Anna Hubbuch Settle, one of Louisville's first woman attorneys, was also the first woman to act as a judge in Louisville courts. She served as a civic leader creating change through her extensive activities, legal expertise, and seemingly indefatigable drive.

Anna Hubbuch graduated from Louisville Girls' High School in 1906 and Spencerian Commerical School in 1907. From 1907 to 1913 she worked as a secretary at the Louisville Free Public Library where she met George Settle, whom she married in 1913.

In 1922 she began attending the University of Louisville Law Department. During her time ther she served as Secretary of the Senior Class and Secretary of the Student Council for the UofL Law Department, as well as numerous other clubs. She graduated in 1923 and became an attorney with a practice in Louisville.

Anna Settle participated in the Altrusa Club, a service organization for professional women focused on education and promoting human rights. She attended its first meeting in 1918 as a member of the Louisville Altrusa Club, served as the president of the Louisville chapter, and then served back-to-back terms as president of the national organization. The Altrusa Club credits her with standardizing its financial practices, establishing its governing principles, and connecting the local clubs to create a strong national organization.

Through various local organizations, Settle worked to improve the juvenile court system, establish laws governing loan sharks, and in general, fought for the rights of children, women, workers, and the blind. She argued for setting minimum wages, limiting the number of hours women and children worked per week, and eliminating home work where factory workers were required to bring work home to complete.

In her work with the Consumer League of Kentucky, she led efforts to set minimum wages and shorten women's hours. The fight for a minimum wage law for women began in 1920. In 1938, in coalition with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, the Consumer League helped pass the South's first minimum wage law. In fighting against amendments to the law she emphasized "as it is, Kentucky has the lowest wage law of the States that have such laws."

During World War II she was tagged as the chair of the Womanpower Committee, a division of the War Manpower Commission for the Louisville area. The committe was responsible for recruiting women who weren't already in the workforce and placing them in essential war work and civilian positions. During the first four months of the Womanpower Committee, under Settle's lead, they placed over 15,000 women.

In 1942, along with attorney Richard Dietzman, Settle argued before the Court of Appeals the constitutionality of Kentucky law barring State Welfare Department payments to the "needy blind" and children.

Additional Accomplishments

1928: Co-founded local chapter of Phi Delta Delta, an international legal organization for women, and served as its first president.

1930 - 1944: Served as President of the Consumer's League of Kentucky.

1930: Served on committees to consider legislation on how Magistrate's courts were organized.

1935: Acted as one of two Kentucky representatives to participate in setting up the national Social Security program.

1936 - 1946: Served as the legislative chairman of the Kentucky Library Association.

1939: Chaired the Jefferson County Woman's Committee of the campaign for the election of Keen Johnson for governor.

1938 - 1947: Participated in the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, an organization that promoted social justice in Southern states.

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