Saint Joseph Hospital, 1877-Present

Saint Joseph Infirmary, now Saint Joseph’s Hospital, is Lexington’s earliest and longest continuously operating hospital. Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in 1877 at the invitation of Father Henry Bekkers, the pastor of St. Paul Church, Saint Joseph has operated at three different locations in Lexington. The hospital started with six patients, only one with the ability to pay, and expanded rapidly before settling onto the current Harrodsburg Road site.

Saint Joseph Hospital, Lexington, KY. 1930. Ronald Morgan Kentucky Postcard Collection. Kentucky Historical Society. http://www.kyhistory.com/cdm/ref/collection/Morgan/id/3587

The Sisters of Charity had a long history in medical charity even prior to their foray into founding the Lexington hospital. The order began in 1812 near Bardstown, KY, and its Sisters assisted as nurses during Kentucky’s 1830s cholera epidemic and were responsible for founding Louisville, KY’s St. Vincent Orphanage. By 1852, the Sisters had already founded Saint Joseph Hospital in Louisville. Father Henry Bekkers recognized the expertise the Sisters could provide and encouraged them as early as 1873 to join him in establishing a hospital in Lexington. Realizing that support for the hospital was limited, the sisters turned the offer down, leading Bekkers to partner with the Sisters of Mercy from St. Louis who operated the Lexington hospital from 1874 to 1877. When the Sisters of Mercy ended their partnership, Bekkers once again appealed to the Sisters of Charity, who accepted.
The hospital began on the corner of Rose and Maxwell Streets on what is now Linden Walk. The operation had modest beginnings, with only twelve bedrooms, six patients, and six Sisters. The original Sisters served the hospital for several years and each offered unique services to the organization. Sister Bonaventura O’Toole cared for elderly men at the facility. Sister Jovita Mullen dispensed drugs and ran the chapel. Sister Gonzaga O’Keefe specifically dealt with patients suffering from railroad construction related injuries. Sister Florida Yopp managed the women’s ward. Sister Euphrasia Stafford lead the others and served as the first administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital during its first 40 years of operation. It was soon after taking over the Rose and Maxwell location that the Sisters looked to expand into a larger space and moved to Second Street in 1878 (this location was demolished in 1966).

Early recollections of the hospital describe the common occurrence of surgeries taking place on the front lawn by lantern light with the patient laid across a piece of wood supported by two barrels. Early records also recall financial difficulties and the frequent support the hospital received from community members and religious groups. Those same accounts also reflect a growing operation. The Sisters would add various expansions, including a wing specifically for railroad employees in 1886. By 1891 and 1892, the Sisters expanded their landholdings.

Eventually hospital expansions included a surgery facility within the building,where Dr. Matthew Scott and Dr. John E. Hunter performed the first successful surgery for perforated intestines. Dr. Hunter’s accolades went beyond surgery. He was the first African American surgeon at the facility and would practice medicine in Lexington for 63 years before retiring in 1952. By 1911, Saint Joseph would employ most of the seven African American physicians in Lexington at the site.

By 1918, the Sisters established the Nazareth School of Nursing and developed a reputation in the region for the quality of nursing education students received there. The first class graduated in 1921. By 1926, the facility was accredited for interns, marking the beginnings of Saint Joseph as a teaching facility.

Nurses’ Graduation, Saint Joseph Hospital, 544 West Second Street. Lafayette Studios, c. 1930s. University of Kentucky. http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_6004_1/details.

Although a fire in 1929 devastated the hospital, they soon recovered and rebuilt.  In 1932, the hospital established a clinical laboratory for training technicians.  In 1947, they opened the second cancer clinic in Lexington. As they continued to grow, in 1945 they purchased High Oaks Sanatorium on Harrodsburg Road. They renamed the facility Our Lady of the Oaks and operated it as a psychiatric hospital for women until, in 1959, all St. Joseph operations began to move to that site.

Saint Joseph Hospital Doctors, 544 West Second Street. Lafayette Studios, c. 1930s. University of Kentucky. http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_4240_1.

Saint Joseph has continued to operate on the site established in 1959 to this day. After a merger in 2012, Saint Joseph became a part of KentuckyOne Health. The growth of the hospital has been exponential. From the 1877 hospital’s modest 12 rooms and six patients, the current facility has 433 beds and has grown into a nationally recognized provider.

References:

Burnett, Pat. “St. Joseph Hospital Continues to Expand After Serving Community for 70 Years.” Lexington Herald-Leader November 16, 1947. http://media.kentucky.com/static/images/St.%20Joes%20page.pdf.

Krumpelmann, Frances. A Story of Saint Joseph Hospital, Lexington, Kentucky: The First 120 Years, 1877-1997  (Saint Joseph Hospital: Lexington, KY, 1998).

“John E. Hunter.” Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. University of Kentucky Libraries. http://nkaa.uky.edu/record.php?note_id=816.

“About Us.” Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. https://scnfamily.org/about-us/.

Featured Image Credit:

Saint Joseph Hospital Exterior, 544 West Second (2nd) Street. Lafayette Studios, c. 1930s. University of Kentucky. http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_6004_1/details