About 70 years after Louisville was chartered as a city and about 20 years before the first Kentucky Derby was held, a four-room schoolhouse was built in western Louisville.
It still welcomes students each morning.
Built in 1853 near the Ohio River, Portland Elementary opened at a time when the city’s population was about 43,000 and its growth was strongly influenced by the riverboats that needed to be unloaded and moved downriver. It is Kentucky’s oldest school building in continuous use.
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