Southwestern Medical College became Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas on September 1, 1949. The University of Texas affiliation is reflected in the sign on this building. The first campus of Southwestern Medical College was constructed in 1943 of prefabricated plywood buildings (often called "the shacks") such as these, located along Oak Lawn Avenue behind Parkland Hospital on Maple Avenue. The medical school campus soon expanded to other buildings in the neighborhood, but "the shacks" remained the primary campus until 1955, when the Cary Building on Harry Hines Blvd. was opened.