The marble gateway on the lawn of the old Knox County Courthouse honors the memory of John Mason Boyd, who attended the university and served on its board of trustees for more than 30 years. The gateway was erected by a group of women patients. Dr. Boyd specialized in gynecology and performed one of the first hysterectomies in the country. He studied with a physician in Knoxville, at the University of Louisville, and at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in medicine.
Dr. Boyd’s medical practice in Knoxville lasted 53 years. He served as the surgeon general on the staff of Governor Robert L. Taylor, was the first president of Knoxville’s Board of Health, served as a member of the building committee of the Eastern State Hospital for the Insane at Lyon’s View, and served for many years as a member of the board of trustees of that institution. He was elected chief of the volunteer fire department in 1872, served as an alderman, and was president of the board of trustees of the Deaf and Dumb Asylum (so called at that time) for many years. During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate army.