Plate

One of the enduring landmark buildings in the city, the Medical College of Virginia’s Egyptian Building was constructed in 1838. Less than a year before on December 1, 1837, the
president and trustees of Hampden-Sydney College created a medical department to be located at Richmond. 

The college opened on November 5, 1838 in the Union Hotel located at 19th and Main streets.  There were 46 students, all men, enrolled in the first class, and they paid $20 to the professors for each of the six courses. In 1854 the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College received an independent charter from the General Assembly and became the Medical College of Virginia (MCV).

This English ceramic transferware plate manufactured by the Wedgwood factory in Staffordshire, England, was based on an original sketch by Dugald Stewart Walker (1883-1937),
a native of Richmond who achieved fame as an illustrator in the early 20th century.