In 1869 Henry Fruechtenicht started a hay bale business, catering to the region’s horse feeding needs. Fruechtenicht later expanded to cover multiple different types of feeds and animals, and in 1963 the silo pictured above was built. The silo was advanced for its time and used multiple different innovative techniques, and its efficiency contributed to the business’s success. In 2014 Producer Feeds merged with Tapps Feeds to create the new, horse feed only company Excel Equine, which produces high quality grain and feed to the numerous Kentucky horse tracks in the area.
Yet another mysterious and defunct business from a bygone era, Prince Custom Cabinet was founded in 1952 and specialized in making cabinets, kitchen appliances, and other woodworked wares. According to Bizapedia the place has been defunct for a while, since 2007 when the business was filed Inactive; though public record sees Phyllis Prince and Robert Scott (J?) Bohnert as the last active owners.
Close Up of Prince Custom Cabinet
Their Mailbox
Public record shows a physical address I can contact the listed owners and I am planning on sending them letters to see if I can find anything else out about this relatively unknown business. For the most part there’s virtually no information available online. Will update!
Located at 147 N Clay St, Louisville, KY 40202, this boarded up building caught my eye when I was out in the Smoketown area recently.
A picture provided by Google Maps; it seems to be the Trauth Dairy plant in its functioning glory.
It didn’t seem too special, but I snapped a picture anyways. An internet search led me to find that the location had been a dairy plant, Trauth Dairy. Louis Trauth Dairy was a Dairy products company based in Newport, Kentucky and had multiple locations, including our own plant here in Louisville.
Trauth Dairy was founded in 1920 by Louis Trauth Sr. and operated for about 90 years; they were involved in Louisville events like the March of Dimes, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Annual MS walk, the Thanksgivings Day race among others. They were also the official dairy (?) of the U.C. Bearcats and the provider of dairy for the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati.
However, after digging around on the wayback machine, I found their site hadn’t been updated past 2009, and in 2015 Trauth Dairy’s assets were acquired by Reiter Dairy, an Ohio based Dairy company. A year later, Dean Foods, a large dairy brand, acquired Reiter Dairy and now operates it as a subsidiary. I can only assume the Louisville location was either closed in the process or closed at some point for one reason or another. That’ll remain a mystery, for now. But it seems like whatever may remain of Trauth Dairy is Dean property now. Funny how it all works out.
“Triumph. Glory. Beer. The thrill of axe throwing awaits.” –Taken from their site homepage
I was out walking near the David Armstrong skate park when I came across numerous odd places. One being the Flying Axes, located at 146 N. Clay St. Quite literally it is an establishment where you can drink beer, throw axes at targets….yep! Personally I think it’s quite a peculiar sort of business, and it’s so successful it has three branches– one here, one in Covington, and one in Nashville. Well, happy throwing, all!
So I was walking downtown, as a wannabe street photographer often finds themselves doing, when I stumbled upon Downtown Recording, 515 S. 1st St. It was an odd find, tucked among the other tall skyscrapers. It didn’t really stand out, and even though I’d walked the area multiple times it….never really caught my attention.
View of the building’s face front
Under the awning it was quite dark, too dark to be of any still-operating respectable business, right?
Underneath the awning lay sun bleached display cases. Here you can see faded vinyls and CDs of artists that had recorded there.
What seems to be an old recording device is seen behind the retractable metal gate that blocked entry into the building’s foyer.
The metal fence was positioned at the front, and peering through I could see a dimly lit foyer. Luckily for me, a doorbell was available at the very front, and it took several minutes of me waiting after pressing it before an old man, with wild hair and square black glasses, came up to greet me. Or rather, question directly why I was there.
“What do you want.” He said. “Is this studio still in operation?” I inquire.
“Yeah. Artists come and record their stuff. Whaddya want.” He replies, flatly.
“Not much. Just wanted to see if the place was still operating. Thanks.”
The man scoffs a little and turns to go back inside, not giving me another glance.
Taken from their site’s description:Located on Fourth Street, in the heart of Louisville’s entertainment district, Downtown Recording offers a recording experience that is unique to the Midwest. The Niels Kastor designed facility resides in a building that was built in 1938 as a ladies specialty department store, and retains the ambience and charm of the mid century modern era.
And here’s a floorplan layout from their site:
Yeah! That’s about it for the Downtown Recording Studio.
Founded in 1882 McCrory stores were a successful chain of 5 and 10 cent variety stores founded by John Graham McCrorey, with the first location opening in Scottdale Pennsylvania. We had our own location in downtown Louisville which has been preserved for posterity. Our location, amid financial difficulties closed in 1981.
Alan Combs, a McCrory’s employee, stacked fountain stools at McCrory’s to have them shipped to a buyer in Columbus, Ohio, in January 1981. The variety store at 110 E. Main Street had closed. “It’s just another case of high rent, low sales,” said Bob Donahue, manager. Donahue said McCrory’s had no plans to open another store in Lexington. McCrory Corp. also owned H.L. Green’s, a store at 236 W. Main Street and there were no plans to close that store at the time.
Copyright Bing 2019 The Building’s North West side
Located at 733 Logan St, Louisville, KY 40204 , the Herrick Electric Company Building has long been vacant and dormant. According to my research, the Herrick Company name was bought by Jordan Herrick ten years ago and an entirely unrelated electrical company also named Herrick is currently operating in Windham, Connecticut. There is near no information available on the history of the Louisville location; oddly several informational sites still list the business as open and operational, with stated hours of 7:30–4:30 everyday. This is clearly not the case. I’ll continue investigating.
The Merchant’s Ice Tower, in its current condition.
This historic building, located at 806 Logan St, Louisville, KY 40204, built in 1881, was originally a cold storage building for the city;s thriving shipping industry. Made of brick and standing 13 floors tall the Tower used to be a popular tourist destination and a best kept local secret. However, since its foreclosure and crumbling condition it’s since been fenced off and off limits. In 2010 the city expressed interest in renovating it into an apartment complex, but this was scrapped. In 2012 the idea was revived with the intent of creating a nursing home/retirement home complex, but nothing has been done. Interestingly enough, this past year the structure has been surrounded by construction vehicles…Could something be up?
Personally I think the structure has great potential; I’m working on getting it registered with the NRHP and potentially save it from its untimely death.
Located at 2329 Portland Avenue, the In and Out dairy Mart has been a staple of the Portland Community for years. However, little information is available online. I will be conducting an investigation on its history, pricing, food selection and more very soon. They can be reached at (502) 778-9536. Stay fresh!
Definitely one of my favorite hidden places, Shippingport Island is an island accessible via bridge just North of the Portland, Louisville area. It used to be an independent settlement incorporated in 1875; the site was prime for shipping materials and still is, where even today a gate and lock allows for barges to dock. The Louisville Government operates a hydroelectric dam here. Due to increasing usage of the island for commercial and municipal purposes the last of the people still living on the isle were evicted in 1958 to make way for construction. As of now the isle enjoys status as a protected state park, with an enclosed bird sanctuary to the east side of the isle.
Accessible via N 27th street, Louisville KY
Shippingport and its surrounding isles. The Falls of the Ohio are nearby.View of Portland (on the right) and Downtown (on the left) from the Shippingport BridgeView of Sand Isle from Shippingport
Uncommon Louisville 