Cities in Transition

The New Yorker: A City in Transition (1974)

In 1974, The New Yorker published an in-depth examination of Louisville during a pivotal period of change. The article captured key insights about the city's self-perception and challenges that would shape its trajectory for decades to come.

Key Observations

The Atlanta Comparison

"In recent years they have seemed preoccupied, to a degree that might be called defensive, by comparisons with Atlanta. They like to point out that they think the bloom is off the capital city of Georgia."

The Inertia Problem

"One of these Louisvillians, a young executive named H. Wendell Cherry, summed it all up by declaring that his city had fallen victim to an 'incredible inertia,' which manifested itself in several ways, one of them being that a lot of citizens were going around saying they were glad that not much was happening in Louisville."

Economic Identity Crisis

"Blue-collar industry and blue-collar workers were unlikely to make the sort of contributions to the community that some of the community's leaders thought ought to be made. Blue-collar industry, they reasoned, meant an orientation toward suburbia rather than the central city and many of these leaders were worried about what was happening to the center of Louisville. The downtown section was deteriorating, and the people were expressing fear that it would continue to deteriorate."