1393 South Third Street (Patty Blackburn Semple)
Residence of Patty Blackburn Semple from 1916-1918
Patty Semple is a woman whose work covered so many issues she cannot be categorized. While trained as an educator and making her initial mark in that arena, she accomplished much more. She was married briefly in 1882, but divorced soon after, and went by the name Mrs. Patty Blackburn Semple, and also retained her last name - Semple - for her daughter, Bonner. Clearly Patty did not follow traditions blindly.
Raised in Louisville in 1853, Patty received her education at Vassar College, an institution she supported throughout her life. She founded the local Vassar Club and joined the Kentucky Women’s College Club, and within both groups promoted higher education for women through scholarships. She taught at the Louisville Female Academy and Hampton College before founding the Semple Collegiate School in 1893. In 1900, she sold the assets of the school to the founders of Louisville Collegiate School. Patty was an active member and one-time president of the Louisville Free Kindergarten Society, which founded a kindergarten class for Black children and sought educational opportunities for Black women. She later worked with the Moonlight Schools, which trained both children and adults in Appalachia.
In addition to her educational work, she was a member and frequent officer of the Neighborhood House (a local Settlement House), the Louisville Lyceum, and the Art Club. She was the first women trustee of the Louisville Free Public Library, an organization she worked to establish. She also helped found the local branches of the Girl Scouts, the Legal Aid Society and the Drama League. She was the first President of the Woman’s Club of Louisville and held that office again in 1910-1913. She headed the local fight for women to regain school suffrage and once this was achieved in 1912, she encouraged and actively helped Black women register and vote.
During World War I, Semple served as Vice Chair of the Women’s Committee of the National Defense Council and as Kentucky Chair of the War Work at Home Department of the U.S. Food Administration. In those roles, she travelled the State promoting food conservation with a special mission of quelling the rumor that German spies had spread to discourage support of these measures in Black communities. As a respected educator who was known for her work with the underprivileged, she was a perfect choice to help in this effort. Her work during the war was lauded as being the best in the nation.
Semple was a reformer whose work touched many avenues in life, and clearly was influenced by her association with Susan Look Avery, considered her mentor. She worked within the system to affect great changes and made incredible strides. Patty Blackburn Semple died June 4, 1923 and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.