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==History== {{See also|History of Louisville, Kentucky}} The site of the present city was originally part of [[Farmington (Louisville, Kentucky)|Farmington]], the 1810 estate of the Hon. [[John Speed (Kentucky)|John Speed]] and his second wife [[Lucy Gilmer Fry]]. [[Abraham Lincoln]] was a friend of the judge's son [[Joshua Fry Speed|Joshua]] and spent three weeks at Farmington in 1841 while courting [[Mary Todd]] of [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]]. Lincoln would later name Joshua his [[United States Attorney General#List of Attorneys General|Attorney General]] during his [[Presidency of Abraham Lincoln#Administration|second administration]].<ref name=senhi/> The Speeds sold off sections of their estate. Most of the present area of Seneca Gardens was purchased from the family in 1825 and 1846 by the [[German Americans|German]] gardener Jacob Wetstein. He established the [[Methodism|Methodist]] Westein Community Church on the corner of his property facing Taylorsville Road, and local legend credited him with participating in the [[Underground Railroad]]. Wetstein's granddaughter's husband Edward F. Weigel, president of the Wetstein Land Company, mortgaged the estate to participate in the development of [[Broadmeade, Kentucky|Broadmeade]].<ref name=senhi/> The remainder of the community was purchased from the Speeds by another German immigrant, Paul Discher, who was listed in the 1871 Louisville Directory as a "[[huckster]]".<ref>''Louisville Directory''. 1871. Op. cit. City of Seneca Gardens. "Seneca Gardens History". Accessed 8 October 2013.</ref> His descendants established the Discher Land Company and participated with Weigel in the development of Broadmeade and the present community of Seneca Gardens in 1922.<ref name=sengar>City of Seneca Gardens. [http://www.cityofsenecagardens.com/ Official site]. Accessed 8 October 2013.</ref> Owing to Weigel's mortgages, however, the [[1929 stock market crash]] ruined him, and his share of the land fell to his creditors.<ref name=senhi/> The Fidelity and Columbia Trust Company, which had constructed and maintained the roads and lighting system free of charge as part of its investment in the community, continued to do so until 1939, when it liquidated its interests in the community. [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] had just commissioned a study suggesting that all-residential communities such as Seneca Gardens cost more in services than they provided in revenue, and [[Joseph D. Scholtz|Mayor Scholtz]] declined to annex the community. Instead, they petitioned the Jefferson Circuit Court (action #261,927) to incorporate the community on September 26 and met to form the first government on October 2.<ref name=senhi/> (The Commonwealth of Kentucky's Land Office records the city as being incorporated in 1941.<ref name=sos/>) The first city budget called for $1,600 in expenditures, requiring a [[property tax]] of 25Β’ per $100 of assessed value.<ref name=senhi/> Owing to the [[World War II|growing conflict in Europe]], the [[U.S. Army]] established a large [[list of United States Army installations|base]] at [[Bowman Field (Kentucky)|Bowman Field]] in 1940. Studies undertaken during its construction led the [[U.S. Surgeon General]]'s office to contact the City Board of Trustees to complain about the community's sewage. At the time, the houses used separate [[septic tank]]s, but their functioning was greatly impaired by the area's exposed and porous [[limestone]]. Sewage was draining into the city's streams and ditches and running into [[Beargrass Creek (Kentucky)|Beargrass Creek]], affecting the new army base. Preparations for the construction of a unified sewer were suspended by the entrance of the United States into World War II in late 1941, bringing in wartime rationing of men and materiel.<ref name=senhi/> The city annexed some neighboring lots between Trevilian and Taylorsville roads and the area around Valletta in 1941. In 1943, some lots on the eastern side of Carolina Avenue, found to be half within Seneca Gardens and half within Louisville, opted to remove themselves to the latter by a vote of 23β3. The same year, the U.S. Army advised the city trustees that rationing no longer prevented construction of an improved sewer system, and locals approved a bond issue.<ref name=senhi/> Louisville attempted to use the issue to demand annexation of the city, but a referendum in November 1944 clearly opposed that. The referendum was legally voided on technical grounds, but Louisville accepted the annexation would not occur. It permitted Seneca Gardens to connect to its system, but set a price that city trustees found excessive. It wasn't until 1946 that a price was agreed upon and a second set of bonds issued to cover the expense and construction costs.<ref name=senhi/> The same year, Cardinal Hill and two lots facing Seneca Park Road south of Trevilian were annexed.<ref name=senhi/> This left Seneca Gardens entirely surrounded as an enclave within Louisville after 1948,<ref name=sengar/> although the borders were not completely finalized until the 1950 annexation of the original Wetstein home and some lots along Valletta, including the Keneseth Israel Synagogue.<ref name=senhi/> The municipal government has employed a City Arborist since 1990, who oversees tree planting and helps residents obtain trees at reduced prices.<ref name=senhi>City of Seneca Gardens. "[http://www.cityofsenecagardens.com/history.htm Seneca Gardens History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202234612/http://www.cityofsenecagardens.com/history.htm |date=2013-12-02 }}". Accessed 8 October 2013.</ref>
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