Barnes Medical College

My maternal grandfather was Leo B. Couch MD. He was Born in 1886 and home-schooled on the family farm. At age 11, he took on a factory job to earn money to pay a science tutor.  At age 16 he entered Barnes Medical College in St. Louis Mo in 1902. He graduated at the top of his class in 1906, was Named Professor of Internal Medicine and taught Internal Medicine during his Surgical Residency. He completed surgical residency and opened his Medical Practice in 1908.

Barnes Medical College was organized in 1892 as a for-profit school by a group of St. Louis physicians and business leaders. While the school was named for philanthropist Robert Barnes, it received none of the money he had bequeathed to a hospital. Barnes quickly became the largest medical college in the city.

Barnes Medical College - St. Louis, Missouri 1892-1911 –Washington University has recently made available archival materials for both Barnes Medical College and its partner American Medical College.  Faculty from Barnes Medical College edited The Medical Era, often including articles about the college.  

Barnes Medical College was organized in 1892 as a for-profit school by a group of St. Louis physicians and business leaders.  While the school was named for philanthropist Robert Barnes, it received none of the money he had bequeathed to a hospital.  Barnes quickly became the largest medical college in the city.  The 1899 graduating class totaled 203.  The Medical Era praised Barnes as being among the first medical schools to advocate for a higher standard of education for candidates preliminary to their entering medical school and as being among the first to adopt a four-year program.

After the college added Centenary Hospital in 1902, students then had an adjoining clinical facility. Barnes Medical School opened in a new building at the corner of Lawton and Beaumont in downtown St. Louis.  By 1896 enrollment had increased so that a second building became necessary.  That was a five-story building on the northeast corner of Lawton and Garrison.  In 1902 Centenary Hospital was completed, providing a clinical facility for the college as well as a dispensary, a dental school, and training school for nurses.  It adjoined the main building.

https://www.lostcolleges.com/barnes-medical-college

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Barnes Medical College was ultimately replaced by Washington University Medical School. In 1971, I joined Washington University to establish the Personnel function on the Medical School 5 Hospital Campus. 

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader