HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Riverside General Hospital was a historic hospital that began serving the Black community in Houston's Third Ward as Houston Negro Hospital in 1926.

The facility was known as an important component in keeping the community healthy.

"It opened as a result of a group of black doctors petitioning the city, the philanthropic community, the state, everyone they could go to say we need better healthcare in Houston for our African-American citizens," Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis said.