Oldham County’s traditional small-farm and small-town character, along with its proximity and easy interstate access to Louisville, has made it a suburban haven for Greater Louisville homeowners.
The county’s population has grown 66 percent in the past two decades, fueled in part by the completion of the Gene Snyder Freeway and the expansion of Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in far eastern Jefferson County.
Oldham County borders Jefferson County on the east — the area of Greater Louisville that has seen the heaviest suburban expansion during the past 25 years. Interstate 71, which links Louisville and Cincinnati, provides direct access to Louisville for Oldham County residents.
New housing starts in the county totaled 817 in 2003, compared to 659 in 2002. The bulk of the county’s population growth has come in areas near Jefferson County
LaGrange, 36 miles northeast of Louisville and the county seat, is the largest city, with a population of about 5,800. Crestwood, Pewee Valley and Orchard Grass Hills are the next largest towns.
Reflecting its status as a popular suburban location, about 10,000 Oldham County residents work outside the county — mostly in Jefferson County — while about 5,700 live and work in the county. Another 3,600 employees commute into Oldham from other counties.
The state and local governments are the county’s largest employers, providing a combined total of about 2,700 jobs. The largest of the state’s facilities is the Luther Luckett Reformatory, near LaGrange, which houses about 1,800 inmates and employs 480.
Wholesale and retail trade occupy the second-largest employment category in the county, with about 2,600 workers. The counties largest private companies are condiment-maker Torbitt & Castleman Co.; Northland Corp., makers of hardwood lumber products; Lesco Design and Manufacturing, which makes conveyors and ramps; and Nexans Magnet Wire.
Rapid growth in the county has led to extensive and ongoing road-improvement projects. The county’s major roads, aside from I-71, are Kentucky highways 146, 22 and 53, and U.S. 42.
A full cloverleaf at I-71 and Ky. 393 in Buckner and a Crestwood bypass road that connects I-71 were added in recent years to ease the county’s growing traffic.
Oldham County’s growth can also be credited to the county’s schools, which placed tops in the state in the 2000 Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS) assessment scores. To accommodate its burgeoning population, Oldham County has added six public schools since 1979, giving the county a total of seven elementary, three middle and three high schools. In addition, about 900 students are enrolled in Oldham County private schools.
Oldham County has several parks that serve residents’ recreation needs. Wendell Moore Park, one of the county’s largest, features a 56-acre fishing lake and the Oldham County Community Convention and Aquatics Center operates a public pool there. The Oldham County Recreational Park has a mini-golf course, as well as soccer and football fields. LaGrange offers a 10-acre park and nature center that features a lake with boardwalks and hiking trails.
Oldham County is bordered on the north by the Ohio River, with public access to the river available from Westport Park, which offers a boat launch and parking lot, in the town of Westport.
With the expansion of schools, roads and other services, officials are looking at ways to increase the tax base of the largely rural and residential county. The county is working on a comprehensive plan to attract business and industry to the county while maintaining its quality of life. The plan keeps most business and industrial growth along the I-71 corridor.
In addition, the Oldham County Economic Development Authority was recently established to promote non-residential development, job creation and business expansion.
Oldham County is known for its manicured horse farms, such as Hermitage Farm, located along U.S. 42 in the Goshen area. For that reason, preserving scenic beauty has a high priority in the county.
Pewee Valley is a particularly historic and charming town, notable for being the home of Annie Fellows Johnston, who wrote the best-selling “Little Colonel” series of novels — a fictional account of life in Pewee Valley between 1895 and 1930. Her home, “The Beeches,” is still a private residence in the city.
Just outside nearby Crestwood is Waldeck Farm, formerly one of the premier Angus cattle farms in the country. It’s no longer a working cattle operation, but the grounds’ mansion hosts wedding receptions and other special events, and the pastoral setting has been preserved.
Not far from Waldeck Farm, on Ky. 22 near Centerfield, is the gravesite of Birth of a Nation director (and Oldham County native) D.W. Griffith, who is buried in the Mount Tabor churchyard.