Ashbel Smith Building, UTMB, Galveston, TX - Philatelic Photographs on Waymarking.com

This postal card, issued in 1991, commemorated the centenary of the University of Texas Medical Branch (formerly called Medical Department) in Galveston, TX. In 1881, the state of Texas voted to establish the University of Texas and an associated Medical Department. Austin was chosen as the site of the main university campus but Galveston was to be the site of the Medical Department.

Galveston was the largest city in Texas at that time and had a more established medical community. It was also the site of frequent outbreaks of typhoid and dengue fever and the dreaded yellow fever. This characteristic of Galveston supposedly offered students a practical as well as theoretical learning experience. This latter argument was proffered by none other than Ashbel Smith, a former physician and one of the first regents of the University of Texas (and the man after whom the medical building was eventually named in 1949). Construction began in 1889 and the school was opened for classes in 1891.

The building was designed by prominent Galveston architect Nicolas Clayton. Clayton, an Irish emigrant from the potato famine era, designed over 200 buildings in Galveston. Sadly, most of these are no longer in existence having met with fire, hurricanes or the wrecking ball. But several still exist including “Old Red.” In all, close to twenty Nicolas Clayton designed buildings still stand in Galveston.

In order to insure that the new Medical Department building had all the latest accoutrements, Clayton traveled to existing medical education facilities throughout the U.S. to study their design. The regents of the University of Texas rounded up a whopping $150 for this endeavor. The resulting Victorian Romanesque style building contained several lecture halls, a large, well lit dissection room, a library and multiple laboratories for chemistry and a variety of medical disciplines. It was the apex of 19th century medical education in America.

However, if Nicolas Clayton took his tour of educational facilities today, his design might be substantially different than it was in the 1880s (although I doubt $150 would have gotten him very far). By the early 1960s, advancements in medical technology and the ravages of time had rendered “Old Red” obsolete. The recommendation was that the old building be demolished to make space for a more modern facility or maybe a parking lot.

But an outcry arose among UTMB alumni and preservationists to save the old building. Today, after extensive renovation and restoration, “Old Red” still stands and houses the Department of Anatomy, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Institute for the Medical Humanities. Once standing tall and providing commanding views all around, “Old Red” is now completely surrounded by taller buildings.

Stamp Issuing Country: United States Date of Issue: 14-June-1991 Denomination: 19 cents Color: multicolored Stamp Type: Single Stamp Relevant Web Site: [Web Link]

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