The Chester Hospital at 9th and Barclay Sts.[200 block of West 9th St] about 1925. Today the Chester High School is on the location. The hospital was incorporated in 1883 and officially opened on January 1, 1893. The Chester Hospital and Crozer Hospital merged on June 1, 1963 and the Chester Hospital closed on June 27, 1966.
Note: A hundred plus years ago hospitals were started by philanthropists who put their own money up along with other people businessmen etc.who contributed. Hospitals like Taylor and Fitzgerald Mercy were started by individuals who gave their money to benefit their community. Below is an article that gives some idea of the people who helped the original hospital get started. Special thanks to Shelley Ashfield, Chester Historian for her help.
CHESTER TIMES – May 17, 1923
EARLY HISTORY OF THE CHESTER HOSPITAL PLAN
Origin of the Institution of Today and Its Rapid Development
No more comprehensive idea of what it
means to bring about a complete institution for the alleviation of the
sufferings of humanity could be forced upon the mind, than a picture of what it
implies, visualized by the eye and further imprinted in words, expressed by
those who followed every avenue of endeavor, from its inception to its final consummation
of greatness and importance, such as surrounds the Chester Hospital.
While a detailed description of the
new additions to the Chester Hospital appeared in last Thursday’s issue, it
will also be in order to briefly outline some of the older achievements of that
institution in the way of buildings and equipment and management.
When the hospital first opened its
doors to the public in 1893, the event was looked upon as a step forward in
city life and public need. There was not
money enough available then to provide equipment in surgery, nor was there a
nurses’ home, a maternity building or even a ward for the reception of
children.
As time went on, however, local
philanthropists opened their hears and their purse strings more liberally, so
that today the Chester Hospital ranks with the best hospital institutions of
the State.
Nothing is more pronounced than the
surgical pavilion provided through the kindness and generosity of the sons of
the late Margaret A. Houston. On the
wall of the corridor hangs a bronze tablet which tells its own meaning in words
most commendable. It reads:
“As a memorial to their beloved
mother, Margaret A. Houston, whose loving care and wisdom has been their
guidance through life, this building is affectionately dedicated and presented
to the Chester Hospital by her sons, H.H. Houston and T. E. Houston. Anno Domini, One Thousand One Hundred and
Nineteen.”
It was through the kindness of Dr. S.
P. Gray, one of the Chester Hospital staff, and also a city commissioner, that a
Times representative was shown over the old portion of the hospital on Saturday
afternoon last, and what he observed reflected much to the credit of those who
stood by this worthy institution in its struggle for existence and successful
advancement.
THE SURGICAL DEPARTMENT – In the
Houston Memorial division of the hospital was seen everything that goes to make
up a truly complete surgical department.
Money was not spared, nor was there any lack of judgment in the selection
of appliances.
Besides the general surgical features
of a kind only to be found in the most modern of institutions, there is an eye
clinic. A room is also set aside where
the nurses prepare and keep in stock bandages and the like. In another department are to be found a row
of steel lockers in which are kept chemically treated linen gowns worn by the
surgeons. A sterilizing room of the most
modern plans and an air on the opposite side of the corridor care with which
the surgeons perform their delicate task.
The several operating rooms imply that the best known to science are
being provided. An amphitheater
overlooking the main operating room affords friends and relatives an
opportunity to witness a surgical operation in action.
In the basement of the same building
there is the receiving ward, and here is also the accident operating room. A most costly fitted up X-Ray room is here
also to be found, while on the opposite side of the corridor there is an
electrical cooled morgue, planned to accommodate four bodies. While this is a necessary adjunct to every
first-class hospital, the one at the Chester institution is not often called
into use.
Next visited was the “Children’s
Ward.” This is also a department which
owes its existence to the beneficence of the Houston family, for it was Mrs.
Margaret Houston, in whose honor the surgical pavilion, above described, was
brought about, who established the children’s ward as a memorial to her
husband, Charles B. Houston in 1912, a bronze tablet telling the story in words
endearing.
