Vanderbilt University Medical Center began in 1874 when the School of Medicine, which had been part of the University of Nashville since its founding in 1851, was incorporated into Vanderbilt University, which had been founded in 1873 with a grant from Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. The first degree awarded by this new University, in 1875, went to Henry William Morgan, and was a medical degree.
For many years of its existence, Vanderbilt’s medical school and hospital were located near the present day intersection of Fifth Avenue and Elm Street, near downtown Nashville. During this time, the School of Medicine was owned and operated as a private property of the practicing physicians who made up the faculty and received the fees of the students—a system that, while not ideal, was typical of medical education in the U.S. at the time.
In 1895, the School of Medicine was reorganized under the Vanderbilt University Board of Trust. William L. Dudley, who was professor of Chemistry in the college of Arts and Sciences, was appointed medical dean; admission requirements were raised to require a high school diploma; the course was lengthened to three years of six months each; and laboratory work in the basic sciences was added to the curriculum.
