History

Marion Sims College of Medicine was founded by a group of St. Louis physicians in 1890 and named for Marion Sims, a physician regarded as the “Father of Gynecology.”  A new building had been completed by the time classes opened on October 1, 1890.  The first class contained 139 students from 15 states.  A year later when the course had been expanded to three years, 271 students were enrolled.  In 1893 the Rebekah Hospital was added.  In 1894 with the addition of the dental school, enrollment topped 300.  By the end of the decade the medical program had been expanded to four years, and the dental program to three.

 

In 1900 Marion Sims College consolidated with the Beaumont Hospital Medical College (founded 1884) , leading to an increase in enrollment. The 1903 Mirror-Speculum shows a student body of 368 in the medical college and 163 in the dental college.

 

The Mirror-Speculum shows that the dental college had a chapter of the Delta Sigma Delta fraternity and also sponsored a band.  The school had a chapter of the Y.M.C.A., the college providing two rooms—a reading room and a games room—for its use.  The “Y” provided opportunities for finding employment, for socializing, for music, for Bible study and for Sunday meetings. The yearbook suggested that the atmosphere of these rooms served to ameliorate any rowdiness in students.  The two major social events of the calendar both involved football.  The students had a chartered train to Lebanon, IL for the McKendree game.  Apparently half of the student body accompanied the team.  The other social event was the banquet at the end of the football season.

 

Recommendations by the American Medical Association that medical schools be affiliated with a regular university led to Marion Sims-Beaumont’s becoming a part of St. Louis University in 1903.