Becker Library exhibit celebrates first medical school buildings

The West Building, shown circa 1926, is one of three buildings on the Medical Campus that turns 100 years old this year.
(Credit: Washington University Archives)

A new exhibit in the Bernard Becker Medical Library celebrates the centennial anniversary of Washington University School of Medicine’s three original campus buildings on what was once considered the “new” Forest Park campus.

The buildings are the North, South and Clinics/West buildings. Each is 100 years old this year, and each continues to be used today.

To commemorate their construction and offer a look into the Medical Campus’ past, the library archives staff created an exhibit that can be viewed in the Glaser Gallery, on the Becker Library’s seventh floor. Viewing hours are 7:30 a.m. to midnight Mondays through Thursdays; 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays; 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays; and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sundays.

The exhibit features the original blueprints for the three buildings, as well as dozens of photographs of what the buildings looked like on the inside when they opened in 1915. That was the year the medical school moved from downtown St. Louis to the campus bordering Forest Park.