What was Homestead is now called Parkland and is located in the southern part of the West End officially bounded by 34th Street on the west, Broadway on the north, Woodland Avenue on the south and 26th Street on the east. Homestead first was surveyed in 1871, and the town was incorporated in 1874. In four years, its unofficial boundaries reached as far west as the river and included swamp land later known as Little Africa. But disaster struck on March 27, 1890.One of the most powerful tornadoes ever recorded in Jefferson County descended upon Parkland. The twister slammed the town with such force that it not only lost most of its of homes, but its independence as well. Devastated by the enormity of the storm and unable to recover on its own, the town saw its council dissolved, and Parkland was annexed by Louisville in 1894.

Parkland was once actually seperated by race, the stunning houses and pristine, tree-shaded streets of "White Parkland" directly contrasted the wood shacks, leaning shanties and public outhouses of "Black Parkland," most of which was called Little Africa. Located in what is now the Southwick-Cotter Home area, it was southwest of central Parkland and extended as far west as 37th Street.

By the time the Cotter Homes public housing projects were finished, Parkland was an active business center with bumper-to-bumper traffic in the area bounded by 26th Street, 28th Street, Dumesnil Street and Virginia. It was just about the busiest spot in town, next to Fourth Street. Most shop owners leased their buildings from Israel Siry. Florence Lebby, Siry's granddaughter, said she and her family have fond memories of Parkland.

But in the spring of 1968, disaster struck again. Seventy-eight years after the town of Parkland was destroyed by a tornado, the Parkland neighborhood was hit by a cyclone of a different sort -- man-made mayhem -- but with results no less severe.

The Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated in April. Racial tensions were at powder-keg level in cities around the country, and Louisville was no exception.

On May 28 James Cortez, a former aide to Stokely Carmichael and a national Black Power advocate, held an afternoon rally at 28th and Greenwood, an area of pool halls and juke joints that was a popular hangout.

After what police described as an "inflammatory speech" by Cortez, the fuse was light and the dynamite exploded: Rioting erupted, store windows were smashed and their contents whisked away.

Two teen-agers were killed. James Groves Jr., 14, of 32nd Street, was shot by police, and 19-year-old Washington Browder, of 30th Street, was killed by a liquor store owner. Police said both were looting.

Vivian Landrum, who lives on Cypress, was in her second-grade class at Parkland Elementary when the rioting started.

"I knew something was wrong because I always walked home from school, but the teachers made my mother come and get me that day, and she got me and some of my friends," Landrum, 28, said. "There were police and soldiers everywhere. That night the whole neighborhood was blacked out and the National Guard was running all through our yard. We didn't go back to school for a week."

The troops occupied Parkland for seven days, and afterward stores again were looted. Business owners complained bitterly that the guardsmen had left too soon.

Within a short time the merchants -- the few who had bothered to rebuild -- left. Only the Parkland Gulf Station remains from the pre-riot days. Frances Friel, who was a clerk at Hines & Sons Hardware store on Dumesnil before the riots, went into business with George Stovall two weeks after the riots. The Friel and Stovall Hardware and Variety Store at 1213 S. 28th St. is a stone's throw away from the old store.

In 1980 the business district was made a local preservation district, and the neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The historicial designation has spurred limited renovations, with developers enticed by investment credits and homeowners attracted by low-interest loans.

"There is a big difference now. Some of the old houses have either been removed or renovated. The area isn't nearly as blighted as it once was," Downs said.

Derbytown Developers, a local firm, has been charged by the Louisville Urban Renewal Commission with jump-starting the district. New plans call for investment of at least $6 million for 60 apartments, about 15,000 square feet of offices and a medical center.

Woodrow Boggs, president of Derbytown Developers, said work should start in the spring.

Parkland residents say tomorrow wouldn't be soon enough.
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