MEDICINE AND SHOCKOE HILL*

By HARRY J. WARTHEN, M.D.

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

ICHMOND, like Rome, is beginning, only a few classes were held, built on seven hills. The ses- for the outbreak of the French Revolu­ quicentennial of the “’Hill to tion necessitated Quesnay’s return to the west of ‘Shockhoe' Creek" France and in his absence and without Ras an educational center couldhis have financial support, the local sub­ been celebrated last year, for in 1786, scribers were unable to carry out the according to a contemporary account in original program. the Virginia Gazette, the cornerstone I he Academy building became a the­ of Ouesnay de Beaurepaire’s Academy ater, the French gardens were divided was laid with the following inscription into building lots, and Shockoe Hill be­ in Latin:1 came known chiefly as the site of On this day, the 24th of June, 1786, Thomas Jefferson’s new State Capitol The Tenth of the Independence, and a fashionable residential section on Patrick Henry, Governor, the outskirts of early nineteenth cen­ Was laid by the Trustees the first stone of tury Richmond. Quesnay’s Academy This state of affairs continued until Which promises by its extensive utility 1845, when the Egyptian Building at To do honor to the projector’s ingenuity the corner of Marshall and College As well as to those who had the good sense Streets was completed and the Medical To patronize his scheme College of Virginia, then in its eighth J. Harvie, Mayor year of operation, and a department of Little is known today of the Che­ Hampden-Sydney College moved from valier Quesnay de Beaurepaire, that its former quarters in the Union Hotel half-legendary French veteran of the at Nineteenth and Main Streets to its American Revolution who envisaged a present location in Academy Square. national Academy of Sciences and Fine Why the Egyptian style was chosen by Arts, modeled after the French Acad­ the Medical College for its principal emy.2 His aim apparently was to erect building is still a subject for specula­ and in part endow an Academy in Rich­ tion. A possible explanation may be mond as a memorial to the friendship found in its architect—Thomas S. Stew­ existing between France and the Com­ art of Philadelphia. Three other “Ni- monwealth of Virginia at the close of lesque” buildings were erected about the the Revolutionary War. Quesnay’s same time: the Municipal Reservoir plans were accepted with enthusiasm and the old “Tombs” in New York and the central building was soon com­ City, and the Moyamensing Prison in pleted, with formal French gardens ex­ Philadelphia.3 While Stewart may not tending down the eastern slope of have designed these structures, he must Shockoe Hill. Despite this auspicious have been influenced by them, and it *A review of the role that Shockoe Hill has played in the medical life and history of Rich­ mond may be of interest at this time inasmuch as the year 1937 marks the centennial of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and the bicentennial of the founding of the city. was probably at bis suggestion that the the War Between the States virtually Egyptian style was chosen. Only the converted it into a military hospital and “Tombs” and the Medical College are it continued in this capacity until 1864.

now standing. A hospital was estab­ A history of the medical development lished in the Egyptian Building, and of Shockoe Hill would be incomplete despite the proximity of a medical without a more detailed account of the school under the same roof, the pri­ role this region played in the medical vate rooms and wards were filled with affairs of the War Between the States. patients; during the year 1857 two hun­ The greater portion of the fighting oc­ dred and fifty-seven bed cases were ad­ curred on Virginia soil, and Richmond mitted.4 was the chief medical center for the This infirmary soon proved inade­ Confederacy throughout the War. Prob­ quate and in i860 a new three-story, ably not less than a quarter of a mil­ seventy-five bed hospital was built lion sick and wounded soldiers from across the court at 1225 East Marshall both armies were cared for in this city Street on the site now occupied by the during the four years of hostilities. Saint Philip Hospital.4 The patients in The Medical College of Virginia was the infirmary were transferred to the the only medical school in the Con­ new hospital in the spring of 1861, federacy to continue operation through­ and the wards in the Egyptian Building out the War. The sessions were short­ were turned into lecture rooms and lab­ ened to four months and two classes oratories. Hardly had the new infirmary were graduated each year. About four opened its doors when the outbreak of hundred medical students were trained during this period; the majority of these children's hospital, was the residence were detailed to military hospitals about of James Kinniard during the War, and Richmond or assigned to field work the first floor of this home became a

