Medical Center |
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University of Rochester Medical Center, looking north. |
Aerial Photos
of the Medical Center, note that some dates may be approximate |
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1925 | 1927 | 1930 | 1930 | August 4, 1931 | 1933 | November 1933 | 1934 | 1935 | 1941 | 1943 | 1949 | 1950 | January 1951 | 1951 |
1957 | December 1961 | 1962 | 1968 | 1974 | 1974 | 1992 | 1995 | 2008 | 2008 | 2010 | 2014 | 2016 | 2018 |
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Property
purchased in 1922 for the new Medical School and Hospital,
outlined in red. |
Property
sold to the City in 1923 for a new Municipal Hospital,
outlined in blue. The City sold the hospital and property back
to the University in 1963 for the same price they had paid for the
property. |
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1963 Medical
Center Property Map |
1986 Plan
with Old and New Names |
Medical Center
Building Dates |
In early 1920, Abraham Flexner, working for John D. Rockefeller's General Education Board, approached President Rush Rhees to discuss the creation of a new medical school in Rochester as had been outlined in his 1910 report on Medical education in the United States and Canada. Rhees introduced him to George Eastman, who was very receptive to the idea as along as the new institution would be property funded. Agreement between the University, Eastman and Rockefeller was soon reached, with Rockefeller providing $5 million and Eastman $4 million. The two daughters of Henry Alvah Strong provided $1 million towards the cost of a new hospital, which was named after their parents.
Rhees traveled to California in an attempt to convince George H. Whipple to become dean of the new School of Medicine and Dentistry, which after some negotiation proved successful. Whipple moved to Rochester and joined in the discussions about the location of the new Medical School, which was coupled with a desire to secure an adjacent parcel for a new and larger College for Men. The University Trustees in late 1921 approved a plan to locate the school on a large tract between Elmwood Avenue and the Barge Canal while the nearby Oak Hill Golf Course would become a new campus for the College for Men.
The University purchased 97 acres of land in early 1922 that ranged from almost to Mt. Hope Avenue on the east to the Lehigh Valley Railroad on the west, and from Elmwood Avenue (then unpaved) on the north to the Barge Canal on the south, on the west side of Castleman, as shown in the above maps. The City of Rochester approached the University about co-locating a new Municipal Hospital adjacent to the University's new hospital. The city annexed the area in January 1923 and in April the University sold 26.5 acres to the City for a new Municipal Hospital. The City also agreed to reroute Elmwood Avenue and build an underpass beneath the two railroads and the city also opened Lattimore Road (later renamed Kendrick). The city later built a new bridge over the Genesee River.
By the early 1960s it was
recognized that additional hospital space was required. Planning
initially focused on a smaller building west of the Medical Center, but in
1963 the City sold the Rochester Memorial Hospital (X&Y Wings) and the
associated 24-acre parcel to the University for $39,789, the same price
the City had paid for the land in 1923. This property allowed the new
hospital to be built on the east end of the Medical Center and new
research buildings sites to be located on the west end.
