McClaren Medical Shelter

Front inscription

McClaren Medical Shelter, a one-story brick building on a raised basement, was a privately run hospital for African Americans opened in 1949. It was established by Abbeville-native Dr. Edward E. McClaren (1902-1985), a 1931 graduate of the Howard University College of Medicine. The Medical Shelter succeeded the Working Benevolent Society Hospital (1920-1948) as the only Black-run hospital in the city of Greenville.

Reverse inscription

Medical Shelter patients received treatment from Black and white doctors and Black nurses. The hospital closed in 1954, three years after Greenville General Hospital first allowed Black doctors to work in its segregated ward. Over five years McClaren staff admitted 1,072 patients, delivered 211 babies, and conducted 194 and 582 minor operations. In 2020 the hospital building was moved 50 ft. N to this site.