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The hidden history of Boston's first and only Black hospital

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The brownstone at 12 E. Springfield St. in Boston has a small plaque in front, that might be easy to miss. Yet, upon reading it, the visitor learns that the building housed the Plymouth Hospital and Nurses Training School — the first and only Black hospital in the city.

The hospital was founded by Dr. Cornelius Garland, an Alabama native who received medical training in London and started practicing in Boston in 1903. The hospital doors were open for the city's Black residents from 1908 to 1928. Run by Black physicians, it also offered training to fellow Black doctors and nurses.

Not many Bostonians know about the hospital and its history. Lisa Gordon, managing editor of  the NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery, wanted to change that. She tracked down Garland's great-grandson Dan Reppert and asked him to talk about his ancestor. The pair sat down with WBUR's Radio Boston to share what they found.

Interview Highlights

Highlights from this interview have been lightly edited for clarity.

On how the hospital caught Gordon's attention: 

Gordon: "I'm a writer [and] a storyteller. I was living in this building, I'd walk by it and see the plaque every day. [I'd] walk up the stairs and be like: 'How is this a hospital? Wasn't this an important piece of history?' It just lead me to become so curious, I had to start digging around. So I did."

On the hospital's layout: 

Gordon: "[I found a picture of Dr. Cornelius Garland in his office, which] was in my apartment. I learned that at the time, operating rooms were on the top floors of buildings like these, because that was where the skylights were and they needed extra light.

"If you think about it, nurses couldn't really carry heavy patients up three or four flights of stairs, so an anecdotal thing I learned is that they would sometimes go out into the street and ask passers-by to help them carry patients up to the operating room. I was constantly wondering: Did patients sleep overnight? Where did they sleep? Where were the bathrooms? It was fascinating to me to envision all of that."

On Cornelius Garland: 

Reppert: "I never knew him myself, but my mother loved him very much. She used to tell stories about what he was like and how he loved my mother and my grandmother.

"He came from Alabama, from very poor circumstances and went to Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina. I think in that era, closer to Reconstruction, there was an ethic of trying to improve yourself and through hard work, you could rise. So the students at Livingstone actually built some of the buildings and made their own bricks — it was kind of a "Booker T. Washington" environment. So, that was the background he came from and [he] was literally self-made.

"He went on to study at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina. And then through his hard work and through sponsorship from interested persons, he was able to study in Europe, in London. He was able to do a gallbladder surgery, which was progressive at that time."

On the hospital's role in the community: 

Reppert: "Plymouth Hospital also provided a lot of treatment at no cost, as well as material aid. People were receiving and donating chickens — if you read the reports, it was very much a community service. It was part civil rights and advancement, and part charity, because they treated people of any color who needed medical help, [whereas] Black doctors could not see their patients at white hospitals."

On why the hospital closed in 1928:

Gordon: "Garland wanted to expand. [Meanwhile, civil rights activist William Monroe] Trotter opposed it. He didn't believe that another Black-only hospital would help the Black community. Instead, Trotter  wanted to focus on desegregating the Boston City Hospital, the biggest in the city.

"Garland recognized the importance of that effort, so he actually lobbied alongside Trotter to get two Black nurses admitted to the training program at Boston City Hospital.

"I'm sure that he was unhappy that his second hospital never came to be and that he closed the original, but I could never uncover exactly what he was thinking and feeling. I tried very hard to find headlines and articles from that time but nothing ever really came to pass. He went on to do very well; he continued his South End practice and moved to Brookline."

One one thing worth remembering about Cornelius Garland: 

Reppert: "I would say his story is kind of the story for a lot of families and a lot of individuals. I would say to people: You might be surprised how connected you are to Black history.

"I would also say: 'Please visit the African American History Trail and remember that our connections are both wide and deep."

This segment aired on February 13, 2023.

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