A group of women were inspired to provide medical care for the poor, leading them to build and operate Hillman Hospital, the city’s oldest hospital. It was opened in 1888 and has grown to be a part of Birmingham’s largest employer, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, or UAB.

As Alabama’s single largest employer, UAB currently employs more than 28,000 people, serves over 2 million, and occupies more than 100 city blocks. Attesting to its importance to our city, Birmingham by the Book devotes 15 pages (pgs. 60-75) to describing the buildings, the history, the architecture, the research, the medical center, and the arts, athletic, and residential centers in a concise, mapped, and heavily photographed format.

It also includes a nod to the facilities remaining from the earlier residential neighborhood dating to 1901, and notes the years each of the current buildings were constructed. For this and much, much more, check out Birmingham by the Book: A Guide to the Magic City

For an in depth study of the medical school’s history, the book Order from Chaos, by Dr. Arnold Diethelm tells the story of his years as Chairman of UAB’s Department of Surgery from 1982 to 1999, as well as the first kidney transplant.