Two floors also constitute this
portion of the institution. The first
floor contains a reception room, and also a room for dressing, weighing and
measuring the “kiddies.” While here was
observed a white nurse dolling up a little “pickininny,” not much bigger than a
stick of licorice and just as black.
Incidentally it may be said that there are also colored nurses at the
institution who conform very well to the duties devolving upon them. In as room on the second floor surgical cases
are treated. Here are also two rooms for
girls in their teens, who may require quietness as an essential feature of
recovery.
The room on the first floor is used
for “incubator” cases. Here it is that
little weaklings are mothered most tenderly in the most scientific manner.
NURSES’ HOME – The Nurses’ Home is
another building which could not be dispensed with. This, with all its furnishings, was the gift
of the late Mrs. J. Frank Black, who for nearly three decades was the president
of the Board of Managers. As the
hospital grew in importance, the Nurses’ Home was enlarged, until today it
compares most favorably in size and importance to those of a like kind in
larger cities.
It would be an unpardonable error to
not mention the maternity branch of the Chester Hospital. This building will accommodate as many as
twenty confinement cases. Part of the
building is given over to private wards.
It is also a two-story building and provides every comfort and that when
in 1982 the Chester Hospital was first made a reality, the building was then
not more than one-tenth in floor space compared with the institution
today. However, it was then looked upon
as a fine exhibition of civic pride and a very acceptable indication of a
progressive community.
It may be recalled that the inner
walls of the first portion of the Chester Hospital are of adamant plaster. This was the product of the then Keystone
Plaster Company. Each concern was
located about a foot of Jeffrey Street and for many years proved a valuable
industrial enterprise to Chester.
J. C. Fender was the manager of the
plant, and was also vice-president of the company. He had a rather excitable temper, yet was a
good citizen and a man of much importance in the community. The Chester Hospital job was the first local
contract where adamant plaster had been specified Frank Sheppard, years since
dead, had the contract for the plastering work.
Somehow the patented product did not work so well. Being of a quick-setting nature, the plaster
was, therefore, had to handle and plasterers had never had any experience in
handling it up to that time.
As a result some of the work did not
show up well and was condemned by the architect. It was not condemned because of the material
being inferior, but was condemned by the architect. It was not condemned because of the material
being inferior, but was condemned because of the manner in which it was laid
on.
One morning Mr. Fender gave a real
exhibition of how to treat what he styled, “the misuse of a good thing.” Entering one of the rooms of the hospital
where imperfection of workmanship was to him the most pronounced, he picked up
a 3x4 piece of timber and rammed it into the new plaster at several
points. This he knew would ensure the
work being done over. The act also
caused a law suit which brought out many entangling features in the court.
In continuing the Times’ file much of
interest relating to the early trials of the Chester Hospital was found. In the latter end of December 1892, the
Board of Managers took time by the forelock and selected the staffs of doctors
who were to start the institution off on its mission of mercy. The first thing done in that direction was,
as above stated, to appoint the physicians who would soon be called upon to
render their services. Accordingly the
following were appointed:
Surgical Staff – Drs. J. L. Forwood,
D. W. Jefferis, W. W. Johnson, William B. Ulrich, George D. Cross, John
Cardeza, Sr., E. K. Mott, W. Knowles Evans, V. C. Roberts, Jr., M. B. Ward, D.
W. deLannoy, Frank J. Evans,
Medical Staff – Drs. F. F. Long, W. F.
Lehman, S. R. Crothers, R. S. Maison, Hannah Price, Ellen E. Brown, F. R.
Graham, Fred Evans, H. H. von Stoever, Howard S. Swayne, John Cardeza, Jr.
These met at the home of Mrs. J. Frank
Black on the afternoon of December 19, 1892, for consultation.
At a meeting of the Board of Managers,
held on December 30, “Dr. William B. Ulrich, the oldest practitioner of
medicine in the city, was appointed consulting surgeon and chief of the
surgical department.
