Hillerich & Bradsby Hillerich woodworking shop. J. F. Hillerich was uninterested in making bats; he saw the company future in stair railings, porch columns and swinging butter churns. In fact, for a brief time in the 1880s, he even turned away ball players. Bud, however, saw the potential in producing baseball bats, and the elder Hillerich eventually relented to his son. The bats were sold under the name "Falls City Slugger" until Bud Hillerich took over his father's company in , and the name "Louisville Slugger" was registered with the U.S. Patent Office. In , Honus Wagner signed a deal with the company,
Louisville Ballet Louisville Ballet The Louisville Ballet is a ballet school and company based in Louisville, Kentucky and is the official state ballet of The Commonwealth of Kentucky. It is currently led by Artistic and Executive Director Robert Curran. More than 100,000 people attend the company's productions annually of which most are accompanied by the Louisville Orchestra. The company performs at three venues in the city, The Brown Theatre, The Kentucky Center, and, rarely, The Louisville Palace. The Louisville Ballet was founded in 1952 and it achieved professional status and admitted its first students in 1975. It is the only regional company