with the Army of Northern Virginia. military hospital following the Seven At the onset of the War, Richmond, Days Battle in June, 1862.5 No doubt which then had a population of less many other homes in this section were than forty thousand, was totally un­ used for the same purpose, for the prepared to take care of the trainloads houses were large and their owners of wounded who were brought to the were patriotic. Richmond, Fredericksburg and Poto­ The large ground floor basement of mac Railroad terminal at Eighth and the First Baptist Church, erected on Broad Streets, and the Virginia Central the corner of Twelfth and Broad Streets Railway Station at the foot of Shockoe in 1841, became a clearing house for Hill on Seventeenth Street. Over one hospital supplies. The adjoining Syca­ thousand soldiers were admitted to the more Church on Eleventh Street be­ Medical College Infirmary at 1225 East came a military hospital during the first Marshall Street during the first eight year of the War.6 The “Richmond Fe­ months of the war.4 All types of build­ male Institute” on Tenth Street be­ ings, from tobacco factories to railroad tween Marshall and Clay became Gen­ shops, were converted into temporary eral Hospital No. 4, and cared for hospitals, and during the fighting about wounded commissioned officers.7 A gen­ Richmond in 1862 private homes were eral register for ambulant wounded was thrown open and received a large num­ established on Broad Street between ber of the wounded. The brick house at Ninth and Tenth Streets. 408 North Twelfth Street, now used as a The Chimborazo Hospital at the east­ nurses home for the adjoining colored ern end of Broad Street (which alone cared for over 77,000 patients4) was one twelve years ago, but the building with of several large general hospitals con­ its weather-beaten sign remained until structed in Richmond during the course last year, a reminder of Richmond’s first

of the War, and these institutions grad­ specialty hospital. ually took over the functions of the In 1883, the Retreat for the Sick was small emergency hospitals on Shockoe moved to 305 North Twelfth Street. Hill and elsewhere throughout the city. This large residence was erected prior Following the War, the infirmary at to 1810 and at one time served as the 1225 East Marshall Street continued as Governor’s Mansion.7 The building was the teaching hospital for the Medical enlarged and the adjoining Ezekiel College of Virginia, although its man­ home,8 built in 1859 on the corner of agement changed frequently. It was suc­ Twelfth and Marshall Streets, became cessively called the Church Institute, the Nurses’ Home. The hospital con­ Retreat for the Sick, and the Old Do­ tinued in this location until 1920 when minion Hospital.4 Finally in 1903, after the Retreat was moved to its present lo­ forty-two years of arduous service to cation on Grove Avenue. These old the City, State and Confederacy, its buildings were recently torn down and doors were closed, and the present Saint the new Medical College of Virginia Philip Hospital was erected in 1920 011 Clinic is now being erected on their its foundation. sites. In 1879, the Richmond Eye, Ear and The year 1883 also saw the establish­ Throat Infirmary and Dispensary was ment of the first private hospital on organized.4 An old residence at 217 Shockoe Hill. In April of that year, St. Governor Street was chosen and this Luke’s Home for the Sick, with a bed was enlarged to accommodate twenty- capacity for forty-eight patients, was five patients. The infirmary was closed opened by Dr. Hunter McGuire on the northeast corner of Ross and Governor McClurg of pioneer medical fame. This Streets.4 The hospital was housed in the house has been changed but little dur­ old "Richmond House." formerly the ing the past century and a half and is an

