Temple University School of Medicine - Skull Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

Page 24 text:

 Library of the School Lobby of the School 20

Page 23 text:

physicians. Dr. Edmund Holmes was the chief surgeon, and Dr. W. Wayne Babcock was obstetrician and gynecologist. Later, in 1903, Dr. Holmes resigned. Dr. Babcock becoming surgcon-in-chief. Dr. J. C. Applegate became chief obstetrician to the hospital, and also assumed the chair of obstetrics in the medical school. With the aid of a grant of $50,000 from the State, a two-story south wing was built, bringing the bed capacity to 110. The basement was equipped to render dispensary services. By permission of the courts. Temple College became a university in 1907, and the medical department became the School of Medicine of Temple University. Almost immediately, because of adverse legislation in various states, efforts were begun to convert the school into an approved day school. A four-year course of nine months each was instituted, the junior and senior years being taken in the daytime. Thus, the night school was gradually discontinued. In 1909, Dr. Frank C. Hammond began twenty years of unceasing effort as dean to advance the school to the coveted “A rating. He began with a school of 232 students and 80 faculty members. At that time classes were being held at 18th and Buttonwood Streets in the buildings of the Philadelphia Dental College and the Gar-retson Hospital, which had been annexed to Temple University in 1907. These buildings furnished executive offices, lecture rooms, a library, and an amphitheatre. The Garretson Hospital had a capacity of 75 beds, and was amply supplied with cases for traumatic surgery from the surrounding industrial plants. From 1905 to 1915 two more floors and a roof garden were added to the Samaritan Hospital. The most elaborate improvement was completed on July 18, 1925, with the dedication of a new “main building. The capacity was now 235 beds, and provision had been made for a new kitchen, record room, amphitheatre, operating rooms, etc. In 1927, two new medical wards, the Roosevelt wards with 58 beds, were added, bringing the total to 330. Finally, in 1929, in order to more clearly indicate the relation of the hospital to the university, it was rechristened “Temple University Hospital. In the meantime the Garretson Hospital had outlived its usefulness due to the removal of the industrial plants to outlying parts of the city. Therefore, the maternity department was transferred to the Greatheart Hospital which had been established in April, 1923, at 1810 Spring Garden Street. The upper three fitxirs of the Garretson Hospital were equipped modernly for the departments of Histology and Embryology, Physiology, Pathology, and Bacteriology. A new anatomical dissecting room was installed in the basement. After these improvements had been completed the American Medical Association was asked to grant the school a new rating, but despite these advances the request was refused. In the next three years the entire Garretson building became a part of the teaching space and, in 1928, the much-sought rating was obtained, climaxing the long continued efforts of Dean Hammond. The present stage of development began, in 1929, with the appointment of Dr. William N. Parkinson, Class of 1911, as Medical Director of the Temple University Hospital and Dean of the School of Medicine. Immediately, efforts were begun for the enlargement and improvement of the faculty. And, in the Fall of 1929, the fondest hope of the faculty, student body, and alumni became a reality. Construction 19

Page 25 text:

began on the new and modern building for the Medical School at Broad and Ontario Streets, to be built at a cost of one and a quarter million dollars. The splendidly equipped building was dedicated on October 15, 1930, by Dr. W. J. Mayo, and classes began for the largest student body in the history of the school, 450 students. The first and second floors of this new building contain dispensaries and admini-strative offices in addition to the beautiful library, which houses the growing collection of medical books. The third floor is devoted to the Departments of Neurological Research and Pharmacology. The fourth floor is the abode of the Departments of Physiology and Biological Chemistry, and the fifth floor is shared by the Departments of Histology and Embryology, Pathology, and Bacteriology and Immunology. The Departments of Anatomy and Radiology occupy the sixth floor. The anatomical dissection rooms and materials are second to none and the X-ray museum, opened in 1934, offers a tangible method of study in this field. The seventh floor is utilized for the storage of animals, Surgical Research, and various small laboratories. Several further changes took place in the hospital, increasing its usefulness to the public and to the student body of the medical school. Due to the efforts of Professor Babcock's many friends and admirers, the Babcock Surgical Wards were furnished in 1930, providing 40 beds. In 1931 the magnificent Radiology Department was opened under the able directorship of Professor Chamberlain, who joined the faculty in 1930. This department was equipped at a cost well above $150,000. The Great-heart Hospital service was discontinued in July, 1932, and a maternity department was established on the fourth floor of the Temple Hospital with a capacity of 35 patients. At present, the hospital has 449 beds, and is one of the finest teaching hospitals in the city. It accommodates, on the average, 327 patients daily. It is obvious from this sketchy resume that the Medical School of Temple University and its allied Hospital have come a long way in a relatively short time and it is to be hoped that they will ever progress, aspiring to greater usefulness to humanity. 21