♪ ♪ THIS IS THE MAJOR WATERSHED IN ALL THE JEFFERSON COUNTY.

IT BREAKS IN WHEN YOU GET INTO THE BUTCHER CITY AND TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD.

IT BREAKS INTO THREE FORKS AFTER THOSE THREE PIECES OF THE GRASS CREEK COMES TOGETHER IN THE BUTCHER TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD OFF TO MY LEFT, ABOUT A HALF MILE OFF TO MY LEFT, THEY COME INTO A PIECE OF THE CREEK THAT IS NOT BEAR GRASS CREEK.

IT'S THE BEAR GRASS CREEK CUTOFF.

HISTORICALLY THE CREATOR JUST AT THE TOP OF STORY AVENUE AND DOWN THIS WAY, A LITTLE BIT FURTHER.

BEAR GRASS CREEK PARALLELLED THE OHIO RIVER OFF TO MY LEFT AND POINTED DIRECTLY TOWARD DOWNTOWN LOUISVILLE WHERE IT HISTORICALLY EMPTIED INTO THE OHIO RIVER JUST AT THE FRONT BETWEEN THIRD AND FOURTH STREET DOWNTOWN CULTURAL STORY GOOD AND BAD IS CAPTURED BY THAT MA JETTIC RIVER WITH ITS AUTHENTIC HISTORIC PADDLE WHEEL RIVER BOAT TETHERED.

NEWCOMERS ARRIVED ON THAT STRONG RIVER BACK.

ENSLAVED PEOPLE WERE SOLD AND CARRIED AWAY BY ITS DOWNSTREAM FLOW THE RIVER SINEWS TIED US TO THE REST OF THE WORLD OTHER ENSLAVED PEOPLE CALLING IT THE RIVER JORDAN DREAMED OF STARTING A NEW JOURNEY IF THEY COULD REACH THE OTHER SHORE AND THE RIVER'S FLOATING PALACES TURNED A TRIP INTO A CRUISE.

LOUISVILLE IS CALLED THE RIVER CITY AND JOINED WITH THREE INDIANA COMMUNITIES BECOME KNOWN AS THE FALLS CITIES.

LOUISVILLE IS LOCATED ON A MIGHTY RIVER, NOT THE LONGEST, BUT MEASURED BY SHEER VOLUME.

THE OHIO IS THE NATION'S SECOND FULLEST RIVER.

AND THERE IS ONLY ONE MAJOR OBSTACLE TO NAVIGATION ON ITS 980-MILE LENDS LENGTH FROM ITS START IN DOWNTOWN PITTSBURGH UNTIL IT JOINS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI.

THERE, AT MILE 606, FROM ITS BEGINNING, AS THE RIVER LOOKS LIKE A SNAKE FROM AN AIRPLANE, THE OHIO DROPS PRECIPITOUSLY 26 AND A HALF FEET AS IT HISTORICALLY CRASHESES AND FUMES THROUGH GIANT LAYERS OF LIMESTONE.

NOW IN MODERN TIMES, THAT DRAMATIC SITE HAS BEEN TAMED BY A NAVIGATION DAM.

WELL OVER 200 YEARS AGO, THAT RIVER BECAME A MAJOR HIGHWAY TO THE EMERGING WEST AND LOUISVILLE AND OTHER COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHERN INDIANA PUT THEIR ARMS AROUND THE FALLS OF THE OHIO.

LOUISVILLE HAD BECOME DURING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR WITH ITS FIRST GROWTH STAY STAYING CLOSE TO THE RIVER UP AND DOWNSTREAM FOR WITHOUT PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION, WORK AND RESIDENTS NEEDED TO BE TIED CLOSELY TOGETHER BUT WE NEEDED MORE SPACE AND THEN THIS CREEK BECAME POLLUTED AS IT WENT THROUGH THE BUTCHER TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD AND SO WHEN IT DID, 1854, MOTHERS AND FATHERS OF THE CITY PAID MONEY TO REDIRECT BEAR GRASS CREEK: WE WENT UP THAT WAY AND GOT HOLD OF BEAR GRASS CREEK AND DUG IT DEEPLY INTO A CUTOFF FROM THE OHIO RIVER OFF TO MY RIGHT HAND AND THAT IS THROUGH THE PARK.

