Saint Matthews, Kentucky

St. Matthews is a city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States. It forms part of the Louisville Metro government but is separately incorporated as a home rule-class city. The population was 15,852 at the 2000 census, making it the 20th-largest city in the state.St. Matthews is one of the state's major shopping areas, home to the second- and fifth-largest malls in Kentucky (Mall St. Matthews and Oxmoor Center), along with many smaller shopping centers along Shelbyville Road.HistoryDating the arrival of American Indians to present-day Kentucky remains controversial, with estimates ranging from 40,000 to 10,000 years before the present. As with later European cultures, indigenous cultures were often divided near the falls of the Ohio River, which marked a transition zone in travel and settlement. During the late Woodland period, this area was between the Ohioan Hopewell Culture and the Illinois Crab Orchard Culture that extended to the west. Later, it was the boundary between the Mississippian and Fort Ancient cultures. During the 18th century, the area was claimed by various Indian tribes, including the Shawnee from the northwest and the Iroquois to the east; based in New York and Pennsylvania, the Iroquois used the Ohio Valley as a hunting ground by right of conquest.