University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

In 1879, eight physicians, led by P.O. Hooper of Little Rock, each invested $625 to secure a charter for a medical school from Arkansas Industrial University (which later became the University of Arkansas).[3] They purchased the Sperindio Restaurant and Hotel building on West Second Street in Little Rock for $5,000 to house the school, which opened on Oct. 7, 1879 with 22 students. In 1880, Dr. Tom Pinson was the first graduate of the medical school. In 1935, the medical school was moved to a new building next to the City Hospital in Little Rock.[4] The six-story, $450,000 structure gave the School of Medicine a boost in clinical instruction of medical students. The hospital's physicians were members of the school's teaching faculty. The medical school building now houses the University of Arkansas at Little Rock's William H. Bowen School of Law; the hospital building was torn down and became the law school's parking lot.