by Elnora Tellis Jefferson
Embedded in the Unified Government’s Seven Days of Kindness, Earth Day 2022 was the perfect occasion to take the significant step to reclaim the site upon once stood the second home of the Douglass Hospital and Nurses Training Center (1924-1945).
Located at 336 Quindaro Blvd. (northwest corner of Springfield and Quindaro Boulevard), the hospital that was co-founded by Dr. Solomon H. Thompson, Attorney Isaac F. Bradley and Dr. Thomas C. Unthank and supported by a compelling and determined Black community spirit to overcome.
Here, the hospital increased the capacity of the Black doctors and nurse population to medically treat and save the lives of its non-white population. It also increased the medically trained prior to the hospital. The hospital’s first location was at 312 Washington Blvd. Prior to its establishment, Black doctors and nurses were denied access to hospitals and facilities that were the exclusive venue for KCK’s white population.
After 1945, the property fell under private ownership. Now a Land Bank property, the land is in the process of being reclaimed by the neighborhood association to cultivate it to serve as a lure to use nature, words and activities that commemorate the selfless spirit of a determined people to own their future.
Earth Day 2022 in the Oak Grove Neighborhood was a resounding success because of the following support: Unified Government: Building and Logistics, Abatement Team, Public Works, KCKPD Community Policing, Nebraska Furniture Mart and Groundwork NRG (the Northeast NBR).
Elnora Tellis Jefferson is a former president of the Historic Northeast-Midtown Association.