Happy Friday, everyone. Today, we’re continuing our series on Louisville’s historical markers with a look at marker no. 2560: D. X. Murphy.
This marker denotes the Saint Vincent de Paul Parish church on Shelby Street, but it also details the life of the church’s architect, the Louisville-born son of Irish immigrants Dennis Xavier Murphy.
Murphy started his career as a draftsman in Louisville, eventually taking over his mentor’s company. D. X. Murphy & Bro. was responsible for building churches and hospitals all over town, but perhaps the firm’s most famous contirbution to Derby City was the Churchill Downs grandstand and Twin Spires.
D.X Murphy died in 1933, but the company he inherited from Henry Whitestone in 1881 is actually still around. Today, it’s called Luckett & Farley. The firm still has the original blueprints for the Twin Spires.
