University of Michigan Health System history

The first woman graduate, Amanda Sanford, received her U-M Medical School degree in 1871.

After spending $55.37 on medicines, the 20-bed hospital opens. It is the first university-owned medical facility in the United States; in 1873 the University of Pennsylvania opened the first purpose-built hospital at a university.

In 1880, the U-M Medical School adopted a three-year curriculum, introduced laboratory instruction and assigned formal grades.

An operating room is built within the hospital, followed in 1881 by a ward for eye and ear patients.

The doors of a new University Hospital opened in December 1891.

In 1899, the U-M Medical School successfully introduced the concept of the clinical clerkship.

Nurses gather at the Catherine Street complex in 1910.

From opening the country’s first Department of Dermatology in 1912, to helping identify the first gene partially responsible for prostate cancer, UMHS has always been home to a pioneering spirit, and incredible medical benchmarks.

Construction began in 1920.

Marjorie Franklin, who had enrolled in 1924 as the first African-American student at the U-M Hospital School for Nurses, is permitted to move in, after fighting for the right to receive university-provided housing that she was initially denied because of her race.

Then building resumed, and in 1925 the building was complete at a total cost of $3.85 million.

With the closure of the Homeopathic Hospital and Medical School, its former building is converted to the “South Department” hospital, and used until 1940.

The U-M School of Nursing (link is external) is fully established as a health science academic unit of the University, though it operates under the direction of a committee of hospital and Medical School leaders until the first dean is named in 1955.

In 1969 the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital rose next door, soon to be followed by construction or renovation for more affiliated health units.

A baby elephant entertains patients and their families at Mott Children's Hospital in 1970.

In 1971, the U-M Board of Regents officially changed the name of the institution to the University of Michigan-Flint.

The Riverview Psychiatric clinic opens on Wall Street. It’s joined by the Turner Geriatric Clinic in 1976.

So, after a long and contentious battle over the size and cost of the project, the state legislature in 1981 appropriated some $285 million to build a new hospital just to the east of the building that people had come to call “Old Main.” There was no such affectionate title for the newcomer.

On Valentine’s Day 1986, months of planning culminated in an extraordinary cavalcade between Old Main and the new University Hospital.

Old Main was demolished in 1989 after the opening of a new University Hospital nearby.

Five buildings near Briarwood Mall are purchased by U-M for outpatient facilities; more are added in 1996.

The new Rogel Cancer Center opened in 1997.

In 2000, the University of Michigan Medical School celebrated 150 years of educating some of the best and brightest minds in medicine.

In 2001, UM-Flint expanded north for the first time with the opening of the William S. White Building which houses health classrooms and labs.

Pioneering the Pacemaker in Michigan/Michigan’s First Big names in Cardiology,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 2005

The biggest of U-M’s many satellite health facilities, the East Ann Arbor Health and Geriatrics Center, opened in 2006.

The new Frankel Cardiovascular Center opened in 2007.

In 2011, two entirely new hospital buildings welcomed their first patients – the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and the Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital.

The Hospital(s) on Catherine Street,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 2013

The Rise of “Old Main” hospital,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 2014

Founding the Simpson Memorial,(link is external) Medicine at Michigan magazine, 2015

Employees recall the opening of University Hospital and Taubman Center,(link is external) Michigan Medicine Headlines/Stories of the Staff, 2016

Medicine at Michigan: A History of the University of Michigan Medical School at the Bicentennial, By Dea Boster and Joel Howell Available in hardcover and ebook(link is external) from the University of Michigan Press; published 2017

And in 2018, on the eve of the hospital’s 150th anniversary, regents gave the go-ahead to begin planning a new inpatient facility, with 264 beds and 23 surgical and radiology suites.