IF YOU ARE ON RIVER ROAD, YOU GO ACROSS A MODERN BRIDGE.

WHEN YOU LOOK DOWN, YOU ARE LOOKING INTO THE BEAR GRASS CREEK CUTOFF.

SO THIS MIGHTY CREEK WATERSHED HELPED DEFINE THE SITE OF THE BOTANICAL GARDEN.

IT HELPS PROVIDED ORANGELY AN OPEN SEWER-- ORANGE ORIGINALLY FOR THE BUTCHER TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD BUT WE ARE HERE, ALONG THIS GREENWAY BESIDE THE BEAR GRASS CREEK CUTOFF.

WELL, IN MODERN TIMES, WE JUST SIMPLY CALL IT BEAR GRASS CREEK.

THE CITY'S UPSTREAM GLOATDZ WAS ON A DAGGER SHAPED PIECE OF LAND CALLED THE POINT, FORMED BY A CREEK THAT PARALLELLED THE OHIO RIVER AND THE RIVER BANK ITSELF.

THOUGH VULNERABLE TO FLOODING, THE POINT EARLY ON BECAME A SUMMERTIME RETREAT FROM THE CITY'S HEAT, ALONG WITH A FEW SCATTERED HOMES FOR THE WELL TO DO.

LATER, CLOSER TO DOWNTOWN, THE LOWER POINT BECAME A CENTER FOR LUMBER MILLS AND RELATED INDUSTRIES LIKE WOODEN BUCKET MAKERS, ALONG WITH WAREHOUSES AND INDUSTRIES TIED TO THE RIVER TRADE.

FURTHER UPSTREAM, A BUSTLING NEIGHBORHOOD OF SIMPLE HOMES FOR BLACK AND WHITE RESIDENTS GREW UP, SUPPORTED THE STORES AND SCHOOLS AND IN A NARROW AREA BETWEEN THE RIVER SHORE AND ISLAND, A COMMUNITY OF SHANTY PEOPLE LIVED ON CRUDE BOATS, THOSE RIVER DWELLERS EITHER WALKED TO JOBS ON SHORE OR LIVED OFF WHAT THEY COULD CATCH OR SCAVENGE FROM THE RIVER AND ITS SHORELINE.

WHAT I'M GOING TO TELL YOU NEXT, YOU REALLY NEED TO HAVE A STRETCH OF IMAGINATION.

BOTH BEFORE THE CUTOFF OF 1854, AND AFTER, A VERY THRIVING MIDDLE TO LOWER CLASS NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPED IN THIS ENTIRE AREA ALONG THE CUTOFF, PROBABLY EVEN BEFORE THE REDIRECTION OF THE CREEK, THERE WAS A NEIGHBORHOOD HERE.

BUT NOW MOST OF THE HOUSES WERE PRETTY MODEST FRAMED BUNGALOWS.

BUT THERE WAS AT LEAST ONE SOLID AND SEVERAL OTHERS, ACTUALLY, SEVERAL OTHER SOLID BRICK HOMES.

ONE OF THEM WAS BUILT IN 1856, 18356, I BELIEVE-- 1856, I BELIEVE AND AT THAT TIME WAS THE CHRISTIAN HIGEL HOUSE.

THE CHRISTIAN HAGGLED HOUSE WAS AN EXCEPTION TO THE ROUGH AND TUMBLED LIFE ON THE POINT.

HAGGLED, A RECENT GERMAN IMMIGRANT STONEMASON STARTED BUILDING HIS SOLID BRICK HOME IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTER AFTERMATH OF LOUISVILLE'S ANTI-IMMIGRANT ANTI-CATHOLIC BLOODY MONDAY RIOTS OF 1855: REMAINING HOPEFUL ABOUT HIS CHOSEN LAND, HE CARVED PATRIOTIC SLOGANS INTO THE FACADE OF HIS HOME LIKE HAIL TO THE UNION!

NEVER TO DISSOLVE!

