Doesn't the building on this postcard look familiar? We've all driven up
30th Street and seen St. Anthony's Hospital - now St. Anthony's Continuing
Care Center. There have been additions, but we can still see this old
building fronting 30th Street.
Right? Wrong! Although today's St. Anthony's may remind us of this
postcard photo, there's a big difference. The postcard building is long
gone and what stands today is the result of many additions and subtractions
to and from the original building over its lifetime. It was born to save
lives, but St. Anthony's grew with a life of its own.
In 1891, Father Thomas Mackin, pastor of St. Joseph's church, invited the
Franciscan Sisters of Little Falls, Minnesota to start a hospital here. At
the time, there were only inadequate private medical facilities. A hospital
that was open to the public and that would serve both Rock Island and Moline
was desperately needed.
The sisters didn't arrive until 1893, and they immediately opened their
first hospital in a 10-room brick house that was purchased from Thomas
McEniry. The property also contained 2 acres and had 175 feet of frontage
on 30th Street. The hospital was such a success that within a year it
proved too small. An addition was being constructed, but a fire burned it
to the ground before it was occupied. Undeterred and with great community
financial support, especially from their contractor Mathias Schnell, another
35 bed addition was quickly opened in 1895. That 1895 construction is the
left and center portion of the building on our postcard. It contained an
elevator and the operating room was on the top floor. The original
hospital/house was converted to a convent.
St. Anthony's quickly outgrew its new building and in 1903 another 60-bed
addition - the right section on our postcard - was completed at a cost of
$18,000. The sisters also purchased another house adjacent to their
property that they called an Old People's Home. Little changed for another
15 years - our card was postmarked 1916 - but during the influenza epidemic
of World War I, a temporary frame building was erected to accommodate
another 40 beds.
Finally, after the war ended, a very large wing was added in 1920 to the
north, which had been the site of the Old People's Home. That wing was
demolished in 1989, but the lower portions of the walls were saved and the
interior area was converted to open meeting areas and gardens. Over the
years there were other additions and changes, many of which were hidden
behind the main structure or were inside, including a chapel, laundry
facilities, and nurses dormitory.
In 1937, the 1894 part of the postcard building was demolished for a new
$225,000 addition. By the late forties, it was curtains for the 1903
addition as well, demolished when construction began for a larger 80-bed
addition to the south. That 5-story addition, which also contained
operating and delivery rooms, was not completed until late in 1953. This
marked the last significant expansion of the hospital.
At its maximum size, St. Anthony's accommodated 240 patient beds. In 1972,
the hospital operations were transferred to the new and larger Franciscan
Medical Center, now Trinity Medical Center West Campus. Once the transfer
was complete, the old hospital was converted into the Continuing Care
Center, still operated by the Franciscan Sisters, that opened in 1974.
So what do we see today when we pass St. Anthony's? The walled gardens,
that were part of the 1920 addition, the 1938 addition in the center (this
is the section with round-topped windows and recessed areas) that reminds us
of the postcard), and the 1954 south addition, which is very simple with few
windows. But there is one part of the old hospital that has not changed one
whit from the postcard - and maybe it was even there when the site was just
Thomas McEniry's house. That's the limestone retaining wall that runs next
to the sidewalk.
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