Waggener High School - RingBrothersHistory.com

The Voice Of St. Matthews, January 3, 1957: Highlight 1956Mallon Plan, Church Growth, Court Decision Highlight 1956The City spent abut $25,000 during the summer repairing the streets. About $1,500 more was spent for six street lights indowntown St. Matthews. The City ordered about 100 metal street signs, at about $21 each.Commercial Zoning: In March, the City enacted a simplified occupational license tax ordinance. Except for certain occupations,the new ordinance imposed in effect a gross receipt tax on businesses here, amounting to one-tenth of one per cent.The City in February approved rezoning of a tract of land on the south side of Frankfort Avenue, between Bethel Churchand Fairfax, for D-1 commercial use. It had been zoned C-1 apartment.The combined four lots ran 250 feet along Frankfort, 250 feet along Fairfax, 186 feet along Dayton and 408 feet along analley east of Bethel. Later in the year, Anthony J. Eline began construction of several small stores there.In June, the Council rezoned a tract of land at Shelbyville Road and Fairfax for D-1 commercial use from B-1 residential.A filling station was constructed there.The Councilmen in September, over the objections of Mayor James Noland, voted to install parking meters on five St. Matthewsstreets, Bauer, Macon, Wilmington, Meridian, and Breckinridge. But by the end of the year, installation had not beenmade.The council further passed a dog-control ordinance, authorizing the police to impound stray dogs, and forbidding residentsto let their pets run loose.Finally, John J. Barker was named a councilman to succeed William Archer, who moved from the City. Mr. Barker hadbeen a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission since October 1954.Other Cities Active: Other Cities were actively trying to improve themselves.Windy Hills compiled and adopted a giant, new zoning code.Druid Hills voted to spend about $1,000 on drainage work.Norbourne Estate voted to spend $2,400 on streets and walks.Beechwood Village made preliminary studies for installing a sewer system, which would cost an estimated $300,000.Woodlawn Park started twice weekly garbage collection, and began a newsletter to keep the citizens informed..Lyndon (though not a City) took steps to install street lights.Bellewood in December announced City taxes for 1957 would go to 52 cents, compared to 45 cents for 1954.Indian Hills in December increased property assessment by 20 percent.Zoning problems absorbed manyof the cities attention. Indian Hlls in July rejected a bid by the Louisville Gas and ElectricCo. to build a transformer in the City.Springlee won a battle to keep the Gas & Electric Co. from building a plant on nearby Plymouth Road.Indian Hills also won a battle to have a used car lot removed from the U. S. 42 entrance to the City.St. Regis, after three years, succeeded in getting a court decision to close a concrete plant operated nearby by HighbaughBuilders.But the real hot battle was between Druid Hills and Broadway Baptist church. The church filed suit to force the City toopen Olympic Avenue to through traffic.The Court ruled in favor of the Church, and the City in July decided to appeal the ruling.Theater Starts: In the filed of straight drams, there was one promising addition. The St. Matthews Y.M.C.A. Theatre wasorganized in the summer.William Carrell was named director and Mrs. John Johnson was elected president. Both had had considerable experiencewith the St. Matthews Community Theatre, as did many members of the new organization.The group was sponsored by the Y, and the Theatre was designed as another recreational activity for Y members. In November,the Theatre staged its first play, “The Bishop Misbehaves.”Despite the fact that one of the lead actors dropped out at the last moment due to illness, the comedy was called “quite entertaining”by The Voice reviewer. The theatre plans to stage two more plays during the remainder of the 1957-57 season.