"On this day, the 24th of June, 1786,
The Tenth of the Independence, P. Henry, Governor,
Was laid by the Trustees the first stone of Quesnay's Academy
Which promises by its extensive utility
To do honor to the projector's ingenuity
As well as to those who had the good sense
To patronize his scheme
J. Harvie, Mayor."
The brick foundations of the Academy building were discovered recently when several small houses on the east side of Twelfth Street between Broad and Marshall were torn down to make way for the new Medical College of Virginia Clinic now in the process of erection.
Quesnay Called Back to France
The life of the Academy was brief, and only a few classes were held, for the outbreak of the French Revolution necessitated Quesnay's return to France and in his absence and without his financial support the local subscribers were unable to carry out the original program.
The Academy building became a theater, the carefully planned French gardens extending down the hill to College Street were divided into building lots, and Shockoe Hill became known chiefly as the site of Jefferson's new State Capitol and a fashionable residential section on the outskirts of early Nineteenth Century Richmond.
This state of affairs continued until 1845, when the Egyptian building at the corner of Marshall and College Streets was completed and the Medical College of Virginia, then in its eighth year of operation, and the department of Hampden-Sydney College, moved from its former quarters in the Union Hotel at Nineteenth and Main Streets to its present location in Academy Square.
A hospital was established in the Egyptian Building and despite the proximity of the diversified activities of a medical school, the private rooms and wards were filled, and during the year 1857 two hundred and fifty-seven bed cases were admitted.
This infirmary soon proved inadequate to care for the increasing number of patients seeking admission and in 1860 a new three-story, 75-bed hospital was built at 1225 East Marshall Street on the site now occupied by the Saint Philip Hospital. The patients in the infirmary were transferred to the new hospital in the spring of 1861 and the wards in the Egyptian Building were turned into lecture rooms and laboratories. Hardly had the new infirmary opened its doors before the outbreak of the War Between the States virtually converted it into a military hospital and it continued in this capacity until 1864.
A history, however brief, of the medical development of Shockoe Hill would be incomplete without a more detailed account of the important role this region played in the medical affairs of the War Between the States. The greater portion of the fighting occurred on Virginia soil and Richmond was the chief medical center for the Confederacy throughout the war. Probably no less than a quarter of a million sick and wounded soldiers from both armies were cared for in this city during the four years of hostilities.
Only Medical School functioning
The Medical College of Virginia was the only medical school in the Confederacy to continue operation throughout the war. The sessions were shortened to four months and two classes were graduated each year. About 400 medical students were trained during this period and the majority of these were detailed to military hospitals about Richmond or assigned to field work with the Army of Northern Virginia.
At the onset of the war, Richmond, which then had a population of less than 40,000 was totally unprepared to take care of the trainloads of wounded who were brought to the Virginia Central Railway Station at the foot of Shockoe Hill on Seventeenth Street. More than 1,000 soldiers were admitted to the Medical College Infirmary at 1225 Marshall Street during the first eight months of the war.
All types of buildings from tobacco factories to railroad shops were converted into temporary hospitals and during the fighting about Richmond in 1862, private homes were thrown open and received large numbers of wounded. The brick house at 408 North Twelfth Street, now used as a nurses' home for the adjoining colored children's hospital, was the residence of James Kinnair during the war and the first floor of this home became a military hospital following the Seven Days Battle in June, 1862. No doubt many other homes in this section were used for the same purpose for the houses were large and their owners were patriotic.
Medical Supplies Stored in Church
The commodious ground floor basement of the First Baptist Church, erected on the corner of Twelfth and Broad Streets in 1841, became a clearing house for hospital supplies. The "Richmond Female Institute" building on Tenth Street between Marshall and Clay became General Hospital No. 4, and cared for wounded commissioned officers. A general register for ambulant wounded was established on Broad Street between Ninth and Tenth.
Following the war the infirmary at 1225 East Marshall continued as the teaching hospital for the Medical College of Virginia, although its management frequently changed, and it was successively called the Church Institute, Retreat for the Sick, and the Old Dominion Hospital. Finally in 1903 after 42 years of arduous service to the City, State and Confederacy, its doors were closed, and the present Saint Philip Hospital was erected in 1920 on its foundation.
In 1879, the Richmond Eye, Ear and Throat Infirmary was chosen and this was enlarged to accommodate 25 patients. The infirmary closed 12 years ago, but the building with its weatherbeaten sign still stands, a reminder of Richmond's first specialty hospital.