Buildings
1922 | Animal House | Medical
Library |
1925 | School of Medicine and Dentistry | Helen Wood Hall | Staff House |
1926 | Strong Memorial Hospital | Rochester Municipal Hospital |
1929 Staff House Addition
1933 Athletic Center
1941 Q Wing (8100)
1943 Medical Center Annex
1948 R Wing (9000)
1950 O & P Wings (5500 5700)
1954 W Wing (4300)
1955 Supplies & Accounts Building (4900)
1957 Fifth floor of R Wing added
1958 P Wing infill
1959 Radiation Center (6600)
1961 Third floor added to south wing of Medical Center Annex.
1962 | U Wing (5000) | Miner Library Expansion |
1963 Second Animal House
1966 OO Wing (6800)
1967 GG Wing (6500-6900)
1969 | R North (9200) | Electric substation (G-4999) |
1971 S Wing (7400-8800)
1972 Goler House
1975 New Strong Memorial Hospital
1980 Cancer Center (3000)
1982 R Wing Connector (G-8090)
1985 Alastair J. Gillies Anesthesiology Library (6-5436)
1986 Two floors added to Cancer Center
1995 Parking Garage
1996 Ambulatory
Care Facility and Wolk Pavilion, including infill of SMH 3-1200 to
3-1400
1998 | Child Care Center | Autoclave (G-4807) |
1999 Kornberg Medical Research Building
2001 Gannett Emergency Department
2002 Del Monte Research Institute (MRBX)
2003 G-5200 infill
2004 | Parking Garage Expansion | Emergency Department vertical expansion |
2004 Floor added to Cancer Center building for Flaum Eye Institute
2006 Loretta C. Ford Education Wing (Helen Wood Hall)
2007 New electric substation (B-5797)
2008 Wilmot Cancer Center
2011 Saunders Research Building (CTSB)
2012 Wilmot Cancer Center Vertical Expansion
2015 Golisano Children's Hospital
2016 Meliora
Milestones: A Campus Transformed
Timeline and map of construction projects
2022 Loretta C. Ford Education Wing expansion
References
| Also see Disease,
Medicine, and Public Health |
1910 Medical
education in the United States and Canada; a report to the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching by Abraham Flexner
Pages 180-181: Chapter XIV The Medical Education of the Negro
1920 Report
of the President of the University of Rochester, June 1,
1920.Pages 12-14: About four months ago it was brought to my
attention that competent judges of the needs of medical education in the
United States were of the opinion that our city offers a very desirable
location for a medical school of the highest order. This idea caused me
great surprise. It was not the first time that the possibility of a
medical school connected with the University had been suggested to me.
reply had always been: Medical education is the costliest form of
professional training, and The University of Rochester is not interested
in undertaking such work without resources sufficient to make that work
unquestionably of the first class. I had no idea that Rochester could
command adequate resources. Furthermore, I had the opinion that the
trouble with medical education in this country was not that it had too few
medical schools, but too many.
This opinion was derived from a remarkable study of medical education in
the United States and Canada made by Dr. Abraham Flexner, and published in
1910. On consulting him about the proposal I found him to be of the
opinion that there is ample room for another medical school of the highest
order and that Rochester presents in many ways an ideal location for such
a school; and in the further development of the project he has given
invaluable counsel and encouragement. The value of such counsel and
encouragement can be best appreciated by those who know the unique
position he has attained as one of the best informed men on the present
condition and needs of medical education throughout the world.
When the project was brought to the attention of our farsighted and
marvelously generous friend, Mr. George Eastman, he recognized at once the
possibility of accomplishing something great, not only for medical
education in general, but also for the good of Rochester as a community,
because of the stimulus and assistance which such a school will inevitably
give to the practice of medicine in our city and the work of our hospitals
and of all the agencies working for the public health.
This advantage is readily apparent from the fact that an essential feature
of the equipment will be a teaching hospital of about 250 beds, owned by
the University and supported by a special endowment, which will help
supply the need for increased hospital facilities in our city.
Furthermore the scientific laboratories for anatomy, physiology and
pathology devoted not only to instruction in those subjects but to
research for the advancement of knowledge in those sciences, will put
Rochester and its medical and dental professions and hospitals in the most
favored class in the matter of dealing with problems of public health.
Early in the consideration of this matter, Mr. Eastman saw that if
co-operation with the Rochester Dental Dispensary could be secured, that
great institution, by enlarging its scope to provide for treatment of
adults in addition to its work for children, and on much the same basis,
would furnish clinical facilities for dental education of the same order
as that proposed for medicine; and the project was enlarged so as to
combine with the projected school for physicians and surgeons a dental
school of the highest standard.
The project could not be considered at all, however, except on the basis
of large resources. It is with wonder, as well as with pride and
gratitude, that I welcome the privilege given to me of announcing that in
addition to the effective co-operation of the Rochester Dental Dispensary,
which with its endowment of $1,000,000, represents a gift by Mr. Eastman
of $1,500,000, he has agreed to give the University of Rochester
$4,000,000 for this great enterprise, and that the General Education
Board, which dispenses Mr. John D. Rockefeller's gifts for education, has
agreed to contribute $5,000,000.
The princely sum made available by these magnificent gifts will enable The
University of Rochester to establish its new school on a firm basis and
with the very highest standards. It is a noble challenge to us to be
worthy of such a trust. It calls upon us to see to it that the college,
which is the foundation on which alone such advanced professional
education can be built, is maintained in ever-increasing strength. I have
no doubt that our friends will welcome the opportunity as need arises to
enable us to respond to that call.
1920 "Gift of $9,000,000 to University by Eastman and Rockefeller for School of Medicine Announced," Democrat and Chronicle, June 12, 1920, Page 1. | Part 2 | Part 3 |
1921 "To Make Trip in Interest of New Medical School," Democrat and Chronicle, January 4, 1921, Page 16.
