On August 6, 1855—election day—members of the Know Nothing Party rioted against Irish and German immigrants in Louisville. At least 22 died and businesses and homes were burned down. Though half the Germans were Protestant, this was widely viewed as an anti-Catholic riot. Some elderly men told my dad that fifty years later such bitterness remained that the L&N Railroad’s south Louisville locomotive shops had a yellow line running down the middle. Protestants and Catholics keeping to their respective sides. (U of L’s Cardinal Stadium is now located there) The hatred was also directed at Democrats since immigrants mostly voted Democratic. (some members of the Whig party left town to avoid Know-Nothing wrath, too)
No photos remain. St. Martin Cathedral, the site of some of the riots, is shown from 1870.
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