Old Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky — The American South (East South Central)

Presentation Academy

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 26, 2020

1. Presentation Academy Marker (Side A)

Inscription.
The city's first Catholic school and Louisville's oldest existing school, founded 1831, by Mother Catherine Spalding. Recognized as co-founder of Sisters of Charity of Nazareth with Bishop J. B. David, she began a hospital and city's first orphan asylum at school's original site on Fifth St. during the 1830s cholera epidemic.

The actress Mary Anderson attended classes at Presentation Academy in the 1870s. In 1892, the Sisters bought Thomas Jacobs house on this site. The new Presentation, erected in 1893 and designed by D.X. Murphy in Richardsonian Romanesque style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It observed school's sesquicentennial in 1981.

Erected 1981 by Kentucky Historical Society and Kentucky Department of Transportation; in memory of Joe Valla by Marlene Valla Bohn. (Marker Number 1702.)

Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Education • Religion & Religious Structures. A significant historical year for this entry is 1831.

Location. 38° 14.529′ N, 85° 45.54′ W. Marker is in Louisville, Kentucky, in Jefferson County. It is in Old Louisville. It is on South 4th Street north of West Breckinridge Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 861 South 4th Street, Louisville KY 40203, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in the American South,

specifically in the Upper South,

and in the Ohio River Valley.

Globally, it is in North America,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture

and also the Antebellum South.

Other nearby markers.

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At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Immanuel Baptist Church / First Christian-Lampton Baptist (within shouting distance of this marker); Thierman Apartments (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line); The Derek Smith Gymnasium at Spalding University (about 300 feet away); Columbia Gym (about 400 feet away); Calvary Episcopal Church (about 400 feet away); Dr. J.B. Marvin House (about 700 feet away); First Unitarian Church (about 700 feet away); Murray Atkins Walls (approx. 0.2 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Louisville.

Also see . . . Presentation Academy - Louisville's original Catholic high school. School website homepage (Submitted on December 3, 2020, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)

Presentation Academy Marker (Side B) image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 26, 2020

2. Presentation Academy Marker (Side B)

Presentation Academy image. Click for more information.

via NPS, unknown

3. Presentation Academy

National Register of Historic Places Digital Archive on NPGallery
Click for more information.

Presentation Academy Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 26, 2020

4. Presentation Academy Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on February 23, 2026. It was originally submitted on December 1, 2020, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 508 times since then and 24 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on December 1, 2020, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 3. submitted on February 11, 2022, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York. 4. submitted on December 3, 2020, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.