The first public higher education institution in Omaha was the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Nebraska's first medical school was a private medical college established in Omaha in 1880 and renamed the Omaha Medical College in 1881. The University of Nebraska bought the school for teaching purposes in 1902, and it became the University of Nebraska Medical College. They opened a university hospital in 1917, and in 1968, the University of Nebraska decided to form the University of Nebraska Medical Center campus. UNMC hospital merged with the nearby Clarkson Hospital in 1997, and was later renamed Nebraska Medicine.