AND ALSO PEPPERED THE FRONT WITH FACES IN STONE OF U.S. PRESIDENTS WASHINGTON AND BUCHANAN AND EVEN THE FACES OF HIMSELF AND HIS WIFE.

SADLY, BY THE EARLY 1950s, THE HOUSE LITERALLY HAD TO DEFEND ITSELF FROM REFUSE AND GARBAGE THAT TOPPLED TOWARD IT FROM THE RAPIDLY GROWING CITY DUMP THAT HAD FIRST OPENED TO RECEIVE THE MOUNTAINS OF DEBRIS CREATED BY THE GREAT OHIO RIVER FLOOD OF 1937.

>> BEFORE I GET BACK TO THE CHRISTIAN HAGGLED HOUSE, LET'S SAY SOMETHING ABOUT FLAT LAND.

THIS WASE ESSENTIALLY THE SECOND BANK OF THE OHIO RIVER SO THE NEIGHBORHOOD WITH EVEN A REDIRECTED BEAR GRASS CREEK CUTOFF OR BEFORE THAT, THE OLD BED OF THE CREEK WAS VULNERABLE TO FLOODS AND LOUISVILLE HAD THEM.

THE FIRST CENTURY OF LOUISVILLE'S GROATD WAS LARGELY CONFINED TO A VAST FLOOD PLAIN WHERE THE OHIO RIVER COULD REGULARLY INCH OUT OF ITS BANK ON CATS FEET, WREAK HAVOC ON ALL IT TOUCHED AND THEN SHEEPISHLY RETURN TO ITS NORMAL CHANNEL.

FROM EARLIEST SETTLEMENT, FLOODS CAME REGULARLY.

THE WORST IN 1832, 1883, 1884, 1913, 1945 WITH 1937 BEING THE MONSTER FLOOD OF ALL.

NO WONDER THE CITY IS NOW SURROUNDED BY A 29-MILE LONG FLOOD WALL, BUILT AS AN EARTHEN LEVY FOR MOST PART, BUT OCCASIONALLY AS A CONCRETE WALL.

BEFORE THE FLOOD WALL, IF YOU LIVED OR WORKED ON THAT FLAT LAND NEAREST THE RIVER, RESILIENCE AND DETERMINATION WAS BUILT INTO YOUR DNA.

AT HOME, IT MEANT SCRUBBING THE WALLS AND FLOORS DOWN REPEATEDLY UNTIL THE LAST OOZE OF MUD WAS GONE AND CLEANING MUD OUT OF THE SUGAR BOWLS SITTING ON THE SHELF ABOVE THE SINK.

AND AT WORK, GETTING THINGS UP AND RUNNING AGAIN, CONSIDERING THE MOLD, MUD AND DEBRIS EVERYWHERE WOULD SOMETIMES TAKE WEEKS.

SINCE MOST FLOODS CAME EARLY IN THE YEAR, THE MUDDY WATER KNOCKED OUT YOUR STOVE OR FURNACE, INCLUDING YOUR WATER HEATER AND THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN TRYING TO CLEAN UP FROM A FLOOD AND THE ACHING COLD.

AFTER WELL OVER A CENTURY OF TRYING, IT BECAME CLEAR THAT LIFE ON THE POINT COULD NOT BE SUSTAINED.

AFTER EACH FLOOD THERE WAS MORE AND MORE ABANDONMENT AND ULTIMATELY THE GOVERNMENT DENIED DISASTER FUND TO HELP RESIDENTS RETURN HOME.

WITH THE NEIGHBORHOOD CLEARING OUT, LOUISVILLE JOINED OTHER AMERICAN CITIES FACING A COMMON CHALLENGE WITH POPULATION AND CONSUMERISM ON THE RISE, WHAT WILL WE DO WITH ALL THE GARBAGE, DEBRIS AND JUNK PILING UP?

>> WELL, WHAT ABOUT THAT UNDER UTILIZED, THAT ABANDONED LAND TOWARD BUTCHER TOWN, ADJACENT TO THE OLD BED OF BEER GRASS CREEK.