Retreat for Sick Moved in 1883
In 1883, the Retreat for the Sick was moved to 305 North Twelfth Street. This large residence was erected prior to 1810 by Mr. William Moncure and at one time had served as the Governor's Mansion. This building was enlarged and the adjoining Ezekiel home, built in 1859, on the corner of Twelfth and Marshall Streets, became the nurses' home. The hospital continued in this location until 1920 when the Retreat was moved to its present location on Grove Avenue. These old buildings were recently torn down and the new Medical College of Virginia Clinic is now being erected on their sites.
The year 1883 also saw the establishment of the first private hospital on Shockoe Hill. In April of that year, the St. Luke's Home for the Sick, with a bed capacity of 48 patients, was opened on the northeast corner of Ross and Governor Streets. The hospital was housed in the old "Richmond House," formerly the home of Dr. John Cullen, one of the founders of the Medical College of Virginia. This house served as a sub-treasury during the War Between the States and here the Confederate currency was signed. The hospital continued at this location until the present St. Luke's was built at the corner of Harrison and Grace Streets in 1899. A printing establishment now occupies the site of the original St. Luke's Home for the Sick.
On February 13, 1889, the Sheltering Arms Hospital was established as an infirmary with six beds for the treatment of indigent patients in the Clifton House at 105 North Fourteenth Street. Four years later the large brick residence at 1008 East Clay Street was purchased and this house built by William H. Grant in 1855, has been gradually enlarged from 15 beds to its present capacity of 80 beds.
The Nurses' Home at 1000 East Clay Street was built prior to 1796 for in this year it was acquired by Dr. James McClurg of pioneer fame. This house has been changed but little during the past century and a half and is an excellent example of eighteenth centry Richmond architecture.
In 1893 the University College of Medicine was established in two large residences which occupied the north side of Clay Street between Eleventh and Twelfth Streets. The college was located in the old Bruce home on the northwest corner of Twelfth and Clay Streets.
This house, build in 1850, was the wartime home of Alexander H. Stephens, vice-president of the Confederate States.
This building burned in 1910 and classes were held in the adjoining warehouse on Twelfth Street until the McGuire Hall was erected on the same site two years later. The large house on the northeast corner of Eleventh and Clay Streets, built by Dr. John Brockenbrough in 1813 (and later known as the Caskie home), became the Virginia Hospital. This old house is unique, for despite its impressive portico, and the atmosphere of lavender and magnolias that 40 years of medical associations have not entirely effaced, it is, and always has been, a double house with separate entrances and a central partition.
A large annex increased the capacity of this building to 125 beds and for many years it was the largest hospital in Richmond. After the merging of the two medical schools in 1913 the Virginia Hospital became the out-patient department of the Medical College of Virginia, and it has continued in this capacity to the present time.
Home for Incurables Was Last Unit
The last independent medical institution to be established on Shockoe Hill was the Virginia Home for Incurables, organized in 1894. This was first located at 1315 Ross Street in a small dwelling with five patients. Four years later it was moved to its familiar location on West Broad Street, where it remained until a few years ago. It is now housed on spacious grounds in Byrd Park.
The present hospitals of the Medical College of Virginia are grouped on the eastern crest of Shockoe Hill. The Memorial Hospital, erected on the southeast corner of Twelfth and Broad Streets in 1903, occupies the sites of the old Crump and Call homes. The late Dr. Manfred Call, for many years dean of the Department of Medicine of the Medical College of Virginia, was born at 221 Governor Street (old numeration). The Dooley Hospital for white children and Saint Philip Hospital for colored patients, were erected in 1920 and form two sides of the court to the west of the Egyptian Building in Academy Square.
In 1929 Cabiniss Hall, a dormitory for nurses in the Medical College of Virginia hospitals, was erected on the north side of Broad Street about midway between Twelfth and Fourteenth Streets. The colored nurses home was built in 1931 on the north side of Marshall Street directly opposite the site of the former Old Dominion Hospital and the present Saint Philip Hospital.
Directly behind the colored nurses' home and almost beneath the east wall of the Confederate Museum are located the recently completed laundry and central heating plant of the Medical College of Virginia. The new Clinic Building and the Dormitory for House Officers, now in the process of construction, on the southeast and northeast corners, respectively, of Twelfth and Marshall Streets, are the latest medical additions on Shockoe Hill.
The Richmond Academy of Medicine and the Library of the Medical College of Virginia were erected jointly in 1932 on the northeast corner of Twelfth and Clay Streets. These buildings contain the offices of the State and city medical societies, a well appointed auditorium, a pathological museum, a large general medical library and several special collections of medical books, pictures and instruments of outstanding interest. The Miller collection of old and unusual medical books and prints is housed in a separate room in the Academy building. This valuable collection always arouses the interest and not infrequently the envy of visitors from the large medical centers.
