Introduction
In its 166-year history, the Feinberg School of Medicine has had four names, five locations, and an evolving relationship with Northwestern University. From its founding as part of another university in 1859 to being fully integrated into Northwestern in 1906, the medical school, as well as Northwestern’s other professional schools, have always been physically separate from the university while still trying to maintain a sense of connection with the Evanston campus and each other. In the 1920s, Northwestern embarked on one of its largest-ever projects: combining the professional schools on a new campus.
Credits
Curated and designed by Emma Florio, MLIS, Archives & Research Specialist, with support from Katie Lattal, MA, Special Collections Librarian, and Emma Wilson, Communications Coordinator.
The medical school’s fourth location contained a clinical amphitheater, a lecture hall, and laboratories that were equipped to give students a strong foundation in the basic sciences. A dispensary building was quickly added to house the school’s free clinics. Within 20 years, though, the school had outgrown the buildings and was looking at options to expand onto adjacent land.
The other professional schools (Dental, Law, and Commerce) were outgrowing their shared building as well. By the 1910s, University leadership were discussing bringing these schools together on a single campus, to reduce long term expenditures and to create a stronger university spirit. One prominent trustee wanted them all moved to Evanston. The Dean of the Law School preferred being near the Criminal Courts. They would eventually settle for a stretch of land north of the Loop named for the eccentric squatter who had illegally claimed it for decades.