LET'S DUMP IT THERE SO DUMP TRUCKS AFTER DUMP TRUCKS BEGAN AND 1937 WITH THE FLOOD DEBRIS, STARTING TO PILE UP, GARBAGE, FURNITURE AND THEN INCREASINGLY IT BECAME A DUMP THE POINT BECAME MECCA FOR LARGE SCALE AUTO SCRAP YARDS AND PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DUMPS?

THE CITY'S OHIO STREET DUMP AT 81 ACRES WITH THE WATERFRONT BOTANICAL GARDEN NOW SITS BECAME BY FAR LOUISVILLE'S LARGEST DUMP >> WHETHER YOU TALK ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY AND IS THIS A SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT.

THAT'S THE HOT TOPIC THESE DAYS.

THIS IS THE ULTIMATE SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT.

>> WE WERE, AFTER WORLD WAR II BECAME AN EVEN MORE CONSUMER ORIENTED SOCIETY.

OUR SUBURBS WERE GROWING RAPIDLY WITHOUT SEWERS AND SO THEY HAD SEPTIC TANKS THAT NEEDED TO BE PUMPED AND SOMETIMES THAT SEPTIC SURGE WAS DUMPED ON THE DUMP, OF COURSE AND THAT BECAME A MASSIVE PROBLEM.

IF IT WAS FURNITURE AND STORM DEBRIS, THERE WAS MORE VOLATILITY ADDED TO THE DUMP.

AND AS THE DUMP GREW TALLER AND TALLER AND MOVED NORTHWARD TOWARDS US, TOWARD RIVER ROAD, IT BECAME EVEN MORE OF A PROBLEM.

STENCH FROM THE OFFAL.

IT BECAME A SMOKY MESS.

SOMETIMES THE SMELLS WERE SO BAD IN THE BUTCHER TOWN NEIGHBORHOOD THAT YOU LITERALLY COULD NOT GO OUT OF YOUR HOME AND THERE WERE COMPLAINTS, PLENTY OF THEM AND CITY OFFICIALS WOULD COME AT ONE POINT AND SO THIS AREA BECAME A MASSIVE, MASSIVE CITY PROBLEM.

BY THE 1950s, THE CITY BEGAN TO TRY TO DEVELOP LANDFILL TECHNOLOGIES AND COVER THE DUMP ON A DAILY BASIS, BUT THAT WAS PIECE MEAL AND HIT AN MISS AND I CLEARLY, AS I REMEMBER AS A TEENAGER, DRIVING UP ON THIS DUMP AND LITERALLY JUST PUSHING THE REFUSE THAT WE HAD DOWN ON THE SIDE AS IT ROLLED DOWN OFF OF THIS GIGANTIC THREE STORY HILL.

YOU REMEMBER CHRISTIAN HAGGLE'S HOUSE AT THE CORNER OF LLOYD AND MARION?

THERE ARE SOME OF THE MOST DRAMATIC PHOTOS I'VE EVER SEEN, LITERALLY SHOWING THE GROWING DUMP IN 1953, ROLLING INTO THE BACK OF THAT HANDSOME BRICK HOME CITY OFFICIALS ULTIMATELY HAVE VEENED AND THE INTERVENED AND THE HOUSE WAS DEMOLISHED BUT HIS 1850s FACADE WAS REMOVED AND MOVED ACROSS RIVER ROAD TO THURSTON PARK.

OVER THE DECADES, THE FACADE WAS MOVED SEVERAL TIMES UNTIL IT FOUND ITS PERMANENT HOME.

THIS THREE STORY TALL PILE OF GARBAGE THAT HAS GROWN FROM ADJACENT TO THE BED OF OLD BEAR GRASS CREEK AND MOVED TOWARD RIVER ROAD THERE WAS, HOWEVER, ONE VISION OF THIS AREA ON THE POINT.

THAT VISION HAD FIRST BEEN CREATED IN 1918 WHEN A PIECE OF THE POINT NEIGHBORHOOD, UP CLOSER TO WHAT IS NOW FRANK SFORT AVENUE AND RIVER ROAD, AND SO FROM 1918 ON, THERE WAS THE SEED OF A MORE BEAUTIFUL VISION FOR THIS NEIGHBORHOOD, AND THAT VISION WILL ULTIMATELY BE CONNECTED TO AND PART OF THE VISION FOR THE BOTANICAL GARDEN.

