Lyttle Hall at Meharry Medical College

The brown brick, three-story building at 1005 Dr. JB Todd Jr Blvd. is Lyttle Hall on the campus of Meharry Medical College. Originally named Nurses Hall, the collegiate Gothic style building dates to 1930. The building is named in honor of Hulda Margaret Lyttle (1889-1983), who served Meharry as Head Nurse, and dean of the nursing school. Lyttle Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 for its significance in architecture, education, and medicine. It now houses Meharry Medical College offices and medical offices, including Meharry Family Practice.

Meharry Medical College began in the nineteenth century as a medical training school for African Americans. It was funded in 1876 by Samuel Meharry and his four brothers and was established as the medical department of Central Tennessee College. Dr. George Whipple Hubbard, a White physician, founded the dental department in 1886 and headed the medical school for many decades. By the early 1910s, Meharry graduates made up about half of all African Americans practicing medicine in the Southern states. The medical school was a part of Walden University in this era. Campus buildings were south of downtown Nashville near Chestnut Hill; the house built for Dr. Hubbard survives and is a Clio entry ("Hubbard House" at 1109 1st Ave. S.).

Hulda Margaret Lyttle was born in Nashville in 1889. She was a member of the first class of nurses at the Hubbard Hospital Training School for Nurses at Meharry and was one of the first three students to complete the training in 1913; the others were Miss Rhoda A. Pugh from Mississippi and Mrs. Lula Woolfolk of Nashville. The nurses were joined at Meharry's commencement ceremonies at Ryman Auditorium in April 1913 by a large class of 90 physicians, 25 dentists, and 20 pharmacists. Lyttle worked elsewhere for a few years and returned to Nashville in 1915. She became the first African American nurse to pass the Tennessee state board nursing exam in 1915. She became head nurse at Meharry's George W. Hubbard Hospital. Meharry Medical College received its own charter in 1915. Meharry graduated eight nurses at their 41st annual commencement ceremonies in May 1917.

Nurses Hall on the new campus of Meharry Medical College was originally used in 1930 as a dormitory and classroom space. Hulda Margaret Lyttle became Dean of the School of Nursing in May 1938; she was the school's first African American female dean of an academic division. Nurses Hall was renamed in honor of Lyttle on June 23, 1946. The building later served as office space for Meharry Medical College, which is still in operation. Although Lyttle Hall is three stories tall, the down sloping terrain leaves the basement at ground level on the south and west sides of the building. Many of Lyttle Hall's original finishes were still intact in the 1990s, including marble tile in the lobby, when it was rehabilitated. Meharry received a large government grant in 2009 to renovate Lyttle Hall. Lyttle Hall is one of the oldest of 21 buildings on the campus and includes 32,100 square feet.

Anonymous. "Commencement at Meharry Medical Colleges: Nurse Training." Nashville Globe (Nashville) April 25th, 1913. 1-3.

Anonymous. "Meharry's Forty-First Commencement." Nashville Globe (Nashville) May 4th, 1917. 1-1.

Anonymous. "Meharry gets $1M grant to renovate Lyttle Hall." Nashville Business Journal (Nashville) September 24th, 2009. Education sec.

Berry, Albert G. Fleenor, E. Michael. NRHP Nomination of Lyttle Hall, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1998.

Meharry Medical College. About Us, Meharry Medical College. January 1st, 2022. Accessed October 27th, 2022. https://home.mmc.edu/about/.

Meharry Medical College. Our History, Meharry Medical College. January 1st, 2022. Accessed October 27th, 2022. https://home.mmc.edu/about/mission-vision.

Tennessee Historical Commission. Hulda Margaret Lyttle Hall of Meharry Medical College, Stopping Points. February 14th, 2015. Accessed October 27th, 2022. https://www.stoppingpoints.com/tennessee/Davidson/Hulda+Margaret+Lyttle+Hall+of+Meharry+Medical+College.html.

Wynn, Linda T. Hulda Margaret Lyttle-Frazier (1889-1983), Tennessee State University Library. Accessed October 27th, 2022. https://ww2.tnstate.edu/library/digital/lyttle.htm.