Burrell Memorial Hospital
Historical highway marker K-128 · Roanoke City
Five African American physicians opened Burrell Memorial Hospital in a house at 311 Henry St. in March 1915. They named it in honor of their colleague Dr. Isaac D. Burrell, who had died in 1914 after traveling by train to undergo surgery in Washington, D.C., as local hospitals treated only whites. Burrell Memorial, which became the region's largest medical facility for black patients, moved into a former school on this site in 1921 and occupied a new building here in 1955. The hospital’s nursing school prepared African Americans for careers as registered nurses before closing in the 1930s. A school for practical nurses opened here in the 1950s. Burrell Memorial Hospital closed in 1978.
Department of Historic Resources, 2020