Urban League Assumes Lease of Historic McClaren Building

To preserve the building that housed the McClaren Medical Shelter, City Council on Monday approved a ground lease agreement allowing the Urban League of the Upstate to manage the building while the City retains ownership of the land beneath it.

The late Dr. Edward E. McClaren established the medical clinic in 1948, after the closure of the only hospital for Black residents during the Jim Crow era. McClaren built the clinic with his own money - $15,000 - and located it next door to his home. With nine patient rooms and one operating room, McClaren treated more than 1,000 people there until 1954, after area hospitals desegregated.