The final days of the historic McLendon Hospital: A pioneer for Black health care in Atlanta
The now-gutted structure of the building once known as the McLendon Hospital is unknown.
Atlanta media mogul Alexis Scott says the hospital, which was in operation between the mid-1940s through the 1980s, was the lifeblood of the Black community — and it was one of the few places where Black people could get decent care and respectable service.
Scott, who is now in her 70s, says she and her older brother were born at the facility that was founded by Dr. Frederick Earl McLendon during the Jim Crow era in Atlanta’s Hunter Hills neighborhood.
One of Scott’s fondest memories of the hospital was when she was a young girl. She says she got into a fight with her brother over some glue and the sibling confrontation resulted in her cutting her right leg on a bottled glass — and Dr. McLendon stitching her wound.
“That was my last memory of McLendon Hospital, which was really good because it did save my life,” said Scott. “I suppose, I could have bled to death if I had not gotten the service.”
On Friday’s edition of “Closer Look,” Scott, along with David Mitchell, the executive director of the Atlanta Preservation Center, and Lisa Reyes, the president of Historic Hunter Hills, talked about efforts to preserve the hospital.
The guests also discussed the concerns they have about other Black historic sites across metro Atlanta that are at risk of being forgotten.
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