St. Luke's Hospital

St. Luke's Hospital was completed in February 1908 and was located on north Broadway at Eighth Avenue. The real photograph post card to the left is dated July 1909. The new hospital had a capacity of 50 beds and treated an average of 24 patients per day in its first year.

The hospital also established a nursing school in 1908. Sister Osa Oppedahl of the Deaconesses from the Norwegian Lutheran Church of Chicago was in charge of the St. Luke's School of Nursing, and nine students enrolled in the first class, of which three graduated on May 3, 1910. Early nurses are pictured in the 1914 postcard above right.

The first School of Nursing residence, a two-story frame building consisting of 20 rooms plus a bathroom, laundry and full basement was built in 1913. In 1918, a new addition was completed on the east end of the building, doubling the hospital's size. In 1921, the Fargo Clinic opens its doors just north of the hospital.

We can see all of these new buildings in the postcard to the right.

The following pictures are all from the St. Luke's Hospital Record, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1909.

Shown above are the hospital reception and dining rooms. The 1908-1909 Report lists 512 surgical cases, of which 493 were cured, 12 improved, 4 did not improve, and 3 died. The most frequent surgical procedures were appendectomies (217), and tonsillectomies and adenectomies (52). Shown below are the sterilizing and operating rooms for surgical procedures.

Shown above and below are private rooms for patients. The 1908-1909 Report states that the hospital treated 429 medical (non-surgical) patients. Of these, 306 were reported cured, 69 improved, 25 unimproved, and 29 died.