FEATURE
Fig. 8 The new student bacteriology laboratory in the Annex.
Fig. 9 The UofL Gross Anatomy Dissection Floor in the early 1950’ s, which featured Kornhauser-Johnson dissection tables designed at UofL.
Fig. 11 The 1962 Medical-Dental Research Building, which still serves UofL research.
Fig. 10 West Chestnut Street in the 1937 flood. The medical school is in the background. Fig. 12 The 1970 new UofL medical complex( circled), which remains the school campus.
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THE GREAT 1937 FLOOD
In 1937, Louisville experienced flooding of historic proportions for weeks, which covered and paralyzed the city, including the medical school( Fig. 10). At greatest risk were the prized library collections stored in the basement of the old building. Heroic efforts by librarian Joan Titley and the medical students to move these priceless collections to upper levels saved them. This rescue recapitulated the 1856 Louisville Medical Institute library salvation from fire, when medical students threw the historic book collection out the back windows onto a cow pasture, as the building became engulfed in flames. Heroic actions on these two occasions preserved a priceless treasure of historic literature, which is now housed in the Kornhauser Library Historical Collection.
THE MEDICAL DENTAL RESEARCH BUILDING
Expanding faculty research needs were unrelenting throughout the 20 th century. In 1962-63, a separate facility, the Medical Dental Research( MDR) Building( Fig. 11) was constructed on Floyd Street, just north of the Louisville General Hospital. The MDR contained greatly improved animal research facilities, and became faculty research laboratories for Pathology, Physiology, Pharmacology and other departments. The MDR third floor housed the Price Institute of Surgical Research, which was endowed by surgeon John W. Price, MD, in 1957. It recently celebrated 60 years of outstanding productivity. In the 1970s, plastic surgeon and microsurgical pioneer, Dr. Robert Acland established his acclaimed Microsurgery Laboratory at the Price Institute. Techniques developed there led to later breakthroughs in tissue transfer and transplantation, including the world’ s
18 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE first successful hand transplant in 1999 at Jewish Hospital by hand, plastic and transplant surgeons from UofL and Kleinert Kutz and Associates. MDR research facilities contributed substantially to the highly productive period in UofL research between World War II and the 21 st Century.
END OF AN ERA
In the 1960s, recognition of the great value that medical education brings to the citizens of the Commonwealth led the Governor and legislators to expand state support for medical education. First, the University of Kentucky School of Medicine was created in 1960. Then, the 1968 General Assembly resolved that UofL should become a State institute as of July 1, 1969, which brought increased state funding. This coincided with construction of a new UofL medical campus just north of the Louisville General Hospital, which includes facilities still in use( Fig. 12). Construction included a basic science research tower, a modern dental school, a medical school instructional building, and a modern library facility, which was named in honor of distinguished Anatomy Professor, S. I. Kornhauser, MD. Anticipating this move, maintenance of the Old Medical School Building wound down. Few realized, however, that the once elegant facility would be so completely abandoned as to threaten its very existence. The next chapter in this series will describe the near demolition of the Old Medical School Building, and its thrilling rescue by the Jefferson County Medical Society, which saved this priceless treasure on the brink of destruction.
Dr. Tobin is a professor at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. He practices with U of L Physicians-Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.