Crippled Children's Clinic and Hospital, circa November 1952

Built within the university medical center by a private foundation, the Crippled Children's Clinic and Hospital was officially dedicated in a ceremony held November 22, 1951.  The new facility was located across 19th Street South from University Hospital and was known as the "hospital that football built."  Funds were raised at an annual football game held on Thanksgiving Day at Legion Field that featured area high school teams.  Following the success of the Salk and Sabin polio vaccines, the need for the hospital was greatly diminished by the late 1960s, and it was eventually closed.  UAB acquired the building in 1970 and used it as a temporary home for the new School of Optometry and as the university's Ambulatory Center.  The building was demolished by UAB in 1975 for the construction of the Russell Ambulatory Center and the Spain-Wallace addition of University Hospital.

Image ID: P7.2.7, #0263