India, Jan. 16 -- Louisville has always known who it is. Bourbon and horses-say it enough times and it becomes a shorthand, a slogan, a souvenir. But now, when you walk its neighborhoods and talk to the people building businesses here, you start to feel something else stirring; it's a city that's figured out how to grow without sanding off its edges.

I felt it almost immediately after checking into Hotel Bourre Bonne, a design-forward boutique stay in downtown Louisville that wears its sense of place proudly. A monumental horse sculpture anchors the entrance. Work by Tyler Robertson, the artist behind the 2025 "Official Art of the Kentucky Derby," hangs throughout the property. It's bourbon and horses, yes, but rendered with confidence a...