1244 South Fourth Street (Louise Marshall)
The Puritan Apartments, Residence of Louise Marshall from 1920s-1981
Born in 1888 to a distinguished Louisville family, Mary Louise Marshall, known as Louise, was educated at local schools, but struggled due to undiagnosed vision problems; she never graduated high school or attended college. Louise and her family worked enthusiastically to develop a Presbyterian mission in Old Louisville, as attendees of Second Presbyterian Church. Louise’s father was the superintendent of the mission’s Sunday school and Louise began teaching a class in her mid-teens, not only on Sundays, but going on afternoons to work with the neighborhood boys. Louise did not just see these children in class - she went out and met their families, saw their homes, and developed a strong connection with them. She made herself part of their lives. Louise’s friends began volunteering their time as well; the program expanded to include girls and offered a story hour, a mother’s club, and a sewing school.
This group of women established a not-for-profit corporation in October 1910, called the Cabbage Patch Settlement House and Louise became the president. Louise created change in her own unique way, looking to bring societal changes through one-on-one connection with individuals rather than as a whole. In an interview fragment, Louise said, "You had to know people and care about them if you ever expected to get close to them." Louise and the Cabbage Patch board used family, friends, and church connections to do major fundraising for the Cabbage Patch, to buy the initial property and buildings, and to support growth, expansion, and continued activities. As the years passed, the services of the Cabbage Patch expanded as they provided a well-baby clinic, a kindergarten and a nursery; organized athletics, field trips and camps - eventually to Blacks as well as whites.
The Cabbage Patch became a community center for adults, providing an unemployment relief bureau, a commissary, apartments, rummage sales, and a library. Though not formally educated in social work, Louise took her position at the Cabbage Patch very seriously – she was hands-on, focusing on one-to-one contact with the children and families. As the Cabbage Patch grew, and as Louise aged, she did not lead every class or activity, but she did check every one of them. Louise was a constant presence and was not shy about correcting behaviors or practices that she found flawed. Despite her demanding and fastidious nature, or perhaps because of it, the children Louise worked with remember her with loyal admiration and affection. In her eulogy in 1981, Rev. Henry Mobley stated: "At least we all can agree on one thing: Louise Marshall was a character." Strong-willed, determined, and singularly focused – Louise devoted her entire life and being to the benefit of the children and families in the Cabbage Patch. The Cabbage Patch Settlement House continues to operate today, just around the corner from the Conrad Caldwell House, near 6th and Magnolia.