Portland Museum is an educational resource that collects, preserves, exhibits, interprets, and enhances the culture and heritage of Portland, a neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky that was once a thriving independent town below the Falls of the Ohio. At Portland Museum, we interpret history through the lens of arts and culture. Thus, we are not just a museum focused on the history of Portland — a
nd inherently the history of Shippingport Island and Louisville — we are so much more! We preserve local art, craft, and oral traditions; use art as a vital tool for community development; and care for our growing museum collection of community artifacts, oral histories, art, and research. The story of Portland Museum covers nearly 200 years of Kentucky culture — from the chartering of Portland as an independent town to today's contemporary Portland neighborhood — as well as moments in early cultural history that predate European settlers. From the museum’s humble start in 1978 as a classroom project in the former Roosevelt Elementary School, we have continued to educate and inspire the people of Portland and the neighborhood's visitors with exhibitions of art and humanities, workshops, camps, concerts, talks, and walks. In 1983, we purchased our current facility at Beech Grove, an 1852 Italianate residence on an estate along the historic “Louisville & Portland Turnpike.” With a modern addition built onto the front of the residence, the preservation of the original house displays a piece of Kentucky’s architectural history as a unique, touchable exhibit within the museum. There are also two rotating exhibition galleries and a “John James Audubon Gallery” located on the residence’s first floor. The modern addition houses the museum’s permanent exhibit; an architecture gallery; three rotating mini-galleries focused on Portland’s art, heritage, and community; a workshop space for arts and public history education; a media room featuring a newsreel of the tragic 1937 flood; and the museum’s new destination gift shop. In addition, the museum's printmaking studio, located on the first floor of the former servants' building, is equipped with various Chandler & Price presses, cases of foundry type, screen printing equipment, and bookbinding equipment. Most of the printmaking studio’s equipment and accessories are part of the museum’s collection, but we also utilize the studio to engage children and adults in various printing and book arts techniques. Recently, we were gifted the property next door to the museum allowing us to expand our gorgeous garden area and begin the planning of exciting new visitor experiences. The sum of all these parts is what makes Portland Museum a unique arts and culture experience within Louisville and the surrounding area. And our success is deeply rooted in the loyal support of generous friends like you. We could not do this without you!
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The Kentucky Arts Council, the state arts agency, provides operating support to Portland Museum with state tax dollars and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Portland Museum is a private, not-for-profit agency where art and heritage celebrate community.
