Fig . 1 Fig . 2 Fig . 3
FAREWELL TO THE OLD MEDICAL SCHOOL OF LOUISVILLE : A COMMEMORATIVE SERIES
In January 2017 , the Greater Louisville Medical Society will bid farewell to its home of 36 years , the Old Medical School Building at 1st and Chestnut Streets . The Old Medical School of Louisville is a landmark of architectural beauty and great historical significance to medicine ( Fig . 1 ). It represents the most turbulent
era in American medicine ( the close of the 19 th and the opening of the 20 th century ), when the profession was simultaneously being
vastly improved by the introduction of science and public health , but also being degraded by weak educational standards and cutthroat competition among over-proliferated , proprietary medical schools . Louisville ’ s Old Medical School in the Louisville Medical College ( LMC ) years was a perfect example of those dynamics . Built in 1891-93 as the first permanent home of LMC , it expressed the vigor and success of Louisville in meeting the need for more American physicians . However , as the erosive effects of competition and costs of rising educational standards engulfed schools in the late 19 th century , LMC exemplified the decline of proprietary schools . In Louisville , this decline led to consolidation of its five regular medical schools , and the subsequent Flexner report caused similar closings and consolidations across the nation .
The 1907-09 school mergers created the U of L School of Medicine , which adopted the LMC building to become Kentucky ’ s only medical school of the era . The Old Medical School building continued to serve the School of Medicine for 60 years , until it moved to its present quarters in 1970 . The building was then abandoned for a decade , and nearly lost to deterioration and destruction during urban renewal . Facing extinction , it was rescued by the dramatic action of the Jefferson County Medical Society , which restored the structure for its headquarters , and thus preserved the priceless
Fig . 1 The Louisville Medical College new building in an 1890 ’ s print .
Fig . 2 The Medial Department of the University of Louisville , established as the Louisville Medical Institute in 1837 .
Fig . 3 The Kentucky School of Medicine , established in 1850 .
historic and architectural treasure we now have .
Now , this landmark building will enter a new phase of its storied life , with transfer from the Greater Louisville Medical Society to the Ronald McDonald House Charities , and repurposing as quarters for parents with children in Norton Children ’ s Hospital . This series of articles commentating the landmark ’ s history will describe each era of the Old Medical School Building , beginning with construction and the Louisville Medical College years .
THE LOUISVILLE MEDICAL COLLEGE ( 1869-1907 )
Louisville emerged from the Civil War with enormous potential for both commercial and medical enterprise . The city had escaped destruction from Confederate invasion by CSA General Braxton Bragg and the raids of John Hunt Morgan . At the Falls of the Ohio , Louisville was a crossroads for steamboat and rail transportation , which would make it the “ gateway to the south ” for post-war reconstruction . With enormous needs for new physicians in the devastated south and expanding west , Louisville was poised to meet that need . In doing so , Louisville acquired a sustained medical education mission for the late 19 th and 20 th centuries . The University of Louisville Medical Department ( established in 1837 , Fig . 2 ) withered severely during the war , but was reinvigorated afterwards . A rival school , the Kentucky School of Medicine ( established in 1850 , Fig . 3 ) was likewise reconfigured after being inactive during the war . By 1869 , further demand for medical education opened opportunities for the creation of new Louisville medical schools .
Using an unfilled state charter for a “ Clay School of Medicine ,” LMC physician founders converted the charter to their purpose
( continued on page 18 ) FEBRUARY 2017 17