Plan for the University of Louisville Medical Center. After World War II, a fervor of urban renewal swept through American cities, shifting populations and remaking neighborhoods with major construction projects. The new downtown Medical Center was a key urban renewal project for Louisville and involved complex coordination between the University of Louisville (U of L), Jewish Hospital, the city, and a forerunner of the Louisville Chamber of Commerce called The Louisville Area Development Association (LADA). The city exercised eminent domain to obtain much of the land, deeming older buildings unsafe and buying or requisitioning them for demolition. U of L then arranged for Jewish Hospital to lease the land for $1 a year for 99 years.
Sketch of the original Jewish Hospital, undated. Rafael T. Wathen was a longtime employee in the maintenance department at both the old and new Jewish Hospital. He retired in 1965 at age 77.
