Barnes Medical College, Saint Louis

Corporate body

Barnes Medical College, Saint Louis

• Barnes Medical School (Saint Louis, Mo.)

• Barnes Medical College, City of St. Louis
• Barnes Medical College, St. Louis

1892-1911

Barnes Medical College was founded in 1892 as a "for-profit" institution by a group of St. Louis physicians and businessmen. In 1911, Barnes Medical College merged with American Medical College. In 1912, the product of this merger was given a new name: National University of Arts and Sciences. The effort failed, however, and all programs ceased by 1918.

Barnes Medical College was named in honor of a recently deceased merchant, Robert A. Barnes (1808-1892). Barnes had bequeathed money for the construction of a hospital and it has been widely presumed that the educators’ choice of name was part of an attempt to secure an affiliation between the two institutions. If so, the attempt failed, for the trustees of the Robert A. Barnes estate chose instead to reinvest the assets and wait for a more favorable time to build Barnes Hospital. Ignoring the rebuff, the college trustees constructed a building of their own at 2645 Chestnut (later renamed Lawton) Street. The institution quickly became the largest medical college in the city (ca. 400 students) and its program outgrew the original structure. In 1896 a second building opened two blocks west, on Lawson at Garrison Avenue. In 1902 the objective of a college-related clinical facility was achieved with the establishment of Centenary Hospital and the Barnes Dispensary in a new adjoining building. The institution also operated a dental college (see below), a college of pharmacy, and a nurses’ training program. At its height, the college enrolled approximately 600 students, and in 1904 changed its name to Barnes University. Despite these enhancements and changes of name, it became increasing apparent that the institution was financially unstable. The trustees offered their properties to the Curators of the University of Missouri in 1906 to house the state medical college. The negotiations lasted over a year and the Curators came close to accepting what seemed at first to be a generous offer. In the end, however, the state refused to pay the private venture’s debts and plans for the connection collapsed in 1908. During this same period, Barnes did absorb a smaller private school, the Hippocratean College of Medicine. Flexner severely criticized the Barnes institutions in 1909, however, a contemporary reviewer writing for the American Medical Association (Philip Skrainka, 1910) judged their quality “good.” One year following the merger with American Medical College in 1911 the names Barnes ceased to refer to medical instruction by this organization. For a brief period (1911-1914?) the Centenary facility was administered by Christian Hospital. From 1919 until 1936 the city of St. Louis used the building as a hospital for African American patients (City Hospital No. 2). The structures at Garrison and Lawton were demolished in 1960.

Saint Louis, MO

RDA
ISAAR

Draft

Minimal

Creation: December 16, 2019 10:46 AM
Revision: April 17, 2021 12:14 AM

• English

• Latin

local ; lcnaf not correct

1. Certification that Robert C. Milburn completed a full course in Bacteriology, Laboratory and Didactic work, Barnes Medical College. VC142-i142017 Item 1899, Part of Robert C. Milburn, Barnes Medical College Photographs and Artifacts (Ticket: Bacteriology; Class: Senior, Barnes Medical College, City of St. Louis, Laboratory of Histology and Bacteriology , Admit: Robert C. Milburn, Session: 1898-99. Also included in the folder is the certificate's original envelope (return address: Barnes Medical College, St. Louis).
2. Bulletin, July 1908. PC059-S02-B01-F10_a Folder, Part of American Medical College, Barnes Medical College, and National University of Arts and Sciences Collection (Front Cover: Bulletin of the Barnes Medical College, Saint Louis, Vol. 7, No. 1, July 1908, Published by the Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Mo.)
3. Bulletin, July 1903. PC059-S02-B01-F07 Folder, Part of American Medical College, Barnes Medical College, and National University of Arts and Sciences Collection (Front Cover: Bulletin of the Barnes Medical College, Saint Louis, Missouri. Vol. 2, No. 1, July 1903, Published by the Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Mo.)
4. Annual announcement, 1900-01. PC059-S02-B01-F06.pdf, Folder, Part of American Medical College, Barnes Medical College, and National University of Arts and Sciences Collection (Copy in Box: Front Cover: Barnes Medical College, St. Louis, Annual Announcement, Session 1900-1901)
5. LC Name Authority File (LCNAF), Corporate Name n2005172825: Preferred form of name: Barnes Medical School (Saint Louis, Mo.) , Variant: Barnes Medical College (Saint Louis, Mo.). Sources found: NUCMC data from Museum of the Great Plains for Dr. George W. Linville collection, 1891-1928(Barnes Medical School; St. Louis, Mo.; also found: Barnes Medical College). Change Notes: 2005-05-18: new; 2005-05-18: revised. URI(s):http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n2005172825