St. Luke’s Hospital is shown under construction in 1915. This building was recently torn down. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — Last week’s article told the history of the first large hospitals built in Marquett, St. Mary’s and St. Luke’s. Both were established in the 1890s. In the early 20th century, due to an increase in population and continued advancements in medicine, both hospitals expanded and updated their facilities.

St. Mary’s built a new wing in 1905 adding 31 beds and an emergency operating room with an ambulance entrance.  A hospital-wide communication system and a steam sterilizer were also installed and the operating room on the third floor received an up-to-date sanitation system.   

St. Luke’s built a much larger, modern hospital on land donated by Marquette philanthropist John M. Longyear, opening in 1915. Located on the north side of town, on Hebard Court, between what is now College Avenue and Magnetic Street, it was near Northern Normal School (Northern Michigan University). 

The new hospital was a 3-story structure with 50-60 beds. A new call light system connected patient rooms to nursing stations. To better meet the nutritional needs of patients, each floor had a diet kitchen linked to the main kitchen by a dumb waiter, allowing food to reach the patients while still hot.  The first floor had wards, including one for children. The two upper floors were almost entirely private rooms, nursing quarters, and operating rooms. Each hospital also installed electric lights and elevators. Prior to the installation of elevators, patients were carried to the upper floors.

World War II postponed the building of a modern facility for St. Mary’s. After finally securing funding in the early ’50s, the project moved forward. The original building was demolished, and a new hospital constructed, which today houses the Jacobetti Veterans Home. The hospital opened in 1955 and in the mid-1960s it expanded to offer the first psychiatric unit and rehabilitation facility in the Upper Peninsula.  

Throughout the 20th century, medical advances led to new specialized areas of medicine, such as cardiology and pulmonology. In the 1960s, area physicians such as Dr. K. Charles Wright realized the necessity of recruiting specialists to Marquette. However, attracting physicians to the area proved difficult.

Initially, local doctors, regardless of specialty, met to determine if the community could support a specialist in a field. If yes, they would work together recruiting candidates. Including all the physicians in the process was helpful. Dr. Eric Linke, a general surgeon, was interested in practicing with Dr. Matthew Bennett. But he had questions about family life in Marquette compared to Rochester, New York, where he was from. Persuaded by discussions with two fellow New Yorkers, Dr. Boyd Bolitho, radiologist, and Dr. Fred Sabin, ophthalmologist, he later noted, “These were very key interviews that I had and were the things that influenced us to finally lay down our roots.”

These incoming physicians, many in private practice, were excited at the possibility to branch out and become a regional medical center. But specialized medicine was expensive, requiring specific medical equipment, and creating more fiscal problems for hospitals which were competing for patients and struggling financially.

There was duplication of everything, from the nursing staff to administrative departments, but there weren’t enough patients to support two hospitals. As a small community, trustees and hospital administrators from both hospitals knew each other. Discussions began behind the scenes about the need for a merger. But the merger created many challenges and would take time. Oral histories with physicians, hospital trustees, and other personnel involved in the merger are located on the Center for Upper Peninsula Studies website.

William Nemacheck, who started at St. Luke’s in 1970 and was later CEO at MGH, mentioned that purchasing St. Mary’s from the Third Order of St. Francis took time. The Sisters had built and managed St. Mary’s since it began in 1891 and were reluctant to sell or merge.

One component that combined ahead of other areas was the medical staff. Dr. Donald Elzinga reported there were discussions amongst the doctors about merging the two hospital medical staffs. They felt the move would allow them to have an impact on molding a new system. So, the physicians organized themselves as one unit and appointed Dr. Elzinga chief of staff.

The new medical staff presented a potential issue for the hospitals regarding accreditation. Dr. Elzinga explained, “While I was chief, we had the accreditation committee send an inspector to see if both hospitals would pass. He looked at St. Luke’s on a Friday and was quite disturbed to find that we had a combined medical staff.” No where in his guidelines did it indicate this was legal. Concerned the hospitals would not be accredited, Elzinga cajoled the gentleman and his wife into joining him and his family for a weekend of fishing at his camp. “Well, he came to St. Mary’s on Monday in a much better mood. We ended up passing the inspection at both hospitals.” Some individuals felt physicians taking this first step provided an impetus for the merger.

James Richard was Business Manager at St. Mary’s when the merger occurred. He indicated that the executive committees of the medical staff and both hospital boards sat down for discussions. “They started to talk about, wouldn’t it be smart to put together one hospital. Stop the competition and see if we can’t be more financially sound.” They hired an accounting firm to conduct a feasibility study. “That started the ball rolling and as I recall there wasn’t a long-time span between when the feasibility study was done, and the hospitals were actually merged.” On July 1, 1973, the two facilities that had served the community for over 70 years merged, officially becoming Marquette General Hospital.