substance-abuse problem.

Clearly though from what I know, 'crack' and its chemical relative cocaine are among the most addictive substances known to humankind. I do hope that the poor souls who get trapped into a meth habit in this village are able to work out of what must be a terrible addiction.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Youngland-- Dixie Highway @ Youngland Ave., Shively

Depicted above is one of the largest residential buildings in Shively, the historic-site home of Bennett H. Young (vital dates 1843-1919), a Civil War 'hero' and one of the most prominent-- and most prosperous-- citizens in Shively/Louisville during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Young was the perpetrator of the most-northern military action of the Civil War-- executed the Raid of St. Alban's Vermont on October 19, 1864. He had been a private with Captain John Hunt Morgan's 1863 foray into Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, which as a military endeavor was marked by what might be called pillage-guerrilla-warfare, which included some 'stealing' of horses. In Ohio Young was locked into the state prison in Columbus, but escaped to Canada.

In Canada, Young devised the idea that he could use that country as a base to raid the USA and procure needed cash for the Confederacy. He went to Bermuda and meeting Confederates got a commission of lieutenacy to accomplish the mission of raiding the Northern USA.

With 21 Confederates, Young checked into a St. Alban's hotel under the ruse of being travelers; on the next day, they went robbing 3 banks, losing much of the cash but netting $208,000 in the armed robbery; Young made the tellers of these banks swear allegiance to the Confederacy, and then made a completely unsuccessful effort to burn down St. Alban's starting with the mansion of the Vermont governor, who lived in the town.

Young was captured when he returned to Canada, but was released on recognition that he was a Confederate belligerent in the Civil War, in which fray Canada was neutral. As he was considered a criminal by the USA, he stayed in Canada until he was permitted to go back to Kentucky in 1868.

Young attained a law degree in Ireland, then in Scotland: he made settlement in Louisville, and became a highly successful attorney. He did much charitable work, including the founding of an orphanage for black children, establishment of the Louisville School for the Blind, and much pro bono legal work for the poor.

There is an historical marker in front of this mansion, a sign that here was a prominent person who needs remembrance. The heroes a community has by such display reveal much about the character of the place... Thus with some pride I make this written offering touting the accomplishments of Mr. Young.

In future entries, I shall try to present characterizations of other 'Shively heroes.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Bicycles Racked @ Kroger's, Southland Terrace

Transportation and culture are closely inter-related; we need modes of transit in order to effect the exchange of goods and services of all types. In the USA and in Shively, 'automobile culture' predominates, but this is not universally so.

In the photograph above, I show a racking of bicycles in front of the major community nexus, Kroger's supermarket. One sees bikes and bicycling occasionally on the thoroughfares and by-ways, and I am led to make rather speculative remarks about the relation of 'bicycle culture' here in relation to the larger community.

To own a care requires money-- an expensive financial dealing generally requiring a connection to a crediting company, required automobile insurance, maintenance, and the price of the gasoline required to fuel engines (no minor consideration of late-- gasoline costing now ~$3.50+ per gallon.) There appears to be a substantial demographic of poorer folk in Shively, who use mass transit (Transit Authority of River City--TARC) and extensively pedestrianism.

The purchase of a bike would require some cash-outlay: I would guess that its cost would require some deferred gratification for a poor person, say a couple of months of restraint from a welfare check. Insurance would not be required, and that would be a '+' for economies; maintenance is betimes required on bikes, but this oft can be done by the owner himself/herself, and at any rate the cost of bicycle repair in a 'shop' does not rival what auto repairs would be. A bicycle moreover is 'pretty fast,' certainly a quicker way to get around than walking.

However, I see disadvantages: on the highway, I am told that cycling is DANGEROUS; there are not-- and really cannot be-- bike lanes added to the generally narrower streets of Shively. I do not know about the epidemiology of traffic accidents pertaining to bicycling in this community, but I do not anticipate that this would amount to a minor public problem.

Another limitation of getting around by bicycle would be the amount of 'baggage' on can effect on such transit. Here, the limitation would comprise how much one could stuff into 'saddlebags' and bike-baskets, and possibly a smaller pack one might takin per back while biking. Indeed, I when pedestrian have a duffel with pack-straps which could accommodate like 30-40 pounds of 'stuff'-- a total unlikelihood with bicycle transit.

In short, I see potential conflict of the bicyclists with the larger auto-centered culture of Shively; I do not know how cyclists themselves see this potential conflict, and I know of no way to poll car-drivers on this subject: but certainly in numerous ways the bicyclists is 'outgunned and outnumbered.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens