October 5, 1951

Ground was broken for University Hospital, the medical center of the University of Arkansas College of Medicine (now UAMS). Designed by Edward Stone, it was a nine-story, 450-bed facility with a seven-story educational building attached. Governor Sid McMath and state senator Ellis Fagan had introduced a cigarette tax to support the project; this eventually resulted in $6.4 million becoming available for the center. On June 18, 1956, the building was occupied by staff and patients. The center’s medical relevance was reinforced in 1976 when the Veterans Administration (VA) announced plans to move from Roosevelt Road to a site adjacent to the hospital.