Bonnycastle Homestead Association

Bonnycastle Homestead Association

Welcome to Bonnycastle Neigbhorhood!

Here is a map of the neighborhood.

Be sure to look around the website. It features a calendar with neighborhood meetings and events as well as local events, an online discussion board, pictures of neighbors, a list of the board members and contact info, as well as many informational pages on the neighborhood and the community featured in the Community Pages section.

Email us

jennifer.a.schultz@gmail.com

About our association

OUR ASSOCIATION

Residents who were concerned about police protection, neighborhood maintenance, inadequate housing and other common neighborhood problems formed the Bonnycastle Homestead Association in February of 1973.

The Association's "baptism of fire" came with the April 3, 1974 tornado. The neighborhood pulled together to clean up and repair the damage. A real threat existed that developers could buy damaged property cheaply and build large apartment complexes, drastically changing the character of the neighborhood, before residents had time to know what was happening. The Association first pressured the planning commission into imposing a moratorium on development in the area.

Then the Association launched a strong and ultimately effective "downzoning" campaign, which ensures that the neighborhood can become no more "apartmentized" than it already is.

OUR NEIGHBORHOOD

The Bonnycastle Homestead area is a part of Louisville's Highlands, between Bardstown Road and Cherokee Park, and between Eastern Parkway and Speed Avenue. Built up over 50 years ago, and experiencing some decline in the 1950's and 1960's, the neighborhood is now alive and prospering. Residents are happy with their tree- shaded streets, their graceful older homes, their closeness to the cultural offerings of downtown, and the friendly atmosphere. The neighborhood is vitilized by a diversity of ages and occupations. In recent years, this has become one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Louisville; property values are rising, and houses sell rapidly.

The Bonnycastle Homestead area corresponds to Louisville and Jefferson County planning N-11 and U.S. Census Tract 85 (established in 1940). In 1970 the area's population was 2,528, with 1,120 dwelling units.

The name for our association is taken from the old Bonnycastle Homestead, which originally encompassed much of the land on which the neighborhood is built. The old Bonnycastle Homestead mansion still stands on Cowling behind the Christian Church.

The land was bought by Isaac Everett in 1848 from Myrah and Angereau Gray, and was described as being "near the City of Louisville and on the Turnpike Road leading to Bardstown and on the Sinking Fork of the Beargrass Creek." A 14-½ acre, "bell-shaped" parcel of land comprised this homestead near Cowling Avenue. Spring Drive forms the curving portion of this bell. Isaac Everett died in April 1885 and willed his property to his son-in-law John C. Bonnycastle, in trust for his daughter, Harriet B. Everett Bonnycastle. He died in 1884 and left Harriet the bulk of the property making up our neighborhood. The dedication of Bonnycastle Addition was dated July 3, 1900, and was signed by Harriet E. Bonnycastle.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND GOALS

These are some of the things we have accomplished and hope to accomplish in the years to come.

Zoning

The Association was the moving force behind the post-tornado downzoning and subscribes to a monitoring service, which notifies us of any zoning appeals of building permits that affect our area. This allows us to have routine input into these decisions and prevents unpleasant "surprises." A number of such cases have been routinely handled for the past 30 years.

Neighborhood Improvement

The Association, with the help of a $10,000 federal grant and an equivalent amount from the neighborhood (mostly in the form of labor) fertilized and revitalized trees in the right-of-ways.

In addition, the Association has in the past found, and continues to find, many opportunities for replacing trees, to return the neighborhood to its previously tree-shaded beauty.

The Association cooperates with the Sanitation Department in the annual spring clean up and trash pick-up drive.

The Association has sponsored an annual Holiday Door Decoration contest, and encourages projects to make our neighborhood a Seasonal showcase.

The Association continues to find large and small ways of improving the appearance of our neighborhood.

Email us
jennifer.a.schultz@gmail.com