Burrell Memorial Hospital
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Burrell Memorial Hospital
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Burrell Memorial Hospital, February 2010
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| Location | 611 McDowell St., Roanoke, Virginia |
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| Coordinates | 37°16′57″N 79°57′39″W / 37.28250°N 79.96083°WCoordinates: 37°16′57″N 79°57′39″W / 37.28250°N 79.96083°W |
| Area | 3.8 acres (1.5 ha) |
| Built | 1915 |
| Architect | Hannaford, Harvey E.; Stone and Thompson |
| Architectural style | International Style |
| NRHP reference # | 03000450 |
| VLR # | 128-5863 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | September 22, 2003 |
| Designated VLR | March 19, 2003 |
Burrell Memorial Hospital, also known as BRBH Burrell Center, is a historic African-American hospital located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. It was built in 1915, and is a four-story, 73,000 square foot, International Style building. It is "T"-shaped in footprint with three wings extending from a central elevator core. In the 1980s, the Burrell Memorial Hospital was renovated for use as an adult care facility. The building housed the only African-American medical facility in Roanoke from 1915 to 1965.
"The hospital’s namesake, Dr. Isaac Burrell, had perished on account of having to travel to Washington, D.C. — by boxcar, no less — to receive routine gall bladder surgery denied to him at segregated Roanoke Hospital, the predecessor to Roanoke Memorial."
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
"[S]everal black physicians in the area, including Dr. Issac David Burrell, were working diligently to establish a hospital for black residents. In the midst of these efforts, Dr. Burrell became seriously ill with gallstones and was forced to travel in a train baggage car to Washington, D.C. for treatment. He died following surgery, and the heart-wrenching circumstances of his death served as a catalyst to ensure that this tragedy would not be repeated for another black person.
On March 18, 1915, Burrell Memorial Hospital, named in honor of Dr. Burrell, opened at 311 Henry Street. It began as a 10-bed facility equipped with $1,000 of borrowed money but went on to become the first African-American hospital to earn full approval of the American Board of Surgeons. Dr. Lylburn C. Downing, who had been the first African-American accepted as a member of the Roanoke Medical Society, became the first superintendent and held that position until 1947. "After Burrell's death, the doctors Downing, Williams and roberts, joined by John Claytor, Sr., and Jerry Cooper, founded Burrell Memorial with ten beds on North Henry Street in March 1915."
The flu epidemic of 1919 created the need for expanded facilities, so the hospital moved into the abandoned Allegheny Institute building on the corner of McDowell Avenue and Park Street (now 7th Street) in 1921. This building was used until 1955 when the present hospital was opened.
Burrell Memorial Hospital remained a prominent black institution until the 1965 Civil Rights Act mandated the desegregation of hospital facilities. In 1979, the hospital closed. Today, The Burrell Center is home to Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare.
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