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Established in 1865, Lexington’s Davis Bottom neighborhood has quietly existed as a microcosm of American immigration history. | Photo furnished
Behind a cluster of strikingly modern apartment buildings and loud, bustling streets a half-mile southwest of Rupp Arena, an irreplaceable study of close-knit diversity in Lexington quietly exists.
Established in 1865, Davis Bottom was the oldest of about a dozen ethnic neighborhoods settled by families who migrated to Lexington between 1860 and 1890 in search of jobs, security and opportunity. Although the majority of the neighborhood originally comprised African American families, it quickly became a portal community for European immigrants and Appalachian families as well.
A model of unlikely community cohesion, the diverse but tight knit neighborhood has defied stereotypes of racial segregation for the past 150 years.
“It didn’t make any difference what color you were,” neighborhood resident Cindy Lambert Reynolds said, recalling her experience growing up in the area. “You were welcome in anyone’s house along the street.”
The history of this melting pot of Americana is the subject of a 2013 documentary, which will be shown this month in conjunction with the National Community Land Trust Network Conference taking place in Lexington Oct. 19-22. Combining archeological research, interviews with neighborhood residents, family photographs and more, the film is part of the Davis Bottom History Project, a local historical preservation project co-sponsored by the Kentucky Archeological Survey and the Kentucky Heritage Council.
In an educational package produced for the project, Gwynn Henderson, the education coordinator for the Kentucky Archeological Survey, reflected on the importance of preserving the stories of this working class neighborhood whose history is largely unknown among Lexingtonians.
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The west end of DeRoode Street in Davis Bottom is captured in this 1940 photograph taken by the Works Progress Administration. | Photo furnished
“Without Davis Bottom’s history, a whole section of our state’s history is missing,” said Henderson. “Learning about life in Davis Bottom breaks down myths and misconceptions, stereotypes and prejudices of what these communities are like.”
Notable figures from the neighborhood’s history include Willard Davis, a prominent white civil rights advocate and land speculator for whom the neighborhood was named, and Isaac Scott Hathaway, an artist who grew up in the neighborhood and went on to become one of the most significant African American sculptors and ceramics artists of his time.
Preserving the history of Davis Bottom has become especially symbolic in recent years, as construction of the Newtown Pike Extension has displaced many of the neighborhood’s original homes and raised questions its future. In 2008, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet created the Lexington Community Land Trust, an organization charged with preserving and improving the neighborhood while still stewarding the sense of community and security for its residents and making sure the needs of the residents are met. The organization has been working to build 80-100 new homes for rent or sale which will be sold to existing residents at an extremely low cost, a process that helps enable low-income families to stay in the neighborhood they’ve grown up in and build equity they normally might not be able to accrue.
The neighborhood was recently renamed Davis Park, acknowledging the changing face of the area and the importance of its history at once.
Screening of the documentary “Davis Bottom: Rare History, Valuable Lives”
Oct. 19, 6 p.m.
Kentucky Theater, 214 E. Main St.
In conjunction with the National Community Land Trust Network Conference, which is taking place in Lexington Oct. 19-22, the Lexington Community Land Trust will present a screening of the documentary “Davis Bottom: Rare History, Valuable Lives.” The screening is free and open to the public.
For more info on the Davis Bottom Historical Preservation Project, visit http://anthropology.as.uky.edu/kas/kas-projects/davis-bottom-project.