TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m a r c h 2 0 1 5 17 T he University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston is the picture of a modern academic medical center. Students hustle across the grounds, rushing to class. Researchers in white coats are hard at work in the Galveston National Laboratory and numer- ous other research buildings. Patients check in for care at John Sealy Hospital and clinics, and the emergency department's Level 1 Trauma Center is always at the ready. Standing at the center of it all is a stately red building of a strikingly different style than the rest of campus. The Ashbel Smith Building, or Old Red, was once the entirety of the medical school, flanked by its clinical facility, the original John Sealy Hospital. Although Old Red is now surrounded on all sides by more than a century of progress, the building still serves as a reminder of the university's humble beginnings as the first state medical school in Texas. The founding of UTMB in Galveston began with a vote. In an 1881 state referendum, the people of Texas overwhelmingly selected Galveston as the site of the medical branch of the University of Texas—70 percent of voters chose Galveston over Houston. At the time, Galveston was a bustling seaport town— one of the largest ports in the United States and the commer- cial center of Texas. State funds secured the school's location on the eastern end of The Strand and architect Nicholas Clayton was hired to design it. Clayton was one of the first professional architects in the state of Texas, and his work was already known on the island. "In the height of his career, from 1874 to 1906, he did 225 buildings in Galveston alone," said medical historian Heather Wooten, Ph.D. "Everything from the beautiful Bishop's Palace on Broadway, to a lot of the old established churches like the First Presbyterian. His contribu- tion cannot be underestimated." Though Clayton was prolific throughout the island, Old Red was a particularly significant project for the architect. Built of red sandstone and granite, topped with a dome and covered with ornate Romanesque Revival details, Old Red was a work of art. "Of all those beautiful build- ings he designed throughout Galveston, and also throughout Texas, Old Red was really one of his babies," said Wooten. "What he thought was his masterpiece." On Oct. 5, 1891, what was officially known as the Medical College Building opened its doors to the first students—just 14 first-year students, five sec- ond-year students, four third- year students—and 13 faculty members. At that time, medical school lasted three years and did not require any college prereq- uisites. Though the students were green compared to today's medical students, the faculty was not easy on them. "They may have had a very raw group of students, but their standards were the top," said Wooten. "It was like, 'Just because our student body is struggling does not mean we lower our standards to meet them. They are to climb and reach it.'" Those first years were a time of growth for UTMB. By 1897, the student body comprised over 200 students and a fourth year of curriculum was added. But just about a decade in, during the summer of 1900, a disaster happened that almost destroyed UTMB, as well as the entire island of Galveston. Early Sept. 7, 1900, the national Weather Bureau issued a storm warning for the Gulf Coast region. Galvestonians watched clouds gather, but even as waves swelled and winds howled, no one could have pre- dicted how bad it would become. When UTMB opened, medical school took THREE YEARS T H E H I S T O R Y O F T E X A S ' F I R S T S T A T E M E D I C A L S C H O O L BUILT FOR MEDICINE B y Sh e a Con n el ly

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