home of Dr. John Cullen, one of the excellent example of eighteenth cen­ founders of the Medical College of Vir­ tury Richmond architecture. ginia. This building was used as a sub­ In 1893 the University College of treasury during the War Between the Medicine was established by Dr. Hun­ States, and here the Confederate cur­ ter McGuire in two large residences rency was signed. The hospital con­ which occupied the north side of Clay tinued at this location until the present Street between Eleventh and Twelfth St. Luke’s was built at the corner of Streets. The College was located in the Harrison and Grace Streets in 1899. old Bruce home on the northwest cor­ On February 13, 1889, the Sheltering ner of Twelfth and Clay Streets. This* Arms Hospital was established as an in­ house, built in 1850, was the wartime firmary with six beds for the treatment residence of Alexander H. Stephens, of indigent patients in the Clifton vice-president of the Confederate States. House at 105 North Fourteenth This building burned in 1910 and Street.4 Four years later the large brick classes were held in the adjoining ware­ residence at 1008 East Clay Street was house on Twelfth Street until McGuire purchased, and this house, built by Hall was erected on the same site two William H. Grant in 1855, has been years later. The large house on the gradually enlarged from a capacity of northeast corner of Eleventh and Clay fifteen beds to its present eighty beds. Streets, built in 1813 by Dr. John Brock- The Nurses’ Home at 1000 East Clay enbrough, became the Virginia Hos­ Street was built prior to 1796, for in pital. This old home is unique, for this year it was acquired by Dr. James despite its impressive portico and the at­ mosphere of lavender and magnolias warrants a digression. In 1802 the Acad­ that forty years of medical association emy Theater burned. Eight years later have not entirely effaced, it is, and al­ a second theater was built in Academy ways has been, a double house with sep­ Square. Here Elizabeth Arnold Poe, arate entrances and a central partition. mother of Edgar Allan Poe, gave fre­ A large annex increased the capacity of quent performances as a member of Mr. this building to one hundred and Placide’s Company of Virginia Players.3 twenty-five beds, and for many years it On December 26, 1811, during the sec­ was the largest hospital in Richmond. ond act of “The Bleeding Nun,” a fire After the merging of the two medical began behind the stage and a large as­ schools in 1913, the Virginia Hospital semblage was trapped in the building. became the out-patient department of Seventy-two lives were lost and among the Medical College of Virginia, con­ the victims were George W. Smith, tinuing as such to the present time. Governor of Virginia, and Abram B. The last independent medical insti­ Venable, former United States Senator.7 tution to be established on Shockoe Saddened and sobered by two fires Hill was the Virginia Home for In­ within nine years the citizens of Rich­ curables, organized in 1894.4 This was mond erected a church on the site and first located at 1315 Ross Street in a hoped it would prove more lasting than small dwelling and housed five patients. its worldly predecessors. Eight months Four years later it was moved to its after the fire the cornerstone of the familiar location on West Broad Street. Monumental Church was laid and the The present hospitals of the Medical first service was held on May 4, 1814. College of Virginia are grouped on The ashes of the victims of the fire were the eastern crest of Shockoe Hill. The placed in a brick vault beneath the floor Memorial Hospital, erected on the and a memorial marble monument was southeast corner of Twelfth and Broad erected in the portico. Streets in 1903, occupies the former lo­ In 1931 the Colored Nurses’ Home cation of the Crump and Call homes. was built on the north side of Marshall The Dooley Hospital for white chil­ Street opposite the Saint Philip Hos­ dren was erected in 1920 on the site pital. Directly behind the Home and of the Old Dispensary building in Acad­ extending down Thirteenth Street are emy Square. The Saint Philip Hospital located the recently completed central for colored patients was built the same heating plant and laundry of the Med­ year on the foundations of the Old Do­ ical College of Virginia. minion Hospital. These hospitals form Shockoe Hill falls away abruptly at two sides of the court to the west of this point. These buildings are almost the Egyptian Building in Academy hidden beneath the eastern wall of the Square. Confederate Museum which dominates In 1929 Cabaniss Hall, a dormitory the crest of the plateau at the termina­ for nurses in the Medical College of tion of East Clay Street. The large and Virginia hospitals, was erected on the austere gray building was erected by north side of Broad Street about mid­ Dr. John Brockenbrough in 1818. This way between Twelfth and Fourteenth versatile Richmond physician was also Streets. This building adjoins the Mon­ a banker and a member of the Grand umental Church, which also faces Jury which in 1807 indicted Aaron Broad Street. The history of this church Burr for “high treason and misde­ is of more than passing interest and meanour.”7 At the outbreak of the i. Egyptian Building. 2. Dooley Hospital (old Dispensary superimposed). 