Thomas C. Unthank (1866-1932)

Dr. Thomas C. Unthank was instrumental in creating opportunities for Black doctors to serve the inner city and established medical facilities. As a physician and activist, he rose to prominence as a doctor and is known as the “Father of Kansas City’s Negro Hospitals.” In July of 1933, in honor of his life-long commitment to attaining a better standard of living for Kansas City’s African American community, a bust of Dr. Unthank was unveiled in front of General Hospital No. 2.

Thomas C. Unthank was born on 15 March 1866 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He enrolled at Howard University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. in 1894. Dr. Unthank graduated in 1898 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri. He opened Lange Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, and co-founded, with Dr. S. H. Thompson, Douglass Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.

In 1903 a devastating flood hit Kansas City. Hundreds of people were injured or sick, and all hospitals were overcrowded with the wounded. Convention Hall, in downtown Kansas City, became a makeshift hospital. The building was divided into sections, with one area exclusively for minorities. Dr. Unthank was called upon to care for those victims. As a result of the flood crisis, Dr. Unthank began a crusade to develop a municipal hospital solely to serve the minority community. White physicians and city leaders showed little interest in his proposal. Dr. Unthank eventually overcame the indifference and prejudice shown by city officials and the white medical community. He persuaded the city to allow the old General Hospital to become the “colored division” when white patients were moved to a new, modern facility in 1908.

The building was renamed General Hospital No. 2. This was the first public hospital used exclusively for minority citizens in the United States. In 1930, a new hospital replaced the older structure. Dr. Unthank spent much of his life helping his community. Through his efforts, a county home for elderly Black citizens was established and a park and recreational area for Black residents of Kansas City was built.

Although the City decided during the late 1950s to consolidate the two hospitals, Truman Medical Center has served as the City’s public hospital since the early 1970s. While neither of the buildings that housed General Hospital #2 remain today, the neighborhood has retained the moniker “Hospital Hill.”

Thomas C. Unthank, M.D., died on 29 November 1932, at the age of 66 and was interred in Highland Cemetery. 

Hulston, Nancy J. Biography of Thomas C. Unthank (1866-1932), Physician, Kansas City Public Library

Gorman, Barbara M., Richard D. McKenzie, and Theodore A. Wilson. From Shamans to Specialists: A History of Medicine and Health Care in Jackson County. Kansas City, Missouri: Jackson County Medical Society, 1981.

Hulston, Nancy J. “Thomas C. Unthank, M.D., A Flood, A Dream, A Hospital.” Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine Newsletter I (Summer 1996).

Rodgers, Samuel U. “General Hospital No. 2 of Kansas City: A Historical Summary.” Journal of the National Medical Association 54 (1962) 526.

Soward, James L. Hospital Hill: An Illustrated Account of Public Health Care Institutions in Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City, MO: Truman Medical