ROANOKE, Va. – One of the first Black-owned medical practices in Southwest Virginia is being recognized.
Friday, Roanoke City unveiled a new historic marker for the Claytor Memorial Clinic in Gainsboro.
It opened in 1948 to treat patients who couldn’t receive health services in their area due to segregation and Jim Crow laws.
“It’s very significant, it’s the culmination of the hard work, dedication and perseverance of my grandparents...they wanted to provide for the state of Virginia as well as for the community around them,” said Conrad Claytor, grandson of the Clinic’s founders.
The Claytor family hopes that the now-dilapidated building will be refurbished, giving new life to a once vibrant business district that was devastated by urban renewal.