On
Thanksgiving Day 1901, the pastor of
Tabernacle Baptist Church,
Len G. Broughton M.D., created a small infirmary as a new program for his church, operating it out of a rented house. The Tabernacle Infirmary started with only five beds and Broughton as the only doctor, but quickly grew. By 1910 it had 75 beds and a staff of physicians and surgeons, and its own building on Luckie Street (adjacent to the
Tabernacle). Broughton also founded a Nurse Training School associated with the Infirmary. After Broughton left Atlanta for
London in 1912, the hospital suffered somewhat. It was sold to the
Georgia Baptist Convention for $85,000 in 1913 and was managed by Rev. James Long as Georgia Baptist Hospital. The Baptist organization was not enthusiastic at first about running a hospital but Long overcame that and the business was self-sufficient by 1916. In 1921 the hospital purchased the former
Levi B. Nelson home site at Boulevard and East Avenue (which was destroyed in the
Great Atlanta fire of 1917), which is the present location east of
downtown Atlanta. A building program was undertaken starting in 1948 to expand the hospital. On August 31, 2022, Wellstar Health System announced that Atlanta Medical Center was expected to end operations on November 1, 2022. Atlanta Medical Center permanently closed at 11:59 p.m. on October 31, 2022. Demolition of the hospital complex began in June 2025, with plans to create a multi-use development at the site. ==In popular culture==