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Overview
1889-1927 Dr. Lucius Hough Gilmore was born in Columbia, Maury County, TN in 1889. He entered public school in 1896 and graduated from the eleventh grade in 1909, the highest grade offered at the College Hill School. After high school, he worked as a reporter for the Nashville Globe Newspaper in Nashville, TN. He attended Meharry Medical College, the Medical Department of the Central College, and interned at the Old Mercy and Hubbard Hospitals in Nashville, TN. In 1912, Dr. Gilmore graduated and returned to Columbia to practice medicine. Dr. Gilmore volunteered for the United States Medical Corps. He reported for duty at Fort Des Moines, Iowa for military medical training at the Medical Officers Training Camp. After the United States entered World War I in April 1917, the US Army selected Fort Des Moines as a training site for African American officers. In addition to officers’ training, Fort Des Moines also hosted a training camp for African American medical personnel, a five-month course. A surgeon, First Lieutenant Gilmore was commissioned on July 6, 1917, and was one of the first African American commissioned officers in Tennessee. He served with a medical detachment assigned to the 92nd Division, A. P. O., Expeditionary Force in France. He received a meritorious citation for bravery for providing aid to fellow soldiers under attack on the front line. After serving in the military, Gilmore returned home to Columbia to continue practicing medicine. Gilmore was the son of Rev. John Smith and Sarah King Gilmore. His wife, former Hattie Sargent, an educator in Maury County, died of tuberculosis in 1924, at age 34 and Gilmore died in 1927 of heart disease at age 38. Lucius and Hattie Gilmore are buried in the Rose Mount Cemetery.
