Missouri Pacific Hospital

The Missouri Pacific Hospital building at Little Rock (Pulaski County) was erected in 1925 by the Missouri Pacific Hospital Association. The Hospital Association, initially known as the Hospital Department, was a unit of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company and was established in 1876 to care for employees of both the railway and its leased and operated lines. There was another such institution in St. Louis, Missouri.

Prior to the creation of the structure in Little Rock, physicians employed by the Missouri Pacific Hospital Association were housed within other local hospitals and provided care to railway employees using the facilities and equipment at other local institutions. Between 1910 and 1920, Missouri Pacific Hospital employees in Little Rock operated out of the fourth floor of the St. Vincent Infirmary. In December 1920, the Missouri Pacific Hospital staff and patients relocated to the Baptist Hospital at 13th and Wolfe streets in Little Rock, where they remained until construction of the organization’s own hospital building was completed in 1925. By 1920, the Missouri Pacific Hospital reportedly treated an average of more than 100 patients a year.

The Missouri Pacific Hospital Association purchased the property at 1310 Lincoln Avenue (now Cantrell Road) and began planning construction in 1922. At the time, the association anticipated that the three-story structure would cost $150,000 and would have the capacity to accommodate around 120 patients. By May 1924—less than a year before the official opening—the estimated cost of construction was $750,000. The hospital held its formal opening in January 1925, and it was said to be “one of the best [institutions] in the south and a credit to the state.” The hospital continued to treat patients for several more decades.

Several notable figures in medicine worked at the Missouri Pacific Hospital. From 1919 to 1927, prominent physician and civic leader John Marshall Robinson worked as the assistant surgeon. Dr. J. W. Smith, the division surgeon, was elected as chairman of the Arkansas Executive Committee of the American College of Surgeons during his tenure at the hospital.

In 1980, the Missouri Pacific Hospital was renamed as the Riverview Medical Center. The building closed eight years later, in 1988, and was torn down shortly thereafter. A data center for Dillard’s, Inc., was later built on the property. The neighboring Nurse’s Home for the Missouri Pacific Hospital—the McDonald-Wait-Newton House, also commonly referred to as the Packet House—became home to a private business club called the 1836 Club in 2016.

For additional information:
“Missouri Pacific’s Hospital Removed.” Arkansas Democrat, December 31, 1920, p. 6.

“Railroad Plans a New Hospital.” Arkansas Gazette, October 25, 1922, p. 1.

Shoene, Lester P. “Memorandum to the Director, Retirement Claims.” Memorandum, Washington DC, 1939 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GOVPUB-RR-4072914df0c0ea048e525eec15cd6464/pdf/GOVPUB-RR-4072914df0c0ea048e525eec15cd6464.pdf (accessed May 22, 2024).

Carlie Cowgill
University of Arkansas at Little Rock