3. Saint Philip Hospital (Old Dominion Hospital superimposed). 4. Cabaniss Hall. 5. Old Medical College laboratories. 6. Present Medical College laboratories. 7. New Clinic Building (for­ mer Retreat for Sick Hospital superimposed). 8. Former Retreat for Sick Nurses’ Home, g. Medical College House Officers’ Dormitory. 10. Colored Nurses’ Home. 11. Medical College laundry. 12. Medical College heating plant. 13. Richmond Academy of Medicine. 14. Med­ ical College Library. 15. Former University College of Medicine laboratories. 16. McGuire Hall (University College of Medicine superimposed). 17. Medical College Clinic Building. 18. Sheltering Arms Hospital. 19. Sheltering Arms Nurses’ Home. 20. Children’s Memorial Clinic. 21. Confederate Hospital (Richmond Female Institute). 22. Confederate Hospital (Sycamore Church). 23. Confederate Hospital Supplies (First Baptist Church). 24. Rich­ mond Tuberculosis Association. 25. Memorial Hospital. 26. Richmond Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary. 27. St. Luke’s Home for the Sick (original site). 28. Virginia Home for Incurables (original site). 29. Sheltering Arms Hospital (original site). 30. St. Elizabeth’s Hospital Experimental Laboratory. 31. Confederate Hospital at 408 N. 12th Street and present colored children’s hospital. Adjacent Points of Interest a. Virginia State Capitol, b. Stonewall Jackson Monument, c. Dr. Hunter McGuire Monument, d. Governor’s Mansion, e. Virginia State Library, f. Birthplace of late Governor Albert C. Ritchie, g. The Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts. h. Richmond City Hall. 1. Broad Street Methodist Church, j. Valentine Museum, k. Home of General R. E. Lee 1862-1863. l. Home of Matthew Fontaine Maury 1861-1865. M- Juvenile and Domestic Rela­ tions Court, n. Confederate Museum, o. Monumental Church, p. Foundations of Quesnay de Bcaurepaire’s Academy of Sciences and Fine Arts. War Between the States the house was general medical library and several spe­ purchased by the City of Richmond and cial collections of medical books, pic­ became the official residence of Presi­ tures and instruments of outstanding dent Jefferson Davis. Here was born his interest. The Joseph L. Miller Collec­ daughter Winnie and here died his son tion of old and unusual medical books, Joseph as the result of a fall from the silhouettes, prints and instruments is eastern portico. On April 2, 1865, after housed in a special room in the Acad­ four harassing years, the city was evacu­ emy Building. ated and two days later this house was The decision to place the Academy visited by President Lincoln. The of Medicine and the Medical College of building became the headquarters of Virginia Library 011 the corner of Military District No. 1 during the pe­ Twelfth and Clay Streets was a for­ riod of “Reconstruction,” and later was tunate one, for the structure suited the used as a public school. For the past site and the location needed such a forty years it has served as a museum building. The remaining three corners and now contains many priceless relics are occupied by the Confederate Mu­ of the Confederate Cause. seum, the Juvenile and Domestic Rela­ Fhe Clinic Building and the Dormi­ tions Court, and McGuire Hall of the tory for House Officers, now in process Medical College. The intersection of of construction, on the southeast and these two otherwise unremarkable northeast corners of Twelfth and Mar­ streets is made unique by this unusual shall Streets, are the latest medical ad­ combination of the old and the new, ditions on Shockoe Hill. the judicial and the medical, the his­ In tearing clown several houses on torical and the utilitarian. Twelfth Street preparatory to erecting Lhis account does not bring the med­ the new clinic the brick foundations of Quesnay de Beaurepaire’s Academy ical history of Shockoe Hill to a close, were unearthed. An attempt will be for while no less than two medical col­ made to preserve this reminder of Rich­ leges and sixteen hospitals have been mond’s first institution for higher edu­ established in this limited area compris­ cation by incorporating the wall in a ing only a few city squares, plans are now future building on this site. being formulated for the erection of The Richmond Academy of Medi­ still another hospital in Academy cine and the Library of the Medical Col­ Square. When this is completed, the ad­ lege of Virginia were erected jointly in ditional beds will double the present 1932 on the northeast corner of Twelfth capacity of the Medical College of Vir­ and Clay Streets. These buildings con­ ginia hospitals and Shockoe Hill may tain the offices of the state and city med­ look forward with confidence to its sec­ ical societies, a well appointed audito­ ond century of service to the medical rium, a pathological museum, a large needs of Richmond. References 1. Clark, A. Med. Coll. Virginia Bull., 25:9, the Nineteenth Century. Richmond, 1928 (Nov.). Va., Garrett and Massie, 1933. inniard rs 2. Page, R. Med. Coll. Virginia Bull., 25:9, 5. K , M . J. Personal communica­ 1928 (Nov.). tion. 6. Avery, Mrs. D. L. Personal communica­ 3. Allen, H. Israfel, The Life and Limes of tion. Edgar Allan Poe. N. Y., Farrar and 7. Richmond, Virginia, in Old Prints. Rich­ Rinehart, 1934. mond, Va., Johnson Pub., 1932. 4. Blanton, W. B. Medicine in Virginia in 8. Ezekiel, G. A. Personal communication.