Building a Town
Louisville was originally platted by French fur trader Louis LaCroix who established a trading post on the bank of the river, likely in 1850. In 1853, H. H. Spencer arrived from Louisville, Kentucky with his family. He envisioned a community in the northwest corner of the township thriving on steamboat travel and trade along the Minnesota River. Spencer soon began buying up lots. He built a home for his family, a grocery store, and a post office where he established himself as postmaster - and also offered free lots to other tradespeople who were willing to set up shop in the new community. Spencer then began working to recoup his investment, and make the town a financial success. Soon, he was advertising the prospects of Louisville in newspapers around the region.
This lengthy paragraph about Louisville was placed in the Minnesota Democratic Weekly on May 23, 1855:
Another example is this advertisement, published in the Daily Minnesotan Newspaper, November 1st, 1854:
As a result of this campaign, around 30 families moved to the settlement.
Building up Business
In 1856, Spencer built a gristmill in Louisville. Later that year, two steam mills were constructed, one by Ezra Gibbs, and one by J. W. Sencerbox. Both mills were operated by steam, as the Minnesota River was too placid at the townsite to provide enough power to operate a mill. Neither mill was destined for a long life, however. Gibbs’ business was unprofitable from the onset, and closed within the year. Sencerbox’s mill only lasted four years, closing its doors in 1865.
In 1857, Spencer put down the funds to have a schoolhouse built in the town. A teacher, Hattie Kingsly, was brought on board. However, a 1937 article in the Jordan Independent describes the grim future of the schoolhouse thus: “An interest in education did not take in Louisville and from 1859 to 1863 the schoolhouse stood idle. Summer school was conducted in the next two years, and in winter of 1865-1866 Miss Belle Spencer held classes, but they were the last for Louisville”
Louisville never established a church, often a bedrock of early European American settlements in the area. Services were only held intermittently by circuit riders, usually in the home of H. H. Spencer.
The Decline of Louisville
In this period of history, rail could make or break a fledgling town. Trains brought goods and supplies, as well as convenient shipping lanes for local farmers and merchants. They also brought new people to settle and expand local communities.
Soon after Louisville was constructed, shipping and travel began to move from steamboats to the more convenient rail lines. Louisville’s death was foretold when the St Paul and Sioux City railroad was mapped out. It bypassed Louisville entirely, traveling from Shakopee to Jordan, and crossing with the Minneapolis and St Louis railroad line at a point called Merriam Junction. Farmers in the area began to take their goods and business elsewhere.
In spite of his hearty publicity campaign, Spencer’s interest in the town soon began to wane. He closed his original grocery store in 1859. By the end of the 1860s, the town was nearly deserted.