Points of Interest
Bernard F. Bowling, Sr. Memorial
The Bernard F. Bowling, Sr. Memorial is located in the west section of Brown Park at the corner of Browns Lane and Kresge Way. This memorial honors a beloved Mayor of St. Matthews, (1958 – 1984), whose death occurred during his term in office and service to the community.
Bernard F. Bowling, Sr., was a civil engineering graduate of Notre Dame University and the long time owner of Plehn’s Bakery, one of the earliest founding small businesses in the area. Mayor Bowling devoted countless hours serving St. Matthews, first as a city councilman and then as mayor. For the first 21 years of his 26 years of service as mayor, Bernard Bowling received no municipal salary. As mayor of a small community at a time of extremely limited funds and assets, Mayor Bowling used his engineering and business skills, along with his resourcefulness to build the firm foundation that the City of St. Matthews is the beneficiary of today. A man with true foresight and ingenuity, and a man truly devoted to his community. For more information about Mayor Bernard F. Bowling Sr., click here.
Brown Family Cemetery
The Brown (Lawrence) Family Cemetery is located in the southeast area of Brown Park at the corner of Browns Lane and Kresge Way. Safe access to the cemetery can be made from the paved walking trails within Brown Park. A designated route leads visitors and local history enthusiasts directly to the cemetery gate. Surrounded by long-standing brick walls and iron gates, this cemetery contains stones that date to the 1800’s.
James Brown, the patriarch of the Brown family, married Urath Lawrence in 1809. Together their personal holdings by 1824 comprised over a thousand acres of land between Shelbyville and Taylorsville Roads. A good portion of St. Matthews today is built upon what once was the James Brown property. In later years, heirs would form the James Graham Brown Foundation, which in 1977 donated property to the City of St. Matthews for the development of Brown Park. The James Graham Brown Foundation has and continues to make significant contributions to benefit the entire community.
To learn more about the James Graham Brown Foundation visit http://www.jgbf.org/
For further details about this cemetery and the interments located within visit http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=2157858
Ref: St. Matthews – The Crossroads of Beargrass, author Samuel W. Thomas
Burks Cemetery

Floyd - Breckinridge Cemetery

For more information on John Floyd and his involvement in St. Matthews history, visit the History tab, Over 235 Years a Community, on this website.
For further details about this cemetery and the interments located within visit.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GScid=73160
Fountain Point Park Memorial

First established as a temporary wooden memorial honoring the fallen dead of World War ll from the St. Matthews area (Brownsboro Road, MacArthur Avenue, Beargrass Creek, and Cannons Lane) it was placed in the little triangle point park on Armistice Day, 1943. By then, eight names were painted on the shaft. The memorial was replaced by a stone version in 1946 bearing the names of 29 men who had died during the war. When a fountain was dedicated on 19 July 1967, the site became known as Fountain Point Park. Many years later the fountain was removed and an upgraded stone memorial, along with decorative pavers and improved landscaping was installed.
Ref: St. Matthews – The Crossroads of Beargrass author Samuel W. Thomas
Gallopalooza in St. Matthews

In 2009, the City of St. Matthews participated in the metro area Gallopalooza – Sidewalk Derby to benefit the local Brightside program. St. Matthews city leaders chose one of the events life size horse reproductions and selected local artist Cean Martine, a City of St. Matthews resident and fine arts graduate of Indiana University, to develop a design that would depict the St. Matthews community. Ms. Martine, who is a printmaker and a believer in community and public art, created a design that met city leaders expectations. Ms. Martine is quoted as stating that she wanted the horse to be “bright, cheerful and festive”.
For more information about Gallopalooza visit http://gallopalooza.com/about/history/
or to learn more about the Brightside program visit
http://louisvilleky.gov/government/brightside/about-brightside
Holzheimer Park

The park is named for Heinrich (Henry) Holzheimer, a native of Germany and an early settler in the area (1871) who once owned this parcel of ground.
Ref: St. Matthews – The Crossroads of Beargrass, author Samuel W. Thomas
Parks Cemetery

Brown Park Interpretive Stone Columns
The stone columns located in Brown Park (see photo at right)
are an artistic interpretation of the site’s environmental history.
The line of columns cuts across the Beargrass Creek valley,
emerging as the ground elevation drops, and revealing the
creek’s gradual erosion of the landscape.
Smooth limestone bands divide each column into segments
representing the three major geologic periods of limestone
formation in Kentucky and Indiana (see the diagram below).
The tilted stones evoke the angle of bedding found in
limestone formations locally. The tan stone bands mark
various flood levels and predicted frequencies. For example,
the ten-year flood elevation is likely reached every 10 years.
To learn about more features of Brown Park, click here.