“This is my home” | Wanda Mitchell Smith

Track Changes

Imagine you grew up in a close-knit neighborhood. A miniature factory town where pretty much everyone worked at the nearby railyard and/or the racetrack. You bought a house, raised your kids there, and now you babysit your grandkids there. Do a lot of work for your church, and you’re helping them raise money to expand. Then the city says it’s buying your house. It’s buying the whole neighborhood. You hardly ever even go outside your community, but now you have to leave it for good. This is the story of Highland Park, a south Louisville neighborhood that once was, told by Sam Alexander and Wanda Mitchell Smith, who both grew up there.

Learn more:

• Highland Park — Gone But Not Forgotten
• Images of Highland Park from the University of Louisville archive (just a note, there are some funeral/wake images of kids in this collection; nothing graphic, but proceed with caution)
• Photos of Highland Park today
• Highland Park Neighborhood History & historical marker