As part of the Making Michigan lecture series on Thursday evening, Elizabeth Farrand, a collegiate professor of the history of medicine, and Joel Howell discuss the history of the University of Michigan Hospital at the Judy & Stanley Frankel Detroit Observatory.

Students from the University of Michigan and members of the Ann Arbor community gathered at the Judy & Stanley Frankel Detroit Observatory on Thursday night to listen to Joel Howell, the original director of the Medical Arts Program, and Elizabeth Farrand, a collegiate professor of medical history, talk about the significance of the university’s first hospital.

The lecture, Making Michigan: How U-M’s First Hospital Made History, focused on the impact that the university’s first hospital had on Ann Arbor’s development.

Ten years after the university’s founding, in 1847, the Medical School was established, and it contributed to the university’s transformation into a center for research. The University of Michigan opened its first hospital in 1869, making it the first university in the country to do so.

With this development, medical students may now receive practical instruction in addition to lectures and recitations.

Howell discussed how the university’s decision to build a medical school transformed medical practice by introducing a formal education.

Howell stated, You had to become an apprentice if you wanted to be a doctor before medical schools were established.

You practiced after becoming an apprentice until you had acquired sufficient knowledge. There were no rules governing licenses. To receive state certification, you were not required to take an exam.

Most people receive their education in this manner. The majority of doctors were not familiar with hospitals or medical schools.

Howell claims that the university’s site and establishment were decided upon by the Michigan Legislature. Shortly after, the legislature also chose to create the medical school, which contained the first university hospital.

Howell stated, The state legislature says we need a university. We plan to create a university, and Ann Arbor will be the likely location due to its proximity to the railroad.

The establishment of a medical school at this university is another dubious choice they made. The majority of American doctors have never attended medical school. Why did this outback town believe that a hospital was necessary?

The Medical School did not admit students of color when it was first established. Howell discussed the admission of the first black medical students and the difficulties they had while attending the university.

Howell stated that Alpheus Tucker was the first African American to enroll at the University of Michigan. He made the decision to become a doctor and applied to the University of Michigan’s medical school.

In 1863, he enrolled in the middle of the Civil War, which was being waged over the question of whether or not slavery would remain legal in the United States.

I wish I could tell you that the students in this class embraced him, but they didn’t. The reason Alpheus Tucker is not shown on the 1863 admissions ledger is that his name was removed after he was expelled.

We discussed the erasure of individuals from historical records. He was removed from the pages in actuality.

Howell also discussed the evolution of Michigan Medicine over the course of nearly 200 years, including the institution’s expansion and increased National Institutes of Health financing.

According to Howell, NIH funding has increased dramatically since the Second World War and is essential to the functioning of the medical school. We’ve moved to a lower class size, reduced lecture content, and increased student autonomy.

Karl Mohy El Din, a senior at LSA who attended the event, expressed his impression of the medical school’s location in an interview with The Michigan Daily.

I found it intriguing that the first medical school selected Ann Arbor as its location, not only because it was close to a railroad but also because Detroit was a growing metropolis, as Mohy El Din remarked.

Medical School student Isabel Hsu told The Daily that she was taken aback by how closely the university has impacted Ann Arbor’s development as a community and how closely the medical school is linked to the city.

Hsu remarked, I was just eager to learn more about the school’s history. I am happy to have gained additional knowledge regarding the hospital’s development in collaboration with the state of Michigan and the city of Ann Arbor.

I now know that the university may have had a greater influence on our state and city than I previously realized.