Historic Midland

MEMORIAL
HOSPITAL
&
MEDICAL
CENTER
Since its beginning, Memorial Hospital and
Medical Center has enjoyed the intense involvement
of the people of Midland. It is, and always
has been, their hospital.
It was in June of 1945 that the Midland
Chamber of Commerce named 25 governors of
the Midland Memorial Foundation to find funds
for building and operation of a community hospital.
The E.P. Cowdens and the Clinton Dunagens
donated adjoining tracts totaling seven acres
bordering the Andrews Highway to accommodate
the building.
The hospital opened July 11, 1950, with 75
beds, and a staff of 27 doctors and 65 employees.
By 1954, the hospital had an average daily
census of 68 patients. The hospital converted
some private rooms to semi-private to allow for
25 more beds and 20 baby bassinets. In 1957,
the board members broke ground for an east
wing expansion, aided by seven-year-old
Virginia Beth Wood, the first baby born at
Midland Memorial Hospital.
Still the hospital grew. In 1963, a nine-bed
intensive care unit was added to the east wing,
with a corridor connecting to the hospital’s
surgery unit, and, over the objections of one
founding father, a 200-ton air conditioning system.
In 1971, the hospital spread west, with a
three-bed coronary care unit. In 1977, establishment
of Midland County Hospital District
enabled Midland County to collect ad valorem
taxes to cover the cost of construction, capital
expenses and upkeep. During 1979, the hospital
added a new maternity wing, critical care and
post-critical care units, and converted virtually
all beds to private rooms.
In 1981, Helon Y. Allison and other donors
gave $3.5 million for the construction of the twolevel,
20,000 square-foot Allison Cancer Center.
In 1986, beds were added in the postpartum
and medical/surgical sections, and the hospital
could accommodate 272 patients.
But the board saw growing needs to be
addressed. Memorial Rehabilitation Hospital,
located on the west loop, opened in the early
1990s to address neurological, neuromuscular
and orthopedic disorders. With $2 million in
gifts from the Abell-Hanger Foundation and
others, the hospital opened the Abell-Hanger
Medical Pavilion in 1989, to house a magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) center, Urgent Care
Center, West Texas pathology Lab, and
Occupational and Physical Therapy Center.
The hospital reached out in other ways.
Midland Memorial Foundation and Abell-
Hanger Foundation joined forces to double the
size of Midland College’s nursing program. A
84 ✦ HISTORIC MIDLAND