by Bailey White
Staff Writer
An important building in Florida’s medical history will soon display evidence documenting exactly how medicine and public health were important in the state’s development.
The Florida Medical Association, along with a team of medical professionals and historians, have combined their efforts in an attempt to convert the historic State Board of Health Building, located in Springfield at Hogan’s Creek, into the future home of the Museum of Medicine and Public Health.
“We want to stimulate public interest in what medicine and public health has done in this state,” said Dr. Mathis Becker, the chairman of the museum’s planning committee. “We want to showcase that contribution.”
“We have a very unique history,” said Russ Jackson, director of policy for the Florida Medical Association and special assistant to the organization’s president. “It was difficult for people to settle here because of diseases that came from such a tropical climate.”
Jackson said a partnership between public and private medical sectors made Florida a safe place to live. A yellow fever epidemic in the late 1880s led to the formation of the State Board of Health, which was first established in Jacksonville in 1889. The organization, which evolved into the State Department of Health, erected the building in 1911 to serve as its first headquarters.
The museum will house interactive exhibitions which will trace the history of Florida to the time when it was still a Spanish territory. It will also serve as a library and repository for archives, which will likely draw interest from local universities with health-related facilities.
Becker, a thoracic and vascular surgeon in Plantation, Fla., said the museum won’t simply be a storehouse loaded with medical artifacts.
“As the word is getting out, I’m getting submissions from around the state,” he said. “People are calling to offer all kinds of things, but until a final decision is made about how the museum will take shape, I’m telling them to hold on to them.”
The committee, which numbers about a dozen, is in the process of hiring a museum consultant, someone who will coordinate the group’s vision and anticipated layout with ideas from the engineer and architect.
To date, the building has undergone $1 million worth of exterior renovations, including a new roof and some major structural upgrades and the group is now waiting to get funding for interior work.
“The [State] Historic Commission has recommended funding for $250,000 for interior renovations to be matched by the Florida Department of Health,” said Jackson.
The request should go before the State Legislature for approval this session and planners anticipate the work could start within four months if funds are approved.
The City and Springfield residents are excited about what the museum will bring to the Hogan’s Creek area.
“We’re very happy they’re
preserving a building of such
historic value,” said Lisa Rowe, spokesperson for the City. “The project will complement other developments in Springfield.”
“It could really help make this area a destination,” said Rita Reagan, who serves on the museum’s committee and is the director of the Springfield Heritage Education Center. “We’re envisioning the area to be a smaller scale version of the Smithsonian Museum institutions set up around the mall in Washington, D.C.”
Becker, who grew up in Jacksonville, shares Reagan’s vision.
“We’re looking at the overall area as our own facility and want to contribute to enhancing the whole area,” he said.