Burrell Memorial Hospital

Burrell Memorial Hospital, currently operating as Blue Ridge Behavioral Health (BRBH) Burrell Center, was an historic African-American hospital originally located in the Gainsboro neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. The hospital replaced the 1914 Medley Hospital. It opened March 18, 1915 as a 10-bed facility in a converted home at 311 Henry Street. In 1921 the hospital moved to a new, 55-bed location in the adjacent Harrison Neighborhood, having renovated the former Allegheny Institute (originally the Rorer Hotel, 1883) at 611 McDowell Ave., NW.[6]^{: 122–123} The final facility was constructed 1954-55 on the same property as a state-of-the-art four-story, 73,000 square foot, International Style building. It is "T"-shaped with three wings extending from a central elevator core. The building housed the only African-American medical facility in Roanoke from 1915 to 1965.[7] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.[4] Burrell Memorial Hospital closed in 1979 due to financial strain and reopened the same year as the Burrell Home for Adults, an adult care facility. This facility grew to provide specialized care to residents, but eventually closed as Burrell Nursing Center in 2002.[6]^: 133[8]

Burrell Memorial Hospital
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Virginia Landmarks Register
Burrell Memorial Hospital, February 2010
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Location	611 McDowell St. NW, Roanoke, Virginia
Coordinates	37°16′57″N 79°57′39″W
Area	3.8 acres (1.5 ha)
Built	1954[1] (1954[2])
Architect	Hannaford, Harvey E. (Samuel Hannaford & Son, Cincinnati, OH); Stone and Thompson (Roanoke, VA).[3]
Architectural style	International Style
NRHP reference No.	03000450[4]
VLR No.	128-5863
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	September 22, 2003
Designated VLR	March 19, 2003[5]

"The hospital’s namesake, Dr. Isaac Burrell, had perished on account of having to travel to Washington, D.C. — by boxcar, no less — to receive routine gall bladder surgery denied to him at segregated Roanoke Hospital, the predecessor to Roanoke Memorial."[9]

In the early 20th century, hospitals in the Appalachian region of Virginia were segregated. In Roanoke and southwest Virginia there were no hospitals available to individuals not considered to be white.[10] "[S]everal black physicians in the area, including Dr. Issac David Burrell, were working diligently to establish a hospital for black residents. In the midst of these efforts, Dr. Burrell became seriously ill with gallstones and was forced to travel in a train baggage car to Washington, D.C. for treatment. He died following surgery, and the heart-wrenching circumstances of his death served as a catalyst to ensure that this tragedy would not be repeated for another black person.

On March 18, 1915, Burrell Memorial Hospital, named in honor of Dr. Burrell, opened at 311 Henry Street. It began as a 10-bed facility equipped with $1,000 of borrowed money but went on to become the first African-American hospital to earn full approval of the American Board of Surgeons. Dr. Lylburn C. Downing, who had been the first African-American accepted as a member of the Roanoke Medical Society, became the first superintendent and held that position until 1947. "After Burrell's death, the doctors Downing, Williman[11] and Roberts, joined by John Claytor, Sr., and Jerry Cooper, founded Burrell Memorial with ten beds on North Henry Street in March 1915."[12]

The flu epidemic of 1919 created the need for expanded facilities, so the hospital moved into the abandoned Allegheny Institute building on the corner of McDowell Avenue and Park Street (now 7th Street) in 1921. This building was used until 1955 when the present hospital was opened.

Burrell Memorial Hospital remained a prominent black institution until the 1965 Civil Rights Act mandated the desegregation of hospital facilities. In 1979, the hospital closed. Today, The Burrell Center is home to Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare.

Today the c.1955 Burrell Hospital building is known as The Burrell Center, and houses many of the adult service programs of Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare, one of 40 Virginia Community Services Boards providing comprehensive services for individuals who have mental health disorders, intellectual disability, or substance use disorders. BRBH operates multiple programs with more than 400 employees.

In 2003 BRBH completed a renovation that preserved much of the former hospital's design, including terrazzo floors at the former nurses’ stations, wide hallways and solid patient room doors, many retaining the small observation window common in the past. A few employees report that they were born in the building, but the building's historical significance and its importance to the neighborhood are recognized by all who enter via a multi-panel display in the lobby of old photographs and text that tells the story of the prominent role Burrell Memorial Hospital played in the past."[13]