Health - Historical Notes

The following summaries are included herein for reference purposes.

1. Acts of 1837-38, Chapter 183, revived an act passed on December 31, 1831, which appropriated the state tax on merchants’ license, within Shelby County, to support the Memphis Hospital for a period of five years.
2. Acts of 1845-46, Chapter 92, appropriated the state tax on merchants’ license, within Shelby County, to the exclusive use and benefit of the Memphis Hospital for two years.
3. Public Acts of 1891, Chapter 186, provided for the establishment of asylums for the insane, poor and inebriate, to be established and personnel appointed by the Shelby County Board of County Commissioners. This was amended by Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 255, which provided that the appointment of a farm boss for the asylum would be discretionary with the trustees of the asylum.
4. Acts of 1903, Chapter 403, amended Public Acts of 1891, Chapter 186, by providing a commission of three members, instead of five, to oversee the operation of an asylum for the insane, poor and inebriates.
5. Acts of 1907, Chapter 339, provided that the board of commissioners of the asylum for the insane, poor and inebriates should hold their meetings on the first Wednesday of each month, and more often if necessary.
6. Acts of 1907, Chapter 476, provided for the meetings of the county board of health, and for the payment of the accounts, bills and expenses in said county board of health in counties of 150,000 or over according to the Federal Census of 1900.
7. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 209, authorized Shelby County to erect, equip and maintain a tuberculosis hospital in cooperation with the City of Memphis, provided for the governing of that hospital by a board of trustees and allowed the county to levy a tax for the support of that hospital. Private Acts of 1917, Chapter 387, allowed the City of Memphis to cooperate with Shelby County in the construction of that hospital. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 292, authorized a bond issue for the construction and support of the tuberculosis hospital. All of these acts were amended by Private Acts of 1961, Chapter 301, to add the words "and other chest diseases" after the word "tuberculosis." Private Acts of 1969, Chapter 117, further amended these acts, to permit the hospital trustees to admit patients who are chronically ill, to treat subacute illnesses and to engage in a program of rehabilitation. All of these acts were repealed by Private Acts of 1969, Chapter 189, which created the Memphis-Shelby County Board of Hospital Trustees.
8. Private Acts of 1919, Chapter 662, provided for a system of reformatory institutions, home for women and detention hospitals for infected women, and to prescribe the terms on which women may be admitted and committed to such institutions, and for the care, government and support of same.
9. Private Acts of 1927, Chapter 467, authorized Shelby County to issue bonds in the sum of $100,000 for the purpose of, in co-operation with the City of Memphis, constructing new buildings and additions to the Tuberculosis Hospital.
10. Private Acts of 1943, Chapter 261, authorized the board of trustees of the Tuberculosis Hospital in Shelby County to use any proceeds remaining in their hands from the sale of improvement bonds for said hospital or any current surplus of said hospital in the payment and retirement of bonds issued for the benefit of such institutions.
11. Private Acts of 1945, Chapter 263, amended Private Acts of 1911, Chapter 237, giving the commission power to order an autopsy whenever there was a suspicious death at the Oakville Memorial Sanatorium.
12. Private Acts of 1949, Chapter 497, authorized Shelby County in conjunction with the City of Memphis to establish a board of water control, but this act was superseded by the provisions of Private Acts of 1971, Chapter 167, which created the current water quality control board.
13. Private Acts of 1951, Chapter 571, authorized Shelby County to contract with public or private institutions within the county for scientific and medical assistance in law enforcement. This act was repealed by the current law, Private Acts of 1959, Chapter 122, found in this volume in the preceding chapter.
14. Private Acts of 1975, Chapter 107, provided that in Shelby County (identified by the 1970 population figures) regulatory authority over cotton gin operations for the purpose of controlling air contaminant emissions from cotton gins would hereafter be vested solely with the State of Tennessee and not with any local jurisdiction. This act was not acted on by local authorities and consequently never took effect at the local level.