Old Parkland Hospital

On December 9, 1913, the City of Dallas celebrated the opening of its new city hospital, a $100,000 institution dedicated to caring for the “indigent sick and injured of the community”. Parkland was the third hospital city hospital built in Dallas, Texas. The first opened in 1874 in a two-story wood frame school building on Lamar Street, when Dallas had little more than three thousand residents. Twenty years later, Dallas was the largest city in Texas with a population of forty thousand people. Under the leadership of the Public Health Officer, the City committed to a new hospital to be located north of the city center on sixty-five acres near the waterworks. The hospital complex featured a two-story central wood frame structure flanked on each side by two sets of smaller cottages.  

By 1910, the Dallas population had doubled, and the community’s leadership agitated for more modern hospital facilities. It was an era of fundamental change in the medical field. In the nineteenth century, hospitals were not an important element in healthcare. For the most part, those needed medical treatment received it at home. Hospitals were an extension of the almshouse, functioning to remove the ill and indigent from society. Management was in the hands of well-meaning but not trained stewards, while professional training of medical staff was rudimentary. Patient stays were measured in weeks. The miasma theory of disease dominated, and treatments were generally passive featuring exposure to fresh air.   

By the time of Parkland Hospital, much changed as hospitals became centers of medical science. Patient care and treatment benefitted from improvements in technology. Treatment strategies embraced the germ theory of disease and were proactive. Hospitals became professionally managed by trained medical personnel, while the medical profession itself concentrated on improved education and effective standards. 

Now twenty years old, the existing hospital was not worthy of Dallas. Mayor Stephen Hay called for “the erection of a new hospital building commensurate with the needs of the city at present and for future growth”. In time, Dallas’ political, business, and medical leadership coalesced around the notion of a $100,000 public bond to pay for a new hospital, and in April 1910, the voters approved the bond 70% to 30%. Reflecting the general sense of city building, other successful bond issues included sanitary sewers, sewage disposal, streets, waterworks, and schools. A year later, on December 12, 1911, the Board of Municipal Commissioners passed an ordinance to issue the bonds at 4.5% interest. The hospital was intended to be free of charge for those unable to pay for services and for cases where the City would otherwise have to pay, such as firefighters and police officers hurt in the line of service. 

While the City of Dallas strongly supported the construction of a new hospital, there was considerable debate about its location. Many, particularly the public health officials, approved the present park location and envisioned the new structure either replacing or working in conjunction with the existing facility. An equally vocal group called for the new hospital to be in the city’s core. This group included the Chamber of Commerce and the Physician’s Club. Those speaking in favor of the downtown location focused on accessibility and emergency medical treatment. Those favoring the remote location focused on the treatment of infectious and contagious cases where benefits of isolation, ample light, and pure air were paramount. However, the debate quickly quelled in the winter of 1912 with an outbreak of meningitis. The key to controlling the illness was to minimize public congregations. The wisdom of a distant hospital seemed pre-eminent.  

The initial plans for the new Parkland Hospital called for sixty beds, quarters for the city’s health officer, quarters for nurses, and an operating room. On September 29, 1912, Hubbell & Greene presented their plans to the Board of Commissioners. The plans were accepted and the City then let four separate contracts for construction: general construction, plumbing, heating, and elevator. The contract was placed on October 31, 1912 with G. W. Sonnefield with a bid of $78,439 – the plumbing and elevator contract then added approximately $7,500 to the total. 

From the day of its completion, Parkland Hospital was in a constant state of change as medical needs changed and demand grew. The wood-framed outbuildings located at the east were retained, adapted, and reused for housing and wards. Within a year, the Municipal Commissioners allowed x-ray and pathological laboratories to be installed. Within two years, the basement was excavated to house minority patients. At the same time, Parkland established a cooperative agreement with the Dallas and Baylor Medical Schools to serve as their teaching hospital. Cooperative associations even extended to the establishment of the “Dallas Baby Camp” on Parkland’s front lawn in the spring of 1914. Operated by the Dallas Graduate Nurses’ Association, the camp was dedicated to caring for “the sick babies of the city’s poorest families”. 

By the 1950s, hospitals in America had evolved into healing factories. Hospitals were now a place for intensive, often specialized, short-term care under the direct supervision of several medical professionals. Patient stays were measured in days. Treatment was purposeful, often driven by the need for the patient to be near specialized equipment. These changes called for a building designed to be efficient and offer special purpose facilities with sophisticated equipment and controlled environments. 

Old Parkland Hospital, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 11th 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40971737.

Limon, Elvia. What’s the history behind Dallas’ Old Parkland on Maple Avenue? Curious Texas turns back time, The Dallas Morning News. January 25th 2019. Accessed January 11th 2021. https://www.dallasnews.com/news/curious-texas/2019/01/25/whats-the-history-behind-dallas-old-parkland-on-maple-avenue-curious-texas-turns-back-time/.

Perez, Christine. Behind the Gates of Old Parkland, D Magazine. November 1st 2012. Accessed January 11th 2021. https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-ceo/2012/november/behind-the-gates-of-old-parkland/.

Old Parkland Hospital, Dallas City Hall. Accessed January 11th 2021. https://dallascityhall.com/departments/sustainabledevelopment/historicpreservation/Pages/old_parkland_hospital.aspx.