THE DREAM OF A BOTANICAL GARDEN FOR LOUISVILLE GOES BACK AT LEAST TO WORLD WAR II WITH A VISION OF WATERFRONT PARK LANDS TAKING ROOT A FULL GENERATION EARLIER.

DURING THE 1960s AND 70s, TALK OF A BOTANICAL GARDEN HONED IN ON DOING SITES.

SOME SAID INCLUDE A BOTANICAL GARDEN AND REDEVELOPMENT PLANS FOR THE CITY'S DOWNTOWN WATER FRONT OR EVEN NOT FAR AWAY ON THE OLD SITE OF CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL WEST OF DOWNTOWN WHILE OTHERS ARGUED ABOUT A SITE NEAR THE NEW ZOO, AN OUGHT OWE OR BUS RIDE FROM DOWNTOWN DESPITE TALK AND ARGUMENT, NOTHING CAME TO PASS, BUT THE BOTANICAL GARDEN IDEA REFUSED TO DIE IN THE 1980s, A DETERMINED NON-PROFIT OPENED A SHOE STRING OPERATION IN A LONE FLOOREST GREENHOUSE ACROSS FROM CAVE HILL CEMETERY JUST TO KEEP THE GARDEN VISION ALIVE.

, THE GROUP ULTIMATELY ZEROED IN ON A PERMANENT BATON CAL SITE AT-- BOTANICAL SITE AT THE FORMER SITE OF THE LOUISVILLE JEFFERSON COUNTY CHILDREN'S HOME BUT AFTER YEARS OF TRYING, COULDN'T RISE A COMBINATION OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC DOLLARS TO PULL THE PROJECT OFF.

FINALLY IN THE LATE 1990S, BOTANICA, A NEW NON-PROFIT WAS FORMED TO PROMOTE FLOWER ARRANGING AND GARDENING IN THE SHORT-TERM BUT NEVER GIVING UP ULTIMATELY ON THE BOTANICAL GARDEN FOR LOUISVILLE.

THAT DREAM WAS DRAMATICALLY PUSHED TOWARD REALITY BY A HANDSOME BEQUEST FROM A BOTANICA MEMBER.

THIS WAS VERY CONTAMINATED LAND.

IT IS A FORMER DUMP.

A BROWN FIELD.

WE ARE LITERALLY PLANTING ON TOP OF THAT, HAVING TO BRING IN CLEAN DIRT BUT PLANTING ON TOP OF A DUMP.

FOR OTHERS, ESPECIALLY YOUNG PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY TO SEE THAT WE CAN DO THAT MEANS THAT YOUR PROJECT CAN COME TO LIFE ALSO.

YOU CAN REGREEN ANYTHING WHETHER IT'S A PROJECT IN NATURE OR NOT IN NATURE.

YOU CAN DO IT.

YOU CAN BUILD.

THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY.

AND THIS IS JUST A GREAT EXAMPLE OF THAT REGREENING.

SIMPLE DEFINITION OF A BROWN FIELD IS CONTAMINATED LAND.

PEOPLE THINK THAT THAT IS A NEGLECTED SITE AND NOTHING CAN EVER HAPPEN THERE BECAUSE IT WAS A BROWN FEEL.

THAT'S NOT TRUE.

THERE ARE WAYS.

THERE ARE METHODS TO REGREEN A LANDFILL, TO BUILD SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TOP AND STILL BE CAREFUL WITH THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE.

SO WE ARE HOPING THAT OUR PROJECT ON THIS FORMER DUMP IN BROWN FIELD IS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE CITY AND THE COUNTRY THAT YOU CAN BUILD A BEAUTIFUL GREEN SPACE FOR PEOPLE TO COME LEARN, ENJOY, EXPERIENCE, MEDITATE IN A BEAUTIFUL GARDEN ON A BROWN FIELD.

BOTANICAL GARDENS ARE REALLY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY IN URBAN AREAS BECAUSE PLANTS ARE THE ANSWER.

