Dr. Alonzo Clifton McClennan
(1855-1912)

Alonzo McClennan was born in Columbia, South Carolina. The son of Harriet (Kennedy) McClennan was orphaned as a child and lived with his uncle and guardian, Edward B. Thompson, a prosperous barber in the city.

McClennan, a physician and educator, founded the first black-owned drugstore and Hospital and Training School for Nurses in Charleston. He was educated at Wilbraham Academy (Mass.); University of South Carolina; U.S.Naval Academy; and Howard University. McClennan founded and edited one of the earliest black medical publications, Hospital Herald, a monthly journal, and co-founded the organization, the Palmetto Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, (1896)