NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — You've probably seen us celebrating 100 years of the Grand Ole Opry. Well, it turns out, there are other hundred-year anniversaries vital to the story of Nashville. Tuesday marked one of them.
"I started here as a freshman in the 1980s," said Dr. Donald Brady of Vanderbilt University Medical Center. "I've worked here off and on for the last 45 years. Vanderbilt is part of me."
Brady delivers a history lesson about Vanderbilt to many joining the team. There's a special importance to giving the lesson now. For that, we'll have to go back. Way back.
"The university started in 1873, and the school of medicine had their first lecture in the fall of 1874," Brady began. "What Vanderbilt wanted to do, which was really unique in America, was to build a school of medicine, a hospital, and a research center all in the same building."
That happened, and it opened on September 16, 1925. 100 years ago. The building's still there, now known as Medical Center North. It was also the first building in what has since grown into the Vanderbilt campus we know now.
At the time of the opening, there was not a cure for tuberculosis. That led to the creation of an open-air porch in a corridor.
"For tuberculosis, in the early 1900s, one of the mainstays of treatment was to get people outside, to get people into fresh air," Brady explained.
You can still see the columns that once made up that porch.
The building has so many other stories. There's the indoor hallway where you can see the brick wall and windows that used to be a side of the building. There's the elevator where a baby was born in 1971. Let's see if you know this one. Medical Center North was used for some scenes of a 1983 CBS TV movie called The Cradle Will Fall. It stars Lauren Hutton and includes an early role for William H. Macy.
"In the 1920s, what [they] wanted to do was build a new inspirational building and medical center that would launch Vanderbilt to be one of the premiere medical institutions in the country," Brady said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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That’s how one neighbor at Stones River Manor in Murfreesboro describes Tennie Fitzpatrick, who has mastered as many as seven different musical instruments. Each day, Tennie shares those talents with residents, workers and visitors. It’s an ability Tennie herself believes is “a gift from God.” That’s because Tennie is blind, and overcame a difficult, abusive childhood. Forrest Sanders shares this truly inspirational story.
- Rhori Johnston
