Prior to 1908, due primarily to the high cost of establishing its own medical facilities in Indianapolis, IU attempted to merge with existing medical schools, but the effort was not successful. Between 1905 and 1908 there continued to be a debate over which university, IU or Purdue, could establish a state-supported, four-year medical school at Indianapolis. In 1905, Purdue University's Medical Department joined with the Medical Department of the University of Indianapolis (the former Medical College of Indiana), the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Fort Wayne Medical College to form the Indiana Medical College, School of Medicine of Purdue University. Unable to merge with other existing institutions, IU organized a separate medical training facility in Indianapolis. In 1906 a group of IU supporters purchased the building that housed the former Central College of Physicians and Surgeons at 212 North Senate. The building became the site of the State College of Physicians and Surgeons, which offered clinical instructions to IU's third- and fourth-year medical students. State College enrolled 109 students in September 1906. In August 1907 the IU board of trustees agreed to a merger of the IU School of Medicine in Bloomington with the State College of Physicians in Indianapolis but agreed to take financial responsibility for only the school's facilities in Monroe County (Bloomington). The first two years of training continued at Bloomington and the final two years of clinical training were held at the State College site in Indianapolis, with a doctor of medicine degree conferred by Indiana University. To resolve their ongoing dispute, IU and Purdue leaders, along with their supporters, sought approval from the Indiana General Assembly to operate their own schools of medicine in Marion County. In April 1908, IU and Purdue officials reached an agreement. The resolution consolidated the medical department at IU Bloomington with the State College of Physicians and the Indiana Medical College, School of Medicine of Purdue University, at Indianapolis and retained the name of the IU School of Medicine On February 26, 1909, the state legislature formally authorized Indiana University to operate a medical school in Marion County. With the finalized agreement between IU and Purdue, the two separate medical schools in Indianapolis were consolidated, marking the second founding of the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1908. The state legislature's authorization in 1909 allowed IU to operate its own medical school in Marion County and enabled IU's medical students to complete all four years of their medical education in Indianapolis. Doctor Allison Maxwell agreed to serve as the first dean of the four-year IU School of Medicine in Indianapolis in April 1908; he remained as its dean until 1911. Maxwell led the fledgling school through a difficult time when financial budgets were an issue and the consolidation of IU's and Purdue's medical school faculties in Indianapolis and Bloomington was completed.