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Farewell to a century of history

Demolition of historic Huntington landmark with a long history of service nearly complete

by AMANDA JORDAN
reporter

Cars speed down Sixth Avenue, with drivers carefully guiding their vehicles along the narrow street. They move from the sunlight to the shadow of a tall brick building.

This four-story structure now stands deserted, surrounded by wire and yellow caution tape. Its windows are devoid of glass and its entrance is sealed shut by a large chain and lock. The parking lot next to the building, once filled with studentsÕ cars, is empty.

The only signs of life around the building are students walking along the avenue to their classes, casting brief glances at the site.

The life of the Doctors' Memorial Building is ending. The demolition of the building, which started Sept. 7 and should be completed this week, will make room for a 278-space student parking lot.

The original structure on the site was the home of Huntington's first mayor, Peter Cline Buffington. His home was purchased in 1890 by KingÕs Daughters, a catholic sisterhood. The sisters operated one of the city's first hospitals, a survey said.

In late 1899, the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railway Employees Association bought the house. The C&O hospital began accepting patients during the first week of July 1900.

The C&O hospital paved the way for todayÕs health care by offering the C&O Health Plan, the nationÕs first prepaid health plan.

The building went through many changes during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, a four-story brick unit was built adjacent to the hospital and housed the C&O nursing staff.

In the late 1920s, the Buffington residence was demolished. On July 29, 1930, a second four story structure facing Sixth Avenue was completed.

Other additions were completed in 1942 and 1959 to meet an increase in the patient load. The second of these two additions, completed Sept. 15, 1959, served as an outpatient clinic, offering cardiac, ear-nose-and-throat, orthopedic, surgical and urological services.

During the late 1960s the patient load declined dramatically following the C&O Railroad's switch to commercial health insurance.

In 1971, the hospital was named Doctors' Memorial Hospital in memory of the physicians killed in the Marshall plane crash, which also killed 75 football players and fans.

The hospital began operating as a community hospital in order to fill the facility's 183 beds.

Although renovations were completed during this time to transform the facility into a general public hospital, it could not compete with St. MaryÕs and Cabell Huntington, the city's larger hospitals. By the late 1970s, the hospital's officials were considering selling or closing the facility.

But life for the hospital still wasn't over. With assistance from private sources, the West Virginia Board of Regents purchased the building for the Marshall University School of Medicine in February 1977.

The Doctors' Memorial Building housed the medical schoolÕs administrative offices and classrooms. This purchase was instrumental in the medical school's efforts to gain accreditation.

Renovations were made by the school's plant operations, Bill Shondel, director of purchasing at Marshall, said. Walls were knocked out to open up the floors, which were then converted into research labs and classrooms. An area of the nurses quarters was turned into a darkroom.

One hundred filing cabinets filled with patient files from as far back as the 1920s were left in the building.

"We had to put all the files on microfilm. We used students to do the records," Shondel said.

In recent years, the Doctors' Memorial Building housed the John Marshall Medical Center, an outpatient medical facility for students and local patients. After the medical center's move to Cabell Huntington Hospital, the building was vacant.

While many faculty and staff welcome the demolition of the building and the new parking spaces, there are many who are sad to see it go, Shondel said.

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drawing courtesy of Marshall University Archives
A drawing of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Hospital as it looking in 1930.

photo by Sara Armstrong
A demolition crew pulls apart part of the wall of hte Doctor's Memorial Building and keeps the dust out of the air with the spray of a fire hose.

photo by Sara Armstrong
A wrecking ball sits outside the partially demolished Doctor's Memorial Building.