Portland Museum

Portland Museum Art. Heritage. Community. Discover the charm of Portland, a historic Louisville neighborhood.

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.

05/29/2026

The 2026 competition was done in partnership with the Portland Museum and Jefferson County Public Schools. See link below ⬇️

📸 Bailey Reed

Thank you to Transit Authority of River City (TARC) and to everyone who came out for the bus unveiling this morning! Con...
05/28/2026

Thank you to Transit Authority of River City (TARC) and to everyone who came out for the bus unveiling this morning! Congratulations to the winning JCPS student artists, we’re proud to display your work alongside our theming!

TARC, the Portland Museum, and JCPS will introduce the 2026 Design-a-Bus student-contest winners and unveil the new bus ...
05/26/2026

TARC, the Portland Museum, and JCPS will introduce the 2026 Design-a-Bus student-contest winners and unveil the new bus design at a morning press conference at Portland Museum on Thursday, May 28th at 10AM!

The Design-a-Bus contest is open to all elementary, middle, and high school students in Jefferson, Oldham and Bullitt counties in Kentucky, and Floyd and Clark counties in Southern Indiana. This year students were invited to submit artwork focused on the theme: “Portals of Transition.” They were asked to reflect on a period of change, where they explored or tried something new, then created an illustration of that experience.

The 10 winning submissions by students will be featured on a custom TARC bus wrap reflecting this year’s theme and partner. The student winners and their adult guests have been invited to the debut of the bus at Portland Museum on May 28, when the bus will officially begin service! The bus will operate on all TARC routes, and serve as the flagship bus for special events, and parades throughout the Louisville metro region for one full year.

“The Portland Museum is growing, and so is our sense of adventure,” said Katy Delahanty, Executive Director of the Portland Museum. “Through our partnership with TARC, each bus becomes a traveling invitation, a portal to play carrying the spirit of the new AHOY Children’s Museum into every neighborhood. Adventure on the move.” “The Design-a-Bus is a contest TARC staff and our city look forward to every year,” said Ozzy Gibson, Executive Director of TARC. “We’re excited for a great partnership with the Portland Museum as they expand, with the #5 Portland-Poplar Level route of the New TARC Network providing increased access to their new addition.”

05/15/2026

AHOY Children’s Museum is underway. More magic soon!

Check out this write-up by curator and our artist-in-residence Erica Lewis all about our current exhibit Human, too:
05/14/2026

Check out this write-up by curator and our artist-in-residence Erica Lewis all about our current exhibit Human, too:

Learn all about how Portland Museum's exhibition "Human, too," featuring artwork from inmates in LMDC’s Chance 4 Change program, came together from its curator Erica Lewis.

Surprise! Our Lighthouse Education Center is currently hosting a pop-up exhibition that was created and installed by stu...
05/12/2026

Surprise! Our Lighthouse Education Center is currently hosting a pop-up exhibition that was created and installed by students of Kentucky College of Art and Design! We’ll have it up and ready to be experienced during our open hours Wednesday (tomorrow) and Thursday, so come check it out. Here is additional information on the project:

Site + Research students at Kentucky College of Art and Design spent three weeks in Louisville’s Shawnee and Portland neighborhoods, researching the histories of people and places that inform the area’s social landscape. From historically inspired somatic meditations at the former site of Fontaine Ferry to engaged play in the newly built Play Port Playground. Students also conducted archival research at UofL Research libraries and explorations at the Filson Historic Society and online LFPL Archival Databases. In addition to studios visits and oral history interviews with current and former residents, students gained first-hand knowledge of the diverse perspectives and various aspects of these neighborhoods—places defined by complex interconnected systems: including particularities of the land, waterways, politics, peoples, activities, businesses, and historical events.

We’re hosting an opening reception tonight from 5PM to 8PM for our new exhibition “Human, Too” featuring print artwork m...
04/24/2026

We’re hosting an opening reception tonight from 5PM to 8PM for our new exhibition “Human, Too” featuring print artwork made within the walls of the Louisville Metro Detention Center as part of the Chance 4 Change substance abuse recovery program. Led by our artist in residence Erica Lewis, this reception will debut video interviews with the artists and two large-scale quilts, neither of which were present at CeLOUbrate Print! So come on out and see the show in full, and enjoy free refreshments! Tonight from 5PM to 8PM!

Opening reception this Friday from 5-8PM!
04/23/2026

Opening reception this Friday from 5-8PM!

This is the first time the program has partnered with the museum, and those involved say this is a way to show the public that these inmates are more than just the label society has given them. https://tinyurl.com/ydsnekza

Join us tomorrow from 10AM to 11:30AM for the NextGen Preservation Collab’s () West Louisville Preservation Community Fo...
04/22/2026

Join us tomorrow from 10AM to 11:30AM for the NextGen Preservation Collab’s () West Louisville Preservation Community Forum! This dynamic panel discussion will feature residents from Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Portland who are transforming preservation into action across their communities. Portland is being represented by the amazing Caleb Brooks (), who is a Portland Now, Inc. Board Member, part of the team at Hand in Hand, and was the subject of March’s Portland Anchor cover story! Shawnee and Chickasaw’s reps are just as impressive, so make sure to come out and learn about the great work being done to preserve our beautiful, historic neighborhoods: documenting stories, protecting landmarks, and building stronger communities from the ground up.

Whether you’re a preservation advocate, community volunteer, or simply care about Louisville’s historic neighborhoods, this is an opportunity to listen, learn, and connect with the people shaping our city’s future.

Join us tomorrow from 10AM to 11:30AM for the NextGen Preservation Collab's West Louisville Preservation Community Forum...
04/22/2026

Join us tomorrow from 10AM to 11:30AM for the NextGen Preservation Collab's West Louisville Preservation Community Forum! This dynamic panel discussion will feature residents from Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Portland who are transforming preservation into action across their communities. Portland is being represented by the amazing Caleb Brooks, who is a Portland Now, Inc. Board Member, part of the team at Hand in Hand, and was the subject of March's Portland Anchor cover story! Shawnee and Chickasaw's reps are just as impressive, so make sure to come out and learn about the great work being done to preserve our beautiful, historic neighborhoods: documenting stories, protecting landmarks, and building stronger communities from the ground up.

Whether you’re a preservation advocate, community volunteer, or simply care about Louisville’s historic neighborhoods, this is an opportunity to listen, learn, and connect with the people shaping our city’s future. RSVP for the event here:

Hear from a dynamic panel from Chickasaw, Shawnee, and Portland transforming preservation into action across their communities.

Address

2308 Portland Avenue
Louisville, KY
40212

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 4pm

Telephone

+15027767678

Website

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