Old silos on Preston to be razed
Neighbors hope for development
The old silos on Preston Highway near the city of Audubon
Park are among several structures targeted for demolition, and
some neighbors hope the land-clearing will lead to new
development.
The silos, at 3142 Preston Highway, were once used by the
Oehrle Coke and Coal Co. to store coal. Like the silos, the
defunct company's offices at 3140 Preston Highway will be torn
down. The old Audubon Lounge at 3132 Preston Highway has already
been razed.
All three properties, together about 1.4 acres, were recently
purchased from the Oehrle family by Don Schwartz, who runs
Southern Storage and Rentals at 3120 Preston Highway.
Schwartz was out of town last week and unavailable for
comment on his plans for the properties, but demolition permits
were granted in June.
Most people are happy to see the old structures go, Audubon
Park Mayor Mike Scalise said. The silos are "an eyesore,"
Scalise said. "I'm just glad to see the improvements."
Metro Councilman Jim King said the silos, which stand near
Interstate 65 across from the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center,
were a reminder of the area's industrial past, and many
officials want to see something different there.
"I couldn't be happier," he said of the demolition. "It's
just one more step along the lines of making the Preston
corridor what we want it to be."
The Oehrle Coke and Coal Co. was started in 1920 by Edwin A.
Oehrle Sr., who died in 1967. He had two sons, James L. Oehrle
Sr. and Edwin A. Oehrle Jr., who took over the company. Both are
also dead.
It is unclear when the silos were built, but Esther Oehrle,
82, widow of James Oehrle Sr., said the silos were there when
she moved to Louisville in the 1940s.
"I suspect they were put up in the 1920s," she said. "The
company was near the railroad spur. There was an elevator. Coal
was put up on it and then put into the silos."
Marcella Schook, 84, who was the company's bookkeeper from
1938 to 1975, when it closed, said the silos were there when she
started working for Oehrle.
Since the company closed, the Oehrle family has rented the
commercial space but the silos have remained empty, Schook said.
Scalise said the history of the coal company is interesting
but that the demolition will benefit the community because the
structures are old and look dilapidated. "I think that it will
be a big boon to the neighborhood as far as visually," he said.
The cleared land might invite more favorable development,
such as a small strip center or restaurant, said Liz Martin,
president of the Belmar Neighborhood Association and chairwoman
of the Preston Corridor Planning Group.
The planning group has been trying to revitalize that part of
Preston Highway by encouraging development and by getting small
cities, neighborhoods and Louisville officials to work together.
Martin, who said Schwartz has attended meetings of the
planning group, said the demolition is a "positive investment
for the area."
"We are trying so hard to lift what has been a drained area
for several decades," she said. "I think it's fabulous." |
