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

A former Louisville Metro Councilman and caretaker of Louisville lore and history, Owen was cited for his “service to history, to UofL and to Louisville; his work as an archivist, making UofL’s records and archival collections available to researchers; and his walking tours—both the physical tours and their recordings. He made the city his classroom.” He was also praised as a “scholar who popularized history and … elevated history’s importance for many people.”

Owen is known for his walking tours, which capture the color and history of a particular corner of the city as part of a series on local public television, titled . Recently, he also offered weekly tours of UofL’s Belknap campus, detailing the background and stories of various buildings and areas.  His research in this area led to the recent publication of a book in collaboration with Archives colleague Sherri Pawson, .

Owen is also well-known as a politician locally, having served as a Louisville Metro Council member from 2003 until his retirement in 2016, and prior to that, on the old Board of Alderman from 1990 to 1998. He has been an archivist with UofL for 42 years.

The Distinguished Service Award is the highest honor awarded by the Kentucky Historical Society. DSA winners have “provided great services to Kentucky and the field of history in their professional or personal lives.”

Intern Award

Additionally, Hannah O’Daniel, a master’s student at the University of Louisville, received the first Kentucky Public History Intern Award for her exemplary work ethic and diligent attention to the research process. 

O’Daniel had internships at the Filson Historical Society, where she processed archival material to make it available to researchers, and at the Kentucky Historical Society.

At KHS she was involved with several projects:

• She worked with the Kentucky Oral History Commission and helped write the KHS manual for using a system that makes oral histories more widely accessible and searchable.
• She was among the first graduate research assistants who worked with the Civil War Governors of Kentucky Digital Edition (CWGK). CWGK is making thousands of documents available to researchers for the first time. As a GRA, Hannah transcribed documents and researched people mentioned within them to help build the comprehensive database behind CWGK.
• At the CWGK summer symposium this year, Hannah acted as a “reporter,” tweeting it so people who could not attend could learn from the experts gathered there.

The ceremony was held at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort.