<1947 Dr. Russell J. Blattner,
a
39-year-old Washington School of Medicine associate professor and
recognized virologist, is named chairman of pediatrics at Baylor
College of Medicine.
Texas Children's Foundation is formed to
develop plans and secure community support for a children's hospital.
1948
Dr. Murdina Desmond joins Baylor
College of Medicine. Desmond, who developed the neonatology program at
Texas Children's, was a pioneer in newborn care and follow-up, as well
as congenital rubella.
1950
Leopold L. Meyer secures $1 million commitment from James S.
Abercrombie to build a hospital for children on the condition it will
be "open to every sick or hurt child with no restrictions on religion,
color, or whether or not they can pay."
<
The boards of Texas Children's and St.
Luke's hospitals sign a contract to construct adjoining buildings and
operate under joint administration. This arrangement continues for 35
years.
<
Dr. David
Greer, president of Texas Children's Hospital Foundation, architect
Milton Foy Martin and Dr. Russell Blattner view plans for the new hospital.
<May 23, 1951
Children, physicians, staff and community leaders gather for
groundbreaking ceremonies.
1952
Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's establish a teaching
affiliation.
1953
Radiologist Dr. Edward B.
Singleton becomes the first physician on Texas Children's staff.
>
James Abercrombie, Jesse Jones and
Leopold Meyer
celebrate the dedication of the hospital.
February 5, 1954
Texas Children's Hospital opens with Dr. Russell Blattner as physician-in-chief.
Private rooms in the three-story, 106-bed building are $15 per day.
1954
The first patient is 3-year-old Lamaina Leigh Van Wagner whose right kidney, defective since birth, is
removed.
> Lyndon B. Johnson, then U.S. Senator,
visits the hospital.
Dr.
Gunyon Harrison is the Baylor College of Medicine resident on duty
when the hospital opens. As professor of pediatrics at Baylor,
Harrison was
chief of the chest section, which became the
pulmonary service. He started Texas Children's cystic fibrosis clinic,
the largest in the country.
^1958 Comedian Bob Hope visits Texas Children's and steps behind the
hospital snack bar to make a milkshake for board chairman Leopold Meyer, who
handed him a $100 tip. Hope promptly donated the money to the
hospital.
1959
Dr. Donald Fernbach and staff perform a bone marrow transplant from
one identical twin to another with aplastic anemia. This was one of
the first procedures of this kind for this disorder.
Physician’s concern
set stage for hospital’s beginning
The year was 1944. As front
pages blazed with monumental headlines, Dr. David Greer
issued a wake-up call to the Houston Pediatric Society.
Alarmed by a
shortage of hospital beds for children in his own city, the
lack of a venue for doctors to receive pediatric training
and the scarcity of a research site
for children’s diseases, the pediatrician envisioned a
Texas-sized solution: a children’s hospital in Houston.
To draw
benefactors, Greer assembled a committee and garnered the
counsel of community leaders, including businessman James
Abercrombie and humanitarian Leopold Meyer. In 1947, the
Texas Children’s Foundation was incorporated, with Greer
elected as
president and Meyer as treasurer.
The Texas
Medical Center Board of Trustees soon allocated a 5.75-acre
tract of land for a children’s hospital and deeded the
property to the Texas Children’s Foundation. The Pin Oak
Charity Horse Show became the cause’s first major
fundraiser.
In the summer
of 1948, with proceeds from the previous year’s horse show,
Baylor College of Medicine’s new chief of pediatrics Dr.
Russell Blattner and Houston architect Milton Foy Martin
began traveling to research pediatric hospitals in the
United States, Canada and Mexico.
Because Martin
estimated the hospital would cost $2.5 million, raising
funds was crucial. With the
condition that every sick or hurt child be unconditionally
treated, Abercrombie donated $1 million in seed money. Meyer
raised another $1.5 million.
By 1950, the
task of the Texas Children’s Foundation was finished. Meyer
became president of the Texas Children’s Hospital Board, and
Abercrombie became chairman.
In October
1951, ceremonies dedicated sites for Texas Children’s and
St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital because linking the buildings
proved financially beneficial. Howard Tellepsen offered to
build both hospitals at cost plus 1 percent to cover his
company’s overhead.
The
relationship between Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor
became official with a signed affiliation agreement on June
28, 1952.
On Feb. 1,
1954 — a decade after Greer voiced the need — Texas
Children’s Hospital admitted its first patient.
<
The boards of Texas Children's and St.
Luke's hospitals sign a contract to construct adjoining buildings and
operate under joint administration. This arrangement continues for 35
years.
<
Dr. David
Greer, president of Texas Children's Hospital Foundation, architect
Milton Foy Martin and Dr. Russell Blattner view plans for the new hospital.
<
May 23, 1951
953
Radiologist Dr. Edward B. 
> Lyndon B. Johnson, then U.S. Senator,
visits the hospital.
