Civil Works Administration Inscription At The John Gaston Community Center, Memphis, TN Editorial Photo

Before he died in 1912, John Gaston told his friends that wanted his mansion converted into a public hospital. That didn`t happen until the death of his wife in 1929. Then the mansion was deemed too small for a decent hospital and it was demolished and the property was converted into Gaston Park. The bulk of Gaston`s fortune, supplemented by funds from the Public Works Administration, was then used to build a brand new city hospital in the Madison Avenue Medical District. The John Gaston Hospital opened in 1936 and remained one of the city`s busiest hospitals until it was demolished in 1990 to make way for the growth of `The Med`.n n n