East Market District, Louisville

The district is today well known for its galleries showcasing local, regional and national artists, unique specialty stores, antique shops and a growing number of upscale restaurants.

The district also houses numerous architecture firms, antique stores, advertising and media agencies, a record label, film production group, publishing company, designers and more.

Around 1832, Market Street's eastern terminus was occupied by the Woodland Gardens, a green oasis of amusement and entertainment in the growing city that became a favorite gathering spot with German immigrants.

The gardens themselves gave way to the Bourbon Stockyards when it closed in 1880, which helped fuel early growth of meat purveyors, tanners and other industries associated with the livestock trade, including the establishment of five Market Houses that populated the street.

The Haymarket area, which occupied most of the blocks around Jefferson, Market, Floyd and Preston streets, had a long and ethnically rich history, says University of Louisville archivist Dr. Tom Owen.

Market Street often played host to Academy Award winning pioneer movie director, D. W. Griffith, a native of nearby Oldham County, Kentucky, whose family had moved to Louisville where D.W. began work for the Meffert Stock Company.

Writer and director Cameron Crowe chose the East Market District to shoot scenes for his 2005 film Elizabethtown, starring Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst.