As Norton Healthcare prepares to open the first new hospital west of Ninth Street in 150 years, medical pioneers are being honored with a special monument on the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus.

Published: October 26, 2024

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a group of men and women in West Louisville dedicated their lives to providing medical care to people of color. For many who lived west of Ninth Street, these health care pioneers were the difference between life and death — during a time of legalized segregation, and in an area with no hospitals or medical practices for people of color.

As Norton Healthcare prepares to open the first new hospital west of Ninth Street in 150 years, these early medical pioneers are being honored with a special monument on the Norton Healthcare Goodwill Opportunity Campus.

The monument was funded by the family of Richard S. Wolf, M.D., through the Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation, in memory of Dr. Wolf’s life and work as a pediatrician in our community. As the former medical director at Norton Children’s Hospital and Mayor of Safety City, Dr. Wolf was a passionate advocate for access, prevention and wellness for children in our region.      

“When we began researching this project, we uncovered so many stories that needed to be told,” said Corenza Townsend, chief administrative officer, Norton West Louisville Hospital. “Those featured were some of the first to treat citizens in West Louisville or they established a hospital, a medical school and practices that forged a path where none existed.”

These providers include:

• Henry Fitzbutler, M.D., the first Black doctor in Louisville, the first Black student to earn a medical degree from the University of Michigan and founder of Louisville National Medical College.
• Sarah Fitzbutler, M.D., the first Black woman to earn a medical degree in Kentucky after graduating from Louisville National Medical College.
• Artishia Gilbert Wilkerson, M.D., the first Black woman to pass the medical boards and and become a doctor in Kentucky.
• Mary E. Merritt, R.N., the first registered nurse of any race to work in Kentucky, and the recipient of a certificate of merit from President Woodrow Wilson for her service during World War I.
• Mary Etta Porter Potter, M.D., a physician who provided women’s and children’s care out of her home and established the Fraternal Hospital Training School for Nurses.
• John A.C. Lattimore, M.D., a physician as well as organizer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Louisville Urban League.
• Physicians involved in chartering Louisville National Medical College, the only school that accepted Black students. It became known as one of the best U.S. African American medical colleges and the only one owned and operated entirely by African Americans. It later merged with Simmons University, which is now Simmons College of Kentucky.
• Physicians involved in the creation of Red Cross Hospital, a four-bed hospital originally located on Sixth and Walnut streets. It went without gas or electricity for many years and was the only Kentucky hospital to educate Black nurses in the early 1900s.

The monument is on the corner of 28th Street and Garland Avenue, and is surrounded by bricks that were purchased by those interested in providing support to the hospital and this project. In addition to a monument, stories of these pioneers and others can be found at NortonWestLouisvilleHospital.com.

This project also was made possible through input from Berea College Special Collections & Archives, Filson Historical Society, Norton Children’s Hospital Foundation, Norton Healthcare Archives, UofL Kornhauser Health Sciences Library and UofL Libraries Archives & Special Collections.

To provide support or purchase a brick, visit Norton West Louisville Hospital Brick Pavers Project (GiveButter.com).