Grady Memorial Hospital was named for Henry Woodfin Grady, an influential Atlanta journalist, lecturer, and advocate for the “New South.” The “New South” was the dream of many southern businessmen and civic leaders: a revitalized region of the United States, arisen from the ashes of the Civil War with the help of northern capital and enterprise, a land of prosperity and influence in the reunited nation. When Henry Grady died of pneumonia in 1889 at the age thirty-nine, a statue was almost immediately erected in his honor. More significantly, and more appropriately in the eyes of many Atlanta citizens and businessmen, the long-debated public hospital that opened in 1892 was named for him.