“Dr. D. W. Jefferis was elected
consulting physician and chief of the medical department, and the following
named physicians to serve according to assignment either in one department or
the other; Drs. Long, Graham, Stoever, Hannah J. Price, Ward, Lehman, Ellen E.
Brown, W. Knowles Evans, Swayne, Crothers, Maison, Cross.
“On Monday, January 2, the hospital
will be open for the reception of patients, according to the rule governing all
institutions of this kind, all patients, except accident cases, must apply for
admission through the Executive Committee, who, with the physician in charge,
decide upon their claims to the benefit of hospital treatment. All accident cases, within twenty-four hours
after accident, are received without any preliminary application. No chronic cases are received.
“Only a few of the rooms are
furnished, as yet, but more will be soon, through the generosity of societies,
churches and individuals. Donations of
all kinds, groceries provisions, dry goods, coal, etc. are earnestly
solicited. With this elegant building
thoroughly furnished and the benevolence of our city flowing into it, Chester
will soon have and indeed has now, one of the noblest and most substantial
charities of any city in the State. We
rejoice in the fact, and to one and all we say, lend a hand.”
It appears that the hospital was
opened for the reception of patients on Saturday, December 31, 1892. The first patient, as stated in the Times on
Monday, January 2, 1893, was William Berkheimer, 218 Wilson Street, who was
suffering from a broken thigh received at the Wellman Rolling Mills. Before entering the institution, he had been
attended by Dr. S. R. Crothers. The
police patrol was used to convey him to the hospital, where he was placed under
the care of Dr. Francis F. Forwood, then the resident physician.
In the same article it is stated:
“A telephone is badly needed at the
hospital….A telephone is indispensable, and it is probable if the telephone
company does not take the hint and install one free, one will be raised by
popular subscription.”
LIST OF INCORPORATORS – The
incorporators of the Chester Hospital were:
Drs. Julia H. Barton, Mrs. Kate W. Hinkson, Mrs. Emma S. Crozer, Miss
Sadie Blockley, Samuel Riddle, Samuel M. Riddle, Charles Roberts, Mrs. Mary D. Coates,
Rev. James Timmins, Mrs. Emma W. Leiper, David Trainer, Harry C. Snowden, Thomas
Simpson, Geoffrey Denis, Rev. P. H. Mowry, Mrs. Clara E. Ward, Thomas J.
Houston, Mrs. Mary F. Kenney, John B. Rhodes, Rev. William J. Paxson, John
Larkin, Jr., Samuel A. Dyer, Mrs. Susan H. McKeever, Mrs. Jennie E. Price, David
S. Bunting, Samuel A. Crozer, William H. Miller, Joseph Deering, Mrs. Sarah B.
Flitcraft, Mrs. Anna M. Broomall, Mrs. Annie Cochran, Hugh Shaw, Rev. Henry
Brown, John M. Broomall, Rev. A.G. Thomas, John B. Roach. Mrs. Sue C. Black, D.
Reese Esrey, John O. Deshong, Adam C. Eckfeldt, Rev. Thomas McGlynn and Spencer
McIlvain.
On the above number twenty-four were
chosen as directors for the first year, while the following officers were
elected when the directors organized:
Mrs. Julia H. Barton, president; Rev.
P. H. Mowry, vice-president; Mrs. Sarah B. Flitcrtaft, recording secretary;
Mrs. Mary D. Coates, corresponding secretary; Samuel A. Dyer, treasurer. The above-named officers, besides the
following named persons, constituted the Board of Managers: Mrs. James Barton, Jr., Mrs. Kate W. Hinkson,
Mrs. Annie E. Cochran, Hugh Shaw, Rev. P. H. Mowry, Mrs. Anna M. Broomall, Rev.
James Timmins, John Larkin, Jr., Mrs. Mary D. Coates, Mrs. Jennie E. Price,
David S. Bunting and D. Reese Esrey.
The charter was approved by Judge Thomas Clayton, October 1, 1883, while the hospital was not built and ready for occupancy until ten years later.
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