page_title: Meharry Medical College
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Meharry Medical College / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Central Tennessee College and Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, USA Identifier: 25822752.4742.emory.edu Title: Afro-American encyclopaedia, or, The thoughts, doings, and sayings of the race (electronic resource): embracing addresses, lectures, biographical sketches, sermons, poems, names of universities, colleges, seminaries, newspapers, books, and a history of the denominations, giving the numerical strength of each&#160;: in fact, it teaches every subject of interest to the colored people, as discussed by more than one hundred of their wisest and best men and women&#160;: illustrated with beautiful half-tone engravings Year: 1895 (1890s) Authors: Haley, James T Washington, Booker T., 1856-1915. Mind and matter Settle, William B., former owner. GEU Woodson, Carter Godwin, 1875-1950, former owner. GEU Association for the Study of African-American Life and History, former owner. GEU Subjects: African Americans African Americans African Americans Publisher: Nashville, Tenn.&#160;: Haley &amp; Florida Contributing Library: Emory University, Robert W. Woodruff Library Digitizing Sponsor: Emory University, Robert W. Woodruff Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: chool was then moved into a buildingknown as the Gun Factory, on South College street, where it re-mained for two years. This building had been used by the FederalArmy as a. hospital, and the Government returned it to the owners.This made it necessary to seek another location. Attempts weremade to purchase property, but there being prejudice by the whitepeople against having a school for Negroes in their neighborhood, itwas no easy matter to secure such property as was desirable. Atlength the present site on Maple street was purchased, and theschool moved, in 1868, into the only building on the ground, whichwas entirely inadequate to accommodate the students who attendedduring the year. The building was repaired during the year, andthe chapel and boarding hall erected by the Freedmens Bureau.These buildings afforded ample room for the school for several years.In 1872 the number of students was such that additional buildingsbecame necessary, and a band of students, known as the Tennes- Text Appearing After Image: 29(3 AFRO-AMERICAN ENCYCLOPAEDIA. seans, sung in the North, and raised nearly all the money for thelarge, four-story building, which is now the main school building.Other buildings have been added, as the Model School and WebsterHall, the latter used for industrial purposes and dormitories, theblacksmith, carpenter, and machine shops. Other buildings andgrounds have been added by purchase. Rev. Bishop Walden has re-cently purchased what is known as the Hurley Place, joining on therear of the original purchase, which, with other additions, gives am-ple grounds for other buildings, which are greatly needed to meetthe recpjirenients of the literary departments and African Training. School. In 1880 the building for the Meharry Medical Departmentwas opened, and in 1880 the Dental and Pharmaceutical building wasfirst used for these departments. In its early history, the college was only a primary school. Theobject was to prepare teachers and preachers as rapidly as possible,to meet the grea Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Meharry Medical College is a graduate and professional institution that is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first medical school for African Americans in the South, which then held the highest proportion of this ethnicity.
  Meharry Medical College was chartered separately in 1915. In the early 21st century, it has become the largest private historically black institution in the United States solely dedicated to educating health care professionals and scientists. The school has never been segregated.
  Meharry Medical College includes its School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, a School of Allied Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies and Research, the Harold R. West Basic Sciences Center, and the Metropolitan General Hospital of Nashville-Davidson County. The degrees that Meharry offers include Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Master of Science in Public Health, Master of Health Science, and Doctor of Philosophy degrees. Meharry is the second-largest educator of African-American medical doctors and dentists in the United States.
context_section_description: Meharry Medical College was one six medical institutions established between the years of 1876 and 1900 in the state of Tennessee. These schools were founded after the end of the Civil War when slaves had been freed and there were as yet few African-American physicians, and many freedmen in need of health care. In the common segregation, most hospitals would not admit African Americans and many white physicians often chose not to serve freedmen. During the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, most medical institutions accepted few, if any, African-American students.  To combat this shortage of health care and the lack of accessibility to medical education, individuals, such as Samuel Meharry, and organizations, such as the Medical Association of Colored Physicians, Surgeons, Dentists, and Pharmacists (later renamed the National Medical Association), helped to found medical schools specifically for African Americans. 
  The college was named for Samuel Meharry, a young Scots-Irish immigrant who first worked as a salt trader on the Kentucky-Tennessee frontier. After achieving some success, he and four of his brothers later made a major donation to help establish the college. As a young trader, Meharry had been aided by a family of freedmen, whose names are unknown. Meharry reportedly told the former slave family, "I have no money, but when I can I shall do something for your race."
  Students at Central Tennessee College (CTC) approached the college president about setting up a medical school in 1875. The president, John Braden, approached Samuel Meharry to discuss the proposal. In 1875, Meharry, together with four of his brothers, donated a total of $15,000 to assist with establishing a medical department at (CTC), a historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee.  With the contribution of the Freedman's Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church North, George W. Hubbard and Braden, they opened the Medical College at CTC in 1876 with a starting class of nine students. The classes took place in the basement of the Clark Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. The first regular year of classes began in October of 1876 and had eleven students in that group. The medical program was initially two years long, but they added an additional year in 1879 and a fourth year to the course of study in 1893.
  Hubbard, a physician, served as the founding president of the medical college. The first student graduated in 1877. The second class, which had its commencement in 1878, had three graduates. 
  In 1886, the Dental Department was founded, followed by a Pharmacy Department founded in 1889. The Dental and Pharmaceutical Building was dedicated on October 20, 1889. By 1896, half of all "regularly educated physicians then practicing in the South" had graduated from Meharry. A nurse-training school was also developed during the 1900-1901 school year and the first class had eight students. A training hospital, Mercy Hospital, was built during the 1901-1902 school year. This hospital was replaced in 1916 and named the George W. Hubbard Hospital. Meharry Auditorium, with a 1,000 person capacity was built in 1904. 
  In 1900, CTC changed its name to Walden University. In 1915, the medical department faculty of Walden University received a separate charter to operate independently as Meharry Medical College. The college continued to be privately funded. The Medical College remained in its original buildings, and Walden University moved to another campus in Nashville in 1922. 
  In 1910, Meharry absorbed medical students from Flint Medical College when that school was closed. Meharry also graduated a large number of women physicians for the time period, with 39 women having graduated by 1920. In 1923, Meharry was recognized as a "grade-A institution" by the American Medical Association (AMA).
  Since its founding, Meharry Medical College has added several graduate programs in the areas of science, medicine, and public health. In 1938, the School of Graduate Studies and Research was founded. The first master's degree program, a Master of Sc
caption: Central Tennessee College (CTC), with Meharry Medical College inset in top right corner, 1895.
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