A new historic marker was unveiled Friday in Roanoke that tells the story of Elbyrne Gill, who founded the first specialty hospital and first eye bank in Virginia. Gill also started the first post-graduate courses offered in ophthalmology in the country.
Gill, who is from Bedford County, founded the Gill Memorial Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat Hospital on Jefferson Street in 1926. In 1976, the hospital was acquired by Roanoke Memorial Hospital.
“Through the hospital, one of the first of its specialty in VA, Gill hosted annual congresses that offered postgraduate courses for eye, ear, nose, and throat specialists,” the marker reads. “By featuring renowned faculty, including current and future Nobel laureates, these conferences attracted physicians from across the U.S.”
Gill was also a charter member of the Roanoke Lions Club and chairman of the Roanoke Board of Health for 25 years, according to a press release from the city.
Nelson Harris, former Roanoke mayor and local historian, received approval from the city council in April 2025 to submit an application to the Department of Historic Resources for the marker. Harris has successfully applied for about a dozen markers throughout the city.
The marker stands across the street from the original Gill Memorial Hospital, which is now the site of the Regional Accelerator and Mentoring Program, or RAMP.
The cost of the marker was funded by the Carilion Clinic Foundation and the Dr. E.G. Gill Blue Ridge Lions Sight Foundation, a release stated. Harris said last year that the marker would cost $3,400.
Mayor Joe Cobb and Harris both spoke about Gill’s life at the unveiling, along with Stan Breakell, Gill’s grandson and a member of the Gill Eye and Ear Foundation’s board. Representatives from Vistar Eye Center, the Carilion Clinic Foundation and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources also spoke at the event.
The Elbyrne G. Gill Eye and Ear Foundation is a Roanoke-based philanthropic organization that supports medical education and training for physicians and residents in ophthalmology fields and funds programs related to vision and hearing care, according to a press release from the foundation.
