St. Mary’s Hospital is viewed from the south in the 1890s. It was located near the site of the current Jacobetti Veterans’ Home in Marquette. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — As the old Marquette General Hospital is dismantled, a history of how it was formed comes to mind. It began in the 1890’s, when two hospitals, St. Mary’s and St. Luke’s, were built in Marquette. 

Early large city hospitals housed patients who could not afford to be treated at home. There were no treatment plans or effective medical equipment and a lack of regulations in sanitation created an unhealthy environment. After the U.S. Civil War, concern for germs and the threat of infection led to a movement to build hospitals utilizing the newest advances in medicine to provide a sanitary environment. 

This began with constructing hospitals with airy, less congested rooms, large windows, and the installation of clean heating and ventilation systems.  Modern medical devices, such as sterilization equipment, were purchased; professional staff, from kitchen workers to the hospital administrators, were hired and trained in hygiene.  These advances in hospital care influenced the construction of Marquette’s new facilities.

The first large hospital built in Marquette was St. Mary’s. Surgeon Dr. A. K. Thiell, with the assistance of Bishop Vertin of the Marquette Catholic Diocese, is credited with recruiting the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, from Peoria, Illinois, in 1890 to build and manage the hospital.  The Sisters of St. Francis had already built and were managing five hospitals in the Midwest, including St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba.  

St. Mary’s was to be a charitable institution.  With health insurance not readily available until the 20th century, revenue was secured through a ‘pay as able’ system and donations.  The Sisters traveled to lumber camps, mines, railroads, and mills by horse and buggy to sell workers prepaid tickets for medical care, which was a standard practice.  

The Mining Journal reported in 1890, “The hospital would be a high-quality institution handling all cases in the best possible manner.” The Order, which trained sisters to be nurses and supervisors, staffed the hospital. The superintendent of the Marquette hospital was Sister Collett.

Dr. Thiell was the surgeon-in-chief. He previously ran the emergency hospital on Rock Street. He was described as a charitable man and a renowned surgeon who specialized in patients with serious work-related injuries.

While the hospital was being built, St. Mary’s opened in a few homes on Fifth Street, receiving its first patient on October 4, 1890. The new facility opened on the anniversary of that date in 1891. It was located near the site of the current Jacobetti Veterans’ Home, overlooking Lake Superior.  

It had 3 floors with a basement that housed the kitchen.  The first two floors had wards and a few private rooms for a total of 50 beds. Patient rooms were airy, some with private baths, and all benefited from state-of-the-art ventilating flues.  The 3rd floor housed the operating room, which had the best system for discarding waste from surgeries and provided a sterilization room.

Physicians from across the UP brought patients for treatment and consulted with Dr. Thiell. Other medical personnel on staff included an oculist (eye doctor), a dentist and the US Marine surgeon. Dr. Thiell made decisions about the hospital’s medical needs. 

The second large hospital in Marquette was St. Luke’s.  In 1897, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, looking for a charitable endeavor, purchased Marquette City Hospital, renaming it St. Luke’s.   

Marquette City Hospital had been founded a year earlier by nine physicians. It was located temporarily in a home on East Prospect Street. Soon after the hospital outgrew the space and relocated to a home on the corner of Front and Ridge Street, where Peter White Library is now located.   

In a Mining Journal article published July 18, 1896, the ‘Statement of the Staff’ of Marquette City Hospital reported it did not want to offend any other hospital or religion, but it was necessary for doctors to have access to a well-equipped hospital, with the freedom to treat their patients without interference from a physician who was in sole charge of an institution. They wanted a hospital where doctors could consult with each other on patients. They appeared to want a hospital system different from St. Mary’s.

St. Luke’s Hospital was staffed with many of the physicians who established its predecessor. It opened with a philosophy to treat all patients in a non-sectarian manner and funded the hospital through paying patients and donations.  Like St. Mary’s, a ticket system to prepay for medical care was also implemented.

Endowments for beds and rooms provided funding for charity patient care.  Many endowments came from people with links to early Marquette, like Amos Harlow’s daughter Ellen Clark who arrived in Marquette with her parents in 1849. She donated a new X-ray machine in 1899 in the name of her parents. 

When Marquette City Hospital became St. Luke’s, additional space was needed for patients. With funds raised by the church and the sale of land donated by St. Paul’s trustee Peter White, a hospital moved around the corner to a still larger home on Ridge Street with room for expansion, the site is now part of the Peter White Library parking lot. G. Mott Williams, the Episcopal Bishop, took the lead and secured donations to purchase new medical equipment.  

St. Luke’s new facility and equipment were highlighted in the Mining Journal.  The hospital announced the purchase of a modern operating table, sterilizer, top of the line ventilation, and germ proof plumbing.    

Next week’s article will tell the 20th century history of these hospitals and their merger.