In 1939, the Gold Acres Dairy Farm of 500 acres, with frontage on the north side of Shelbyville Road from Whipps Mill nearly all the way to N. Hurstbourne Parkway, including dairy equipment, 10 tenant houses, a 4-bedroom stucco home and a 2.5-acre lake stocked with fish, was put up for sale by owner Fred Wiekel.

On 21 Jan 1940, V.V. Cooke, president of Cooke Chevrolet Company, and his brother Almond Cooke, Manager of Broadway Chevrolet Company, purchased the Gold Acres Dairy Farm in a sale known as “one of the largest real estate transactions in Louisville of recent years”.

From 1940 to 1952, Almond Cooke lived on the western half of the land, and V.V. Cooke used the eastern half as pasturage for his prize-winning Hereford cattle.  V.V. Cooke never lived on his portion of the land. 

In 1952 both of the Cooke brothers sold their land on Shelbyville Road for development.  When Almond Cooke sold his 90-acre western portion of the land, with 1,500-foot frontage on Shelbyville Road, for $250,000 to Wakefield McMakin Development Company, they planned a 180-lot subdivision called Bellemeade.   V.V. Cooke sold his 244-acre eastern portion of the land for $300,000 to L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr., a well-known Louisville real estate developer, as a future subdivision site for possibly 600 houses.  The Cooke brothers had previously sold 88 acres of their land for the development of Moorgate Subdivision, which was completed in 1952.  Note that Bellemeade and Moorgate Subdivisions are called City of Bellemeade today.

On 20 Apr 1952, when L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr. purchased the V.V. Cooke farm on Shelbyville Road, he did not intend to develop it immediately.  At the time, the area from Anchorage to Crestwood was being considered as a site for a future atomic energy plant, and Middletown was expected to grow when the workers came to the area to build the plant.  In Aug 1952, Highbaugh Sr. said if the Atomic Energy Commission should pick the Oldham/Jefferson County location for a major plant he would give the Cooke farm subdivision his top priority and start building it in the winter of 1952 or the next spring.  Note: The Louisville area was not selected for an atomic energy plant.

From 1952 to 1958 the former V.V. Cooke farm on Shelbyville Road was not developed as a subdivision.  It was used by Highbaugh Homes as a nursery and sod/turf farm to provide trees and grass for all the houses that they were building in Louisville. 

In 1956 L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr. sold an option on the former V.V. Cooke farm on Shelbyville Road to an out-of-town commercial firm, Bluegrass Plaza, Inc.  The price of the option was one million dollars.  They planned to build a subdivision on the 244-acre farm and a shopping center across the street at Hurstbourne Lane. Residents of the Moorgate and Bellemeade Subdivisions petitioned against the new shopping center, and the zoning commission turned the project down in Jul 1957. 

In a newspaper article on 3 Nov 1957 Highbaugh Sr. said he had purchased the V.V. Cooke farm in 1950 for $1,350 per acre, and he wouldn’t sell it for less than $2,500 per acre today. 

On 18 Feb 1958, it was announced that the former V.V. Cooke farm had been selected as the site of the new Baptist College in Louisville.  It was chosen unanimously by the search committee from a list of 30 to 40 suggested sites.  Note that L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr. was on the search committee.  The tract was purchased from Highbaugh for $619,000 ($2,600 per acre) after the out-of-town commercial firm, Bluegrass Plaza, Inc., relinquished its option on it in favor of the college.  The committee planned to spread payments over a 20-year period, paying 2 percent interest.  The site was described as a 238 tract with 1600 feet of frontage on the north side of Shelbyville Road and 3000-4000 feet of frontage on Whipps Mill Road, situated between Moorgate Subdivision on the west and Boone Gardiner Nurseries on the east and across the road from Highbaugh Sr.’s personal estate.  The Greater Louisville College Campaign Committee, Inc. a management and holding corporation, took title to the property. 

Notes about the “sale” of the land for KSC:  In several subsequent newspaper articles, the land was always referred to as “donated by L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr.”  However, the article in the Courier Journal dated 18 Feb 1958, clearly states that the Baptists purchased the land from Highbaugh.  In the same timeframe, L. Leroy Highbaugh Sr. had donated $300,000 to the Baptist College Fund-Raising Campaign, the largest amount from a single donor that had ever been received.  In his obituary in 1965 it was stated that his Highbaugh Foundation had pledged one million dollars to Kentucky Southern College over a 20-year period.  So, it was probably desirable to do a sales transaction for the land at the time, but he arranged to reimburse KSC for that amount with further donations. 

On 11 Jun 1962, a contract for construction of a Kentucky Southern College administration-classroom building was awarded to F. W. Owens and Associates, and the public groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled in Jul 1962.  The house for President Burhans had already been constructed on the site. 

On 30 Dec 1962 it was announced that the new administration-classroom building, costing $1,700,000, would be completed in May of 1963, and Kentucky Southern College would begin its second year of operation located at 9001 Shelbyville Road in Louisville. 

In Mar 1965 the Student Housing dormitory buildings were completed. 

In Oct 1967 the Student Union Center was completed. 

From May 1963 through Aug 1969 Kentucky Southern College was located at 9001 Shelbyville Road. 

In the summer of 1969, the University of Louisville officially assumed the debts and liabilities of Kentucky Southern College, and 9001 Shelbyville Road became the address of the U. of L.’s Shelby Campus, housing the School of Music.