1921 "Oak
Hill Site Is Approved by University Trustees," Democrat and
Chronicle, November 6, 1921, Page 1. | Part
2 |
Present Plan Would Place College For Men on Country Club Site and Medical
School on Elmwood Avenue.
1921 "Co-operation
in University Plan in Urged," Democrat and Chronicle,
December 14, 1921, Page 26.
Building of Hospital; Subway under railroads.
1922 "Rail
Engineers Aid in Planning Traffic Subway," Democrat and
Chronicle, August 24, 1922, Page 16.
Propose to replace Elmwood crossing with one 400 feet south.
1934 "Nobel
Prize Shared by Dr. Whipple," Democrat and Chronicle,
October 26, 1934, Page 1 | Part
2 |
In his work here he had the assistance of Mrs.
Frieda S. Robbins, physiologist.
1936 The First Decade 1926-1936
1943 "Woman
Gets Medical Degree With 59 Men at U. of R. Rites," Democrat and
Chronicle, December 19, 1943, Page 2B.
Edwin A. Robinson, first Black graduate of School of Medicine and
Dentistry
1950 The First Quarter Century 1925-1950
1960 Abraham
Flexner: an autobiography
A revision, brought up to date, of the author's I Remember,
published in 1940
1961 "UR
buys Market for Records Use," Democrat and Chronicle,
November 15, 1961, Page 19. | Part
2 |
The University of Rochester yesterday purchased an old supermarket at 1510
Mt. Hope Ave. for $55,000 for use as a laboratory and records annex to the
school's medical center.
The property was sold to the university by Hart's Food Stores. Inc., 175
Humboldt St., which owned and operated the Star Market the structure
formerly housed. The market now occupies a neighboring structure.
LaRoy B. Thompson, vice president and treasurer, reported last night that
the university purchased the property to relieve congestion at the medical
center, which does not have adequate floor space for some of the services
connected with patient care.
He specifically mentioned chemical tests connected with diagnosis and
therapy, said much of the newly acquired property would be used as a
clinical chemistry laboratory. The rest of the structure, he said, will be
used to store older records of patients and older X-rays to free space in
the medical center itself, which is about 300 yards away.
The sale was a cash transaction, according to Frank J. Goodwin, attorney
for the buyer, and Murry Beckerman, attorney for the seller.
1963 "Medical Center at UR Given $3.1 Million Aid," Democrat and Chronicle, October 12, 1963, Page 23.
1963 "UR Medical Center Plans $50 Million Expansion," Democrat and Chronicle, November 12, 1963, Page 1. | Part 2 |
1963 Master plan for University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, by Thomas Farr Ellerbe
1965 "$60 Million Tabbed for Center," Democrat and Chronicle, January 26, 1965, Page 1B.
1965 "$80 Million Expansion Projected by U. of R.," Democrat and Chronicle, April 30, 1965, Page 1. | Part 2 |
1966 "Tomorrow
On The Campus," Democrat and Chronicle, September 25, 1966,
Page 1M. | Part
2 |
New Hospital
1972 "Doctor
of Medicine," Democrat and Chronicle, June 5, 1972, Page 6B.
Ruby L. Belton, first Black female graduate of School of Medicine and
Dentistry
1972 "Black
Medical Pioneer Dies," Democrat and Chronicle, July 31, 1972,
Page B1.
Edwin A. Robinson, first Black graduate of School of Medicine and
Dentistry
1975 To each his farthest star: The University of Rochester Medical Center -1925-1975, edited by Edward C. Atwater and John Romano.
1975 Fifty Years of Medicine at Rochester, edited by Edward C. Atwater and John Romano, Pictorial companion to the above book.
1977 History
of the University of Rochester, 1850-1962, by Arthur J.
May. Expanded edition with notes
Chapter 20, Shaping the Medical Center
Chapter 28: Music and Medicine in the 1930's
Chapter 31: Women, Music and Medicine in Wartime
1983 "Net Aids Medical Center's Search for Grants," Computerworld 17(30):30 (July 25, 1983)
1987 Flexner: 75 Years Later : a Current Commentary on Medical Education, by Charles Vevier
2000 The University of Rochester Medical Center: teaching, discovering, caring : seventy-five years of achievement, 1925-2000, edited by Jules Cohen and Robert W. Joynt
2002 Iconoclast : Abraham Flexner and a life in learning, by Thomas Neville Bonner
2016 Fifty Years of Neurology History
2020 A Pathway to Excellence: The First 100 Years of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1921-2020, by Bruce R. Smoller
© 2021 Morris A. Pierce