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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18 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 2.15 1412 S. Sixth St. thebit kentuckytotheworld.org BLOODLINE BUILDING Photo by Aaron Kingsbury 1867 The Italianate building is built for residential use. 1893 Jennie Casseday Free Infrmary for Women is named after the late Casseday, who was paralyzed in a carriage accident and spent the rest of her life helping the sick and poor. The building is updated and covered with octagonal slate tile from the Southern Exposition's main pavilion. 1897 Dr. Lewis Samuel McMurtry, who will later become president of the American Medical Association, runs the home as McMurtry's Infrmary. The Buffalo Medical Journal describes the place as "concededly as fne a private hospital in its location, equipment and life-saving record as has ever been established in this country." 1900s It becomes Dr. Milton Board's Sanatorium. 1916 The Louisville Neuropathic Sanatorium takes over for the next few decades. 1926 A woman named Ida Ahlf hangs herself while getting treatment. 1944 The sanatorium closes and the building is repurposed as apartments. Late '40s According to the book Ghosts of Old Louisville, a World War II veteran studying at U of L lives in one of the apartments and reports strange occurrences, including an unplugged radio playing classical music; an unplugged lamp that turns on and off; moaning and weeping; water "raining" from the ceiling; and drastic temperature drops. A Catholic priest is called in for a third time to try to exorcise the happenings in the house. (Residents have since reported seeing an apparition of a woman hanging from the ceiling.) 1970s Apartments are vacant. Paint on the slate tile exterior "spruces up" the place, according to a 1975 document nominating the building and its neighborhood to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 1980s Father-son team Bob and Roberto Bajandas buy and renovate the building. Today The Bajandas architecture and design frm operates inside. The building is listed on hauntedhouses.com. Sources: city directories; Ghosts of Old Louisville; Buffalo Medical Journal; Journal of the Indiana State Medical Association; The Encyclopedia of Louisville.