Lower Street (Lexington, KY)

The area was platted in 1844 with the least expensive lots sold to African Americans following the end of the Civil War. The neighborhood was located on the western side of Lexington, backed by railroad tracks [off present day Broadway near the railroad overpass]. The Lower Street School, one of the three main schools for African Americans, was in place by 1888. The street name was changed in 2004 to Patterson Street.

Information for this entry comes from J. Kellogg, "The Formation of Black Residential Areas in Lexington, Kentucky, 1865-1887," The Journal of Southern History, vol. 48, issue 1 (Feb. 1982), pp. 21-52; "Ask us - answers to your burning questions," Lexington Herald-Leader, 12/1/2004, Communities section, p.  D1; and D. Wilkinson, "Achievement gap inseparable from the history of inequality from slavery on, African Americans have faced uphill struggle for education," Lexington Herald-Leader, 8/26/2001, Opinions and Ideas section, p. J1.

See also Heather M. Dollins, East End and Davis Bottom: a Study of the Demographic and Landscape Changes of Two Neighborhoods in Lexington, Kentucky (Historic Preservation in the College of Design Masters Project, University of Kentucky), 2011.