Cherokee Triangle’s neighborhood association has a new logo.
The previous Cherokee Triangle Association logo featured the John Breckenridge Castleman statue, which the city removed a little more than a year ago.
Castleman served in the Confederate army. He was pardoned for his time in the Confederate ranks, and then went on to serve in the U.S. Army. He had a hand in establishing Louisville’s parks system.
There were public debates about the statue’s presence for years, and Mayor Greg Fischer had it taken down after a Jefferson Circuit Judge ruled in the city’s on June 5, 2020. However, the legal battle is not yet over; a group of Louisville residents who opposed the statue’s removal, saying that Castleman’s history is misunderstood and misrepresented, have appealed the decision with a higher court.
Kristen Miller, who chaired the committee that oversaw the logo redesign, said they had been talking about replacing the image of the Castleman statue even before city crews removed it.
“We were having conversations at that point just to kind of get ahead of what may or may not happen,” she said.
While there was a spectrum of opinions on the fate of the Castleman statue, Miller said they didn’t get much push back in terms of the logo redesign.
“We weren't really looking at it as an opportunity to take something away. We were looking at it as an opportunity to bring something new to the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s time for us to look forward and look to what unites us, what we feel proud about this neighborhood and what we can do to show that we're welcoming to the entire community.”
The new neighborhood logo, which the association unveiled over the weekend during a concert at Willow Park, was designed by artist Jason Laughlin. It features the green outline of a triangle with, what looks like, a tree or leaf inside. The lettering is in an original font inspired by the time period when the oldest homes were built, Miller said.
“We wanted to create something that pays homage to the era that the neighborhood was created, but wasn't something that was completely about the past,” Laughlin said in a statement. “The Cherokee Triangle Association is about more than preservation of buildings. It's about fostering the connection between the built environment, nature, history and community involvement. We hope the new mark and branding will help push that idea forward.”
The interpretation of the design is ultimately up to the viewer.
“I think that that was something that was really appealing to all of us because it gave everybody an opportunity to see what they love about this neighborhood in the design,” Miller said.
Miller said it will take some time to change out any banners and signage around the neighborhood that feature the old logo.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the artist.