Fifty-eight years ago a Kentucky Kernel headline announced that, "Medical Staff Begins Trek To New Home." The move actually began a month ahead of schedule on December 16, 1959 after arrangements were made with the contractors to allow staff and equipment to begin moving into the lower floors even as construction continued on the upper floors of the six-story structure.
Prior to the move the first medical departments created at UK had been housed in "borrowed facilities across the campus including a basement, an old farm house, a converted classroom, a livestock pavilion, and storage areas" Research equipment would be ordered new and installed directly into the new medical facility. The medical library was also one of the first units to move.
The creation of a medical center at the University of Kentucky during the mid-twentieth century became one of the most important decisions in Kentucky history. There were many people at UK and across Kentucky who made this extraordinary achievement possible. Today, Kentuckians across the commonwealth benefit from the medical care and research provided by the A. B. Chandler Hospital and UK Healthcare.
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| Medical Center under construction in 1959 on former College of Agriculture land. Within a decade the field behind the Medical Center would become the Kirwan-Blanding Complex now designated for demolition. Commonwealth Stadium (now Kroger Field) opened on the land in the upper section of the photograph in 1973. |
The creation of a medical center at the University of Kentucky during the mid-twentieth century became one of the most important decisions in Kentucky history. There were many people at UK and across Kentucky who made this extraordinary achievement possible. Today, Kentuckians across the commonwealth benefit from the medical care and research provided by the A. B. Chandler Hospital and UK Healthcare.
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