"Dr.-Anrew-Ransom-Sr"{March 9.1886-January 4,1951}

The founder of the first hospital for African Americans in Forth Worth,Texas,was born in Columbus,Kentucky,to parents Allen & Alice Ransom.Dr.Ransom briefly attended Lane College in Tennessee then transferred to Southern Illinois State Normal Universiy (now Southern Illinois University at Carbondale) where he earned his undergraduate degree.

Dr.Ransom attended Pharmaceutical College in Princeton,Indiana,and Louisville National Medical College in Louisville,Kentucky,from which he graduated in 1908 as Valedictorian of his class.Dr.Riley did post-graduate work at Mayo Clinic in Rochester,Minnesota.

Aftere receiving his medical license in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma,in 1909,started his medical practice in Brooksville,Oklahoma,where he worked for five years.In 1914 Dr.Ransom moved to Gainesville,Texas,where he established the Booker T.Washington Sanitarium.At that time Dr.Ransom was one of only 16 African-American doctors in Texas.

On June 3,1915,he married schoolteacher and graduate nurse Ethel Blanche Wilson of Gainesville,Texas.To this union one son,Riley Andrew Ranson,Jr.,was born on March 12,1915.

In 1918,Dr.Ransom moved the hospital to Forth Worth and added a Nurses' Training School.The hospital was the first 20-bed facility for Africam Americans in Texas.

It was also one of only three African American owned in the United States accredited by the America Medical Association.

Booker T.Washington Hospital was known for its state-of-art medical equipment,fully equipped laboratory,a dinning room,on site food preparation area,and nurses' quarters.Between 1925 & 1928 the facility was known as the Negro Baptist Hospital.In 1928 the name was changed to the Forth Worth Negro Hospital,and in 1938,Dr.Ransom renamed it the Ethel Ransom Memorial Hospital,in memory of his deceased wife.

Dr.Ransom was a member of the NAACP,the YMCA,Chairman of the Committee on Health and

Sanitation,a Chairman,of the Social Disease Committee of the Volunteer Health League,First-Aid Instructor for the America Red Cross of  Tarrant County,and a member of the Lone Star Medical Association.He was also a mason.

Dr.Ransom died in Houston,Texas.His work  in Forth Worth was continued by his son,Dr.Riley A.Ransom Jr.The  Ransom Memorial Hospital continued to serve the Forth Worth African American community until it closed in 1949.