Burt Home Infirmary

Burt Home Infirmary was the first hospital in Clarksville. Dr. Robert Tecumseh Burt, an African-American surgeon, and his wife, Emma, a nurse and anesthetist, opened the hospital in 1906 in their home above the Cumberland River. Open to people of all races, it was recognized by the National Medical Association and had 33 patient rooms, a laboratory, an operating room, x-ray wards, a sterilizing room, as well as private accommodations. The Burt Home Infirmary was destroyed by fire in 1992.

Dr. Burt was educated at Meharry Medical College and did post-graduate work at Harvard and E.A. Printy School of Surgical Technique. He did work at the Mayo Clinic and other New York hospitals. Emma Burt was a graduate of Fisk University.