Missouri Women in the Health Science Professions

St. Louis and Washington University
20th Century Timeline

The following chronology concentrates on St. Louis and, within that, the professional schools and clinical care institutions that form the heritage of Washington University Medical Center. Unless otherwise noted, locations of events and institutions are within the city and county of St. Louis. Some entries have nothing directly to do with women in the health sciences, but are elements of the political and social context against which their stories are told.


1901	•	The Beaumont Hospital Medical College and the Marion Sims College of Medicine merge. Classes are held in the Marion Sims facilities at Grand and Caroline Street.
1902	•	The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis opens.
1903	•	The School of Medicine of St. Louis University is established when the University takes over the Marion Sims-Beaumont Medical College. St. Louis University had been without a medical department since 1855.
Jan. 1, 1905	•	Washington University Hospital opens.
1905	•	The St. Louis Skin and Cancer Hospital is established to provide treatment of patients suffering from skin diseases and cancer.
1905	•	The Washington University Training School for Nurses opens.
1907	•	The Hippocratean College of Medicine is organized as a night medical school. There are no graduates before the school ceases operation in 1910.
1908	•	The faculty of the Dental Department of Washington University passes a resolution allowing admission of female students. The first woman to receive a dental degree from the University is Sophia Wachsmuth in 1910.
1908	•	St. Louis Maternity Hospital opens.
1909	•	The Council on Medical Education of the American Medical Association authorizes the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching to conduct a survey of the status of medical schools in the United States and Canada. Abraham Flexner, a prominent educator, was appointed investigator. His subsequent report, “Medical Education in the United States and Canada,” was highly critical of most of the schools he visited.
1910	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 687,029. The population of St. Louis County is 82,417.
1910	•	The new 44-bed Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital opens.
1911	•	The Barnes Medical College merges into the American Medical College.
1912	•	The combined American Medical College-Barnes Medical College becomes the Medical Department of the National University of Arts and Sciences in St. Louis. In 1915 the National University merges with the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, but the latter withdraws in 1916. The National University of Arts and Sciences Medical Department graduates its last class in 1918.
Sept. 1914	•	The Central Institute for the Deaf is organized.
Fall 1914	•	The new buildings of the Washington University Medical School open in time for the 1914-1915 academic year.
Dec. 1914	•	Barnes Hospital opens.
January 9, 1915	•	Dedication ceremonies are held for the newly completed St. Louis Children's Hospital.
Apr. 29 & 30, 1915	•	Dedication ceremonies are held for the new buildings and affiliated hospitals of the Washington University Medical School.
1915	•	The City of St. Louis Board of Alderman passes an ordinance providing for a municipal training school for nurses. In July the St. Louis Training School for Nurses is transferred to the city and renamed the St. Louis City Hospital Training School for Nurses.
Apr. 6, 1917	•	President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war with Imperial Germany.
May 17, 1917	•	Members of Base Hospital 21, an army medical unit comprised chiefly of doctors and nurses from Washington University, Barnes Hospital and other St. Louis area hospitals, depart for service overseas.
Spring 1918	•	The Executive Faculty of the Washington University School of Medicine recommends to the University’s Chancellor that women be admitted to the School of Medicine under the same conditions as men. The first woman to receive a medical degree from the University is Faye Cashatt in 1921.
Nov. 11, 1918	•	The Allied powers sign a cease-fire agreement with Germany at Rethondes, France, thus ending the First World War.
1919	•	City Hospital No. 2 opens
1920	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 772,897. The population of St. Louis County is 100,737.
1920	•	The 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, granting women the right to vote.
Apr. 1924	•	The Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children opens.
1924	•	The Sisters of St. Mary establish St. Mary’s Hospital on Clayton Road and Bellevue Avenue, just west of the city limits.
1927	•	The new St. Louis Maternity Hospital opens next to Barnes Hospital.
1930	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 821,960. The population of St. Louis County is 211,593 — over double the population in 1920.
July 1931	•	St. Louis County Hospital opens.
1931	•	The McMillan Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital and the Oscar Johnson Institute for Research in Ophthalmology and Oto-laryngology open.
1931	•	The Rand Johnson Memorial Building replaces the surgical wing of Barnes Hospital.
1931	•	The Edward Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology opens.
Feb. 3, 1933	•	Firmin Desloge Hospital opens across from the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
1933	•	The Sisters of St. Mary re-dedicate St. Mary's Infirmary on Papin Street as a hospital for African-Americans. At the time no other Catholic hospital in St. Louis accepted African-American patients.
Feb. 22, 1937	•	The Homer G. Phillips Hospital opens, named in honor of one of the leaders in St. Louis’ African-American community.
1940	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 816,048. The population of St. Louis County is 274,230.
Dec. 1941	•	Japan bombs Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7th. The United States declares war on Japan the following day. Germany declares war on the United States on December 11th.
May 7, 1945	•	The German forces unconditionally surrender to the Allied forces. The following day crowds celebrate VE (Victory in Europe) Day.
Aug. 14, 1945	•	The Japanese forces unconditionally surrender. VJ (Victory over Japan) Day is celebrated.
1950	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 856,796. The population of St. Louis County is 406,349.
Fall 1951	•	Washington University School of Medicine’s Cancer Research Building opens.
Nov. 1953	•	The David P. Wohl, Jr. Memorial Hospital opens.
Oct. 1954	•	The Barnard Free Skin & Cancer Hospital opens on the Washington University Medical Campus.
1955	•	In compliance with the Supreme court ruling Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the St. Louis Public Schools are officially integrated. The city Housing Authority desegregates its public housing units. The largest of the “projects,” the Pruitt-Igoe Homes, opens.
Oct. 1955	•	The Renard Hospital opens.
July 1956	•	The Cardinal Glennon Memorial Hospital for Children opens on South Grand Blvd. It is the only hospital in the United States operated by an archdiocese.
1957	•	The University of Missouri re-establishes its four-year medical degree program in Columbia, Missouri.
Oct. 1959	•	The Irene Walter Johnson Institute of Rehabilitation opens at 509 S. Euclid Avenue, between the McMillan Hospital and the Washington University Clinics.
1960	•	The population of the city of St. Louis city is 750,026, a loss of over 100,000 people since the 1950 census. The population of St. Louis County has risen over 70% to 703,532.
1963	•	St. John’s Hospital closes its hospital in the city of St. Louis and moves to a new facility in St. Louis County.
Jan. 1964	•	The Jewish Hospital of St. Louis becomes a major affiliate of the Washington University School of Medicine.
1969	•	Citing a lack of space and the fact that continued accreditation would be impossible without the expenditure of large sums of money, Washington University closes its School of Nursing.
1970	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 622,236. The population of St. Louis County is 951,671.
1972	•	In response to the shifting population of the St. Louis area from the city to the surrounding county, DePaul Hospital breaks ground in Bridgeton for a large, modern medical center, the DePaul Health Center.
1979	•	The Homer G. Phillips Hospital closes. The buildings remain empty for over 20 years until they are converted into the Homer G. Phillips Senior Living Community, which opens in April 2003.
1980	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 452,804. The population of St. Louis County is 974,177.
1985	•	The city of St. Louis closes St. Louis City Hospital. The hospital buildings are empty for about 15 years before plans are approved to demolish some of the buildings and to convert the remaining buildings into condominiums, stores, and offices.
1990	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 396,685. The population of St. Louis County is 993,529.
1991	•	The Washington University School of Dental Medicine closes due to budget deficits and declining enrollment.
2000	•	The population of the city of St. Louis is 348,189; the population of St. Louis County is 1,016,315.