Chattanooga Medical College
Chattanooga Medical College was an American private medical college located in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was established in 1889 and closed in 1910. The medical college was affiliated with U.S. Grant University.
History
Chattanooga Medical College was a private medical school that opened in September 1889 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It had twenty students. Its faculty were local physicians and a local pharmacist. It was overseen by dean E. A. Cobleigh under the loose administration of U.S. Grant University. Its first class graduated in January 1890.The college helped form the Southern Medical College Association in 1892. Its students came from across the United States and Canada. J. R. Rathmell took over the leadership of the college as its dean in 1905 after Cobleigh died.
Administrative changes at U.S. Grant University, which had been renamed the University of Chattanooga, gave the university more control over the medical school. The university decided to close Chattanooga Medical College in 1910 to focus its resources on the accreditation of undergraduate programs. A long-term faculty member noted that it was no longer practical or feasible for the small medical college to keep up with the rising standards of medical education. Specifically, the Carnegie Foundation Fund Association's standards for equipment and an endowment of "class A" medical schools were out of reach for the Chattanooga Medical College, which lacked an endowment.
Before it closed, Chattanooga Medical College had more than 700 graduates.