Founding and Early Years
Fannin Street within the Texas Medical Center, viewed from the crosswalk between two buildings of the Methodist Hospital
The Texas Medical Center was established in 1945 in part with funds endowed to the M.D. Anderson Foundation by businessman Monroe Dunaway Anderson, who began the foundation two years prior to his death in 1939 to help keep his business partnership, Anderson, Clayton & Co, from dissolving due to estate taxes in the event of his death. Anderson funded the foundation with $300,000, and left an additional $19 million in his estate, making the M.D. Anderson Foundation the largest charitable fund ever created in Texas. The fund's first gift was a check of $1,000 to the Junior League Eye Fund for eyeglasses. In 1941, the Texas State Legislature granted funds to the University of Texas for the purpose of starting a cancer research hospital. On the conditions that the hospital be established in Houston and be named after its founder, the M.D. Anderson Foundation matched the state's gift to the university by supplying funds and land.
President Roosevelt approved the purchase of 118 acres (0.48 km2) from the Hermann Estate in 1944 for the construction of a 1,000-bed naval hospital in Houston. The hospital, later renamed the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, opened in 1946 and became a teaching facility for the Baylor College of Medicine. Also in 1946, several projects were approved for inclusion in the Texas Medical Center including: Hermann Hospital (whose campus was pre-existing in the district, having been built in the 1920s), St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital (now known as St. Luke's Hospital), The Methodist Hospital, The Shriners Crippled Children's' Hospital (now known as Shriners Hospitals for Children), and the Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library. The M.D. Anderson Hospital for Cancer Research of the University of Texas began construction in 1953. Texas Children's Hospital admitted its first patient in 1954.
During the late 1950s, the Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research opened. The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Hospital and Tumor Institute at Houston added the Gimbel Research Wing. Texas Woman's University Nursing Program began instruction.
In 1962, the Texas Heart Institute was chartered and became affiliated with St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and Texas Children's Hospital. The Ben Taub General Hospital of the Harris County Hospital District (now known as Harris Health System) opened in 1963.
The Texas Medical Center Library houses rare medical books dating back to the 1500s and historical manuscripts such as the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission which recorded the after-effect of the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the McGovern Collection on the History of Medicine, and the Menninger Collection of Psychiatry and Psychoanalysis.
Recent History and Developments
Texas Medical Center
The University of Texas Medical branch skyline, 49th member of the Texas Medical Center
In 1993, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center began a $248.6-million expansion project which constructed an inpatient pavilion with 512 beds, two research buildings, an outpatient clinic building, a faculty office building and a patient-family hotel. From 2005 to present, the George and Cynthia Mitchell Basic Sciences Research Building, the Ambulatory Clinical Building, the Cancer Prevention Center and a new research building on the South Campus opened. The for profit Proton Therapy Center, the largest facility in the United States where proton therapy is used to treat cancer, opened in July 2006.
The Memorial Hermann Healthcare System constructed the six-floor, 165,000-square-foot (15,300 m2) Memorial Hermann Heart & Vascular Institute. Also recently completed is the 30-story Memorial Hermann Medical Plaza, which is now the largest medical office building in the Texas Medical Center. At night, it is recognizable by its unique rainbow lantern. The new construction is part of the system's city-wide "Century Project" initiative.
Baylor College of Medicine opened The Baylor Clinic on June 29, 2005.
Texas Children's Hospital announced the largest investment and program expansion ever by a single pediatric organization. The $1.5 billion four-year initiative is targeted for completion in 2010 and focuses on research and accessibility. Major projects include the development of the neurological research institute ($215,000,000), the formation of a maternity center ($575,000,000), and the expansion of existing research facilities ($120,000,000). Texas Children's is embarking on the development of one of the largest pediatric hospitals in a suburban setting ($220,000,000). The remainder of the expenditures is earmarked for new equipment and information systems.
In 2010, the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, including the John Sealy Hospital, became the 49th member of the Texas Medical Center and the first member-institution located outside of the City of Houston.
Texas Medical Center–West Campus which will serve residents of greater west Houston and adjacent areas opened in January, 2011. Representing an initial investment of more than half a billion dollars and almost 1.2 million square feet of healthcare development, the first two facilities to open in the new campus are Texas Children’s Hospital and The Methodist Hospital West Houston. Texas Children’s West Campus is among the nation’s largest suburban pediatric hospitals.
In 2012, Texas Medical Center added Shriners Hospitals for Children in Galveston, which treats pediatric trauma burns, as its 50th member institution.
