04/16/2026
The Griffin Hospital and Clinic
We wanted to share a little piece of history we had the opportunity to inspect not long ago.
Here is the section of the post card (pictured) that details the history and mission for the building…Enjoy!
The Griffin Hospital and Clinic
Bainbridge, Georgia
JOSEPH H. GRIFFIN, M.D.
The Griffin Hospital and Clinic, Bainbridge, Georgia, a 50 bed institution, largest privately owned Hospital for Negroes in the State of Georgia. Founded by Dr. Joseph H. Griffin, an Alumnus of Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee.
Dr. Joseph H. Griffin, son, of the late Mr. R. D. Griffin and Mirs. Mary E. Griffin, who now lives with him in Bainbridge, was born in Stewart County, Ga.
His early training was received in the public schools of Stewart County, and his high school training, at Payne High School, Cuthbert, Ga. He completed his college work at Savannah State College, in Savannah, Ga. — finishing as valedictorian of his class; thereafter, he entered Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn.
Having received the Medical Degree, he began practising in Lumpkin but was soon called to the
United States Army, where he served as a Ist Lieut., in World War I. He was in the Medical Corps.
After the war, he resumed practice in Bainbridge and has been there ever since.
He is a member of the accredited Medical Associations, and is a member of the Finance Committee of the Trustees of Morris Brown College in Atlanta, Ga.
Dr. Griffin is South Georgia's first Negro surgeon and has pioneered in the ownership and management of Hospitals for Negroes.
In the 1930's he built the Johnson Memorial Hospital, an 18 bed Institution, which was named honoring the parents of his wife, Dr. and Mrs. James W. F. Johnson.
Dr. Griffin's practice draws patients from South and Southwest Georgia, North Florida and South east Alabama. Because of the lemand for hospitalization and surgical care, his new and modern 50 bed hospital was constructed in 1950 - named The Griffin Hospital and Clinic - replacing the old Johnson Memorial Hospital.
The Honorable Ralph McGill, Editor of the "Atlanta Constitution", writing in his column "In The
Deep South" said:
“Deep in Southwest Georgia, not far from Florida's Capitol City of Tallahassee, I found meaningful American Story. It was at Bainbridge, Georgia. Dr. Joseph H. Griffin formally opened his new hospital; it cost a quarter of a million dollars to construct and equip. He financed it all himself. There are no government funds in it. It is his. Dr. Griffin is a Negro. His parents were hard working farmers near Lumpkin. He literally came out of the soil of the South fighting his way to an education by working until he had graduated as a physician from the famed Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.
There is a meaning beyond the opening of a New Hospital. It is a symbol of a Negro's earnest desire to make an accepted contribution to the development of the South. His hope for maxımum development in the professions and crafts."
Dr. Griffin was also the subject of Elmer Wheeler's syndicated column - "Success Secrets".
Mr. Wheeler said: "Recently a friend of mine brought up the old philosophical-teaser. Does Man have freewill, or is his will so conditioned by heredity and environment it is all decided for him what he can and cannot do. I did not waste time. I just told him the story of Joseph H. Griffin, M.D., Bain-bridge, Georgia. Dr. Griffin recently opened his quarter of a million dollar Hospital. He built it him-self. No one knows what put the idea in this Negro boy's head that he could riser above the limitations of his environment. Maybe it was because nobody told him about the limitations of heredity and environment and the condition of the Human Will."
Dr. Griffin keeps abreast with his profession by attending Clinics, Medical Associations and past
graduate work in the Northern and Eastern Medical Centers.
He is married to the former Miss Elaine L. Johnson, alumna of Fisk University. She is an only daughter of Dr. and Mrs. James W. F. Johnson of Bainbridge. The Griffins have one daughter, Mrs. T. Jan Perry, and twin grandsons, Joseph H. Griffin Perry and T. Jan Perry, Jr. and son-in-law T. Jan Perry, Sr.
