Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.
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5.14 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2 5 will help ignite a tourism and entertainment boom for the long-sleepy small city across the Ohio River from Louisville. Te Big Four is a six-span former railroad bridge built in 1929 within the framework of its predecessor, the original 1895 bridge. It hasn't seen a train cross it in 45 years — but has now been handsomely re-purposed as a pedestrian and bicycle way that spans the Ohio, maybe three-quarters of a mile long, counting ramps. And for those who have always wondered who, or what, the Big Four were, the answer is the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which later merged into the New York Central. Louisville got its curlicue ramp up to the bridge frst, way back in February 2013; the completion of the Indiana approach has been gratingly tardy, its opening date pushed back throughout last year and then fnally set at April 30 — and then delayed again, until (and this, too, is wild speculation, but here goes) later this month. Unlike Louisville's ramp, which gradually winds from ground level to bridge height, the Jef-side ramp descends straight of the bridge. S tarting from the Kentucky side, I'm trying the whole thing out, bicycling the span before I (pretend to) descend into Jefersonville (I actually have to retrace my course and ride over on the Clark Bridge) to fnd out just what's over there. Te frst clue comes on the way across. Te bridge is so long that the frst tendency is to gaze out up- and downriver, transfxed by the long views. Pretty cool. When I get to a long middle span, speakers above are playing jaunty march music. One of the marches, I think, is Sousa's "Washington Post," composed in the era the original bridge was built. A trio of young walkers form up in a rank to march in time, and, hopping of the bike, I get into the rhythm, too. Tere's a spot where two giant spans are tied together with huge bolts. Big, big bolts, refecting a blossoming age of steel, when America built big things — like long bridges over mighty rivers to carry railroads. Looking from the Big Four deck, the river shore of Jefersonville is dominated by the American Commercial Lines Jefboat shipbuilding yard. Still bustling, it bills itself as the largest inland shipbuilding yard in the U.S. At night, if Jefboat is operating extra shifts, you can see welding sparks as mammoth river vessels are born. Tat all started out, in 1834, as the Howard Shipyard & Dock Co. And we'll get up along there on this trip. But frst I leave the bridge for downtown Jefersonville, where things are happening. Tere's a Mediterranean restaurant going to open soon, and a branch of the Indianapolis Flat 12 Bierwerks microbrewery set to open in a building behind. Tere's also an established restaurant called Cluckers, "Where the chicken comes frst." Regardless of how the chicken fnishes, the view is a winner, as are the vistas aforded by similar restaurants that have opened downstream in Clarksville. People here love the Louisville skyline. And they LOVE dining decks. Along Riverside Drive is Riverfront Park, which is a little gem that goes right down to the river — and into it during high water. Low stone walls terrace grassy seating for an amphitheater, and when the water recedes in summertime, the city foats up a stage for shows. Te Louisville Orchestra has played there. Te neatest thing might be the big stone boulders along the river's edge and up along the street, which help the park hold on against the Ohio. Trough the foodwall, with decks towering above it, is Big Four Burgers and Beer. Te place expands on its second foor to a large bar with a band stage. In a previous life, the Big Four was a biker bar — Harley, not Schwinn. But now its visitors might be tying up a Trek. Out on the deck, assistant manager Tad Holmes looks out across the Ohio to Louisville. "Oh, I don't know if we'll ever top the attractions on that side of the river," Holmes tells me. "We see ourselves as more of an extension of (Louisville's) downtown, all there is to do over there, extending the nightlife over here." Back on the street, I wander up Spring, with the Red Yeti and all. Tere's Schimpf's Confectionery, whose candy museum is already a tourist destination. And the Come Back Inn, popular for a decade or more now. And the Perkfections cofee shop, which also serves breakfast and lunch, where you can read newspapers at your leisure. If you look through the glass windows of a corner cigar store, you can see guys sitting A sunny-side view of the Big Four; a 1957 photo of the student section in the Old Jefferson High Fieldhouse; and another revival on Spring Street. 24-31 Dept.indd 25 4/18/14 10:51 AM