PLANTS ARE I DON'T ARE FOOD, PLANTS CLEAN YOUR AIR, PLANTS CLEAN THE WATER F. WE DON'T UNDERSTAND OUR PLANTS AND WE DON'T UNDERSTAND THE NATIVE PLANTS OF OUR REGION, THEN WE ARE IN BIG TROUBLE.

BOTANICAL GARDENS ORIGINALLY WERE BUILT AS PART OF ESTATES.

WEALTHY PEOPLE IN THE 1700s AND 1600S AND JAPAN AND CHINA THEY HAD GARDENS TO TEACH CHERN AND THE FUTURE GENERATIONS ABOUT HOW TO PRESERVE NATURE AND HOW TO RESPECT NATURE.

>> POOL OWE ALT OWE-- PALO ALTO CALIFORNIA DID IT EARLIER BUT THE SHEER HEIGHT, SAFE FROM FLOOD, BUT OFFERING STRIKING VIEWS OF NEARBY DOWNTOWN AND THE ADJACENT DEVELOPING RIVER PARK LANDS.

THIS BOLD VENTURE WILL HOPEFULLY SERVE AS A NATIONAL MODEL FOR OTHER COMMUNITIES WRESTLING WITH WHAT THOUGH DO WITH ABANDONED SURFACE MINING SITES AS WELL AS LANDFILLS: >> SO IN A SENSE THROUGH HISTORY YOU HAVE LITERALLY WALKED UP THE NEW CONNECTING PATH THAT LEADS FROM THE BOTANICAL GARDENS DOWN TO THE 1854 BEAR GRASS CUTOFF AND THE BEAR GRASS GREENWAY AND WE HAVE WALKED UP THE PATH LITERALLY VIRTUALLY THREE STORIES IN THE AIR TO THE SITE OF THE BOTANICAL GARDENS ON TOP OF THAT OLD LANDFILL AND BEFORE THAT, THE OHIO STREET DUMP.

AND SO IT IS.

THAT WE HAVE SEEN A TRANSFORMATION OF A WASTE LAND.

WE HAVE SEEN WATER FLOURISHING.

WE HAVE SEEN BLOSSOMS BLOOM.

WE HAVE SEEN A VISION THAT HAD BEEN SEWN MANY, MANY DECADES AGO OF CREATING A VERY, VERY LANDMARK SPACE WITH DOWNTOWN LOUISVILLE SO CLOSE BEHIND ME AND THIS SITE, WHICH WAS SORE TO THE EYES AND ACRID TO THE NOSE.

THIS SITE TRANSFORMED INTO FLOWING WATER AND BLOOMS AND A VISION THAT IS ON ITS WAY TO EVEN MORE FULLY BEING REALIZED.

>> EARLY ON IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PROJECT, WE WERE TALKING A LOT ABOUT WHAT THIS WOULD BE.

ONCE WE HAD THE VISUALS AND THE GARDEN DESIGNS AND THE BUILDING DESIGNS, I USED TO WALK UP ON THE SITE INTO THE BIG GREEN FIELD AND JUST PICTURE THE BUILDINGS, LITERALLY, A LOT.

BECAUSE IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL GREEN SPACE, BUT NOT AS PRETTY AS WE WANT IT TO BE IN TERMS OF AN EDUCATIONAL, YOU KNOW, OPPORTUNITY.

IT WAS A LOT OF WEEDS AND THAT KIND OF THING.

BUT I WOULD PICTURE IT.

THERE ARE DAYS WHEN I'M AT WORK IN THE GARDENS AND I MAY BE FOCUSING AND I LOOK UP AND I THINK HOW THE HECK DID THAT HAPPEN?

AND I WANT ALL FUTURE GENERATIONS TO BE ABLE TO EXPERIENCE A FULLY DEVELOPED MATURE BOTANICAL GARDEN IN THE FUTURE WHEN I'M NOT HERE ANYMORE.

AND SO IT IS, THIS IS THE SITE, A LANDMARK A DESTINATION, THE BOTANICAL GARDEN ON TOP OF THE OLD DUMP, LANDFILL, TRANSFORMED.

INTO BLOOM.

(BIRDS CHIRPING PREP.

(BIRDS CHIRPING)