These historical markers are part of a program started in 1949 by the in partnership with community members. The program has installed over 2,400 markers throughout the commonwealth to share the state’s rich and complex history. Several of them can be found across UofL’s campuses, each commemorating influential people, pivotal events and the evolving identity of the university.

Learn more about the significance of six of them:

Louis D. Brandeis

• Location: Near the steps to the right of the east front entrance of the .
• Significance: This marker honors Louis D. Brandeis, a prominent lawyer and Supreme Court justice, who graduated from the UofL School of Law in 1875. He actively supported the rights of speech and assembly, consumer protection and women’s rights. The law school was renamed the Louis D. Brandeis School of Law in 1997.

Brandeis Burial Site

• Location: In front of the law school
• Significance: This marker commemorates the burial site of Louis D. Brandeis and his wife Alice Brandeis, a social activist who supported health care and education.

Founding of Jefferson Seminary

• Location: Off 3rd St. near Grawemeyer Hall 
• Significance: This marks the site of the original Jefferson Seminary, which evolved into the University of Louisville. April 3, 1798, is the university’s symbolic founding date. On this date, eight Louisvillians pledged financial support for a new school. The Louisville Medical Institute opened in 1837 and merged in 1846 with Louisville College, an outgrowth of Jefferson Seminary. A law school was added, and the new entity was named the University of Louisville in 1846.

Charles H. Parrish Jr.

• Location: In the courtyard between Gardiner and Gottschalk Halls.
• Significance: This marker honors Charles H. Parrish Jr., a noted sociologist and a lifelong civil rights activist, who became the first black professor at UofL when it became integrated. His work as an activist yielded friendships with many Civil Rights era luminaries.

Belknap Campus

• Location: On Third Street in front of Oppenheimer Hall.
• Significance: The University of Louisville’s Belknap Campus was originally the site of the Industrial School of Reform and House of Refuge, founded in 1860. During the Civil War, Union troops used the institution as barracks and parade ground. In 1923, the University of Louisville took over the property, including its original buildings, and named it the University campus. It was renamed the Belknap Campus in 1927 to honor its benefactor, William R. Belknap.

Gottschalk Hall

• Location: In front of the building.
• �������Ծ��ھ������Գ���:��The most recent addition to the historical markers at UofL. From its completion in 1894 until 1923, the building served as a dormitory for African American girls at the Louisville Industrial School of Reform. UofL acquired the building in 1923 for the chemistry department, then social sciences. Today, it is fittingly the home of the history department. The hall is named in honor of Louis Gottschalk, a distinguished historian of the French Revolution who was a valued member of the UofL history faculty from 1923 to 1927. Learn more

Filled with music and rich academic tradition, the investiture ceremony on The Oval outside Grawemeyer Hall and livestreamed was the highlight of a year that also commemorated the 225th anniversary of UofL’s founding.

“As the world looks for solutions, let the world look to the University of Louisville as a national research powerhouse that creates knowledge and inspires innovation to answer the grand challenges of our time and by doing great work that changes the world,” said Schatzel, who took office Feb. 1 as leader of the $1.6 billion university enterprise that includes the affiliated $2.5 billion UofL Health health care system.��

She is one of only 2% of university presidents nationwide with extensive corporate and entrepreneurial C-suite experience. During her inaugural address, she noted she was the first in her family to go to college “like over 35% of UofL students.”

Dozens of her family members attended, including her husband, Trevor Iles, an entrepreneur and former business executive, and their children and grandchildren.

The presidential platform party included Gov. Andy Beshear, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, Robbin Taylor of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell’s office, Board of Trustees members, and members of the administration.

McConnell, an alumnus of UofL, delivered remarks on the U.S. Senate floor Sept. 29, recognizing the inauguration of Schatzel.

“UofL is a special place. For me, it was the first place in Kentucky where I felt at home. And it’s somewhere I continue to find fulfillment in my personal and public life,” he said. “Throughout its 225-year history, UofL has hosted a long line of visionary leaders who have shaped its success, and today I’m proud to welcome President Schatzel to these ranks.”

Raymond Burse, vice chair of UofL’s Board of Trustees, invested Schatzel as president and presented the Presidential Medallion. The medallion features the UofL seal, a likeness of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom.

“She serves as an example for the thousands of students who attend the university in hope of gaining the knowledge and insight that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” Burse said, noting that Minerva was also known as the goddess of trade, the arts, medicine, poetry and strategy in war, symbolizing fearlessness and strength.

“This combination of traits was unique among the gods. And it mirrors the strengths possessed by our president, Dr. Kim Schatzel,” he said.

2023 marks 225 years that UofL has been the higher education leader in Kentucky’s largest metropolitan area. It was April 3, 1798 when a group of Louisvillians declared their intention to establish an education institution called Jefferson Seminary and began raising funds for their plan. Today, more than 22,000 students attend UofL, which boasts three campuses.��

This fall, UofL welcomed 3,130 incoming students, breaking a record for the second year in a row.

UofL researchers win hundreds of millions of dollars annually in competitive research funding. The school is among a small percentage of higher education institutions designated a Research 1 doctoral university with very high research activity by the prestigious Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher ����ֱ��. The funding supports groundbreaking research in areas such as robotics, cybersecurity, climate change and social indicators of public health.

In addition, UofL has earned recognition as a university by the Carnegie Foundation. Of more than 4,000 universities in the country, UofL is one of only 80 that can claim both distinctions.

With 12 schools and colleges, the university offers professional certificates, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate programs in hundreds of disciplines, is a consistent leader in diversity and inclusion and is recognized nationally as a “Best Value” institution. It has more than 163,000 .

Earlier this month, Schatzel gave her first campus-wide address, outlining her initial eight priorities as president.��

View photos for the event on .��

Associate Professor of Arts History Christopher Fulton views The Thinker as a fitting symbol for UofL’s campus and students.

“What it represents is the labor of thinking and education,” said Fulton. “Especially because we are a public educational institution, and many of our students struggle or strive to receive an education.”

While many castings of The Thinker exist around the world, UofL’s is the first large-scale bronze cast. It was personally supervised by Auguste Rodin in Paris and completed in 1904. Before reaching UofL in 1949, it spent 45 years traveling. See our interactive timeline below to follow The Thinker’s journey to campus and his time here:

The the Belknap campus’ setting in historic Old Louisville, “stunning” Grawemeyer Hall, cast of Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker and “plenty of foliage flanking the classic red brick structures.”

The 274-acre Belknap Campus, which includes seven of the 12 academic colleges, has more than 1,100 trees representing many species and even hosts a .��

In selecting each state’s school, Travel + Leisure considered setting, scenery, building designs and upkeep of the campus grounds. The publication also considered campus visits, in-depth virtual tours, first-person references and general research.

“Sure, picking the most beautiful college in every state of the union isn’t an exact science … But for travelers seeking an all-around positive experience —whether you’re on a college tour with the kids or looking for a place to wander on a balmy afternoon — these scholarly institutes all get top marks for good looks,” the publication states.