Hospital to celebrate 50th anniversary years ago
St. Luke Hospital will hold an open house Old Settlers' Day weekend in honor of its 50th anniversary.
Peggy Blackman, secretary of Marion County Hospital District No. 1, which owns the facility, is chairman of the celebration.
Plans are for the hospital to hold an open house from 3 to 6 p.m. Sept. 28 and 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 29.
This way, people can still enjoy OSD activities downtown and in the evening.
Anyone with memorabilia, paperwork, billing statements, or other items from the hospital's history is asked to loan them to Blackman for photocopying or display.
The first hospital in Marion opened in 1907. Eventually it had six private rooms, a dining room, nurse's room, operating and sterilizing rooms, two offices, and an x-ray machine.
In 1942, local officials contacted the Most Reverend Christian H. Winkelman, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Wichita. He was approached about establishing a hospital in Marion, operated by the Sister Adorers of the Most Precious Blood.
An agreement was reached, with the Sisters offering to provide 25 percent of the cost, up to $50,000, toward the new hospital. Citizens of the Marion area and eastern Marion County raised $150,000 for a 50-room hospital.
Even though the project started in the midst of World War II, the community persisted. Residents approved a $53,000 bond, the federal government offered $116,000. The total amount raised was $423,000.
The present facility opened Oct. 18, 1952. The Sisters named the hospital after St. Luke, the physician and evangelist. Oct. 18 is the feast day of St. Luke. The hospital opened with a staff of 11 Sisters, 26 beds, 10 bassinets, and two isolation units. It averaged 14 patients a day.
Due to decreases in medical staff, patients, and Sisters to operate the facility, the Sisters announced in 1967 they would leave the facility June 1, 1968.
Marion County Hospital District No. 1 was formed to buy the hospital. The sum of $117,754 was paid over 10 years with no interest. Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society was hired to provide administrative support.
A clinic was built in 1981, and other expansion projects took place in the 1980s and 1990s.
