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June 9, 2008
Crawford Long tours 100 years

By lESLIE KING

Emory Crawford Long Hospital gets a jump on celebrating its 100th anniversary, officially Oct. 21, with a historic exhibit and historical tours.

The exhibit is currently on view in the atrium of the medical office tower.

And the tours of the hospital are being offered on Wednesdays, June 11 at 1:30 p.m., and June 25 at 3:30 p.m. The tours are being led primarily by Ren Davis, a project manager in Emory Healthcare; author of “Caring for Atlanta: A History of Emory Crawford Long Hospital;” and grandson of one of the hospital’s founders.

Edward Davis and his former student, Luther Fischer, founded the hospital’s forebear, the 26-bed Davis-Fischer Sanatorium, on Crew Street near present-day Turner Field in 1908. Three years later, they moved the facility to its present site in Midtown, opening an 85-bed building on Linden Avenue that now houses the hospital’s museum. Davis and Fischer exhausted their own personal funds and took out a loan to complete this facility.

The hospital was rechartered as a nonprofit in 1931 and renamed in honor of the Georgia physician who discovered sulfuric ether as an anesthetic. In 1939, Fischer deeded the hospital to Emory, which became its proprietor when Fischer died in 1953.

To schedule a free tour of the hospital, call Emory Health Connection at 404-778-7777. The historical display can be viewed at any time without a reservation.