St. Agnes Hospital (Raleigh, North Carolina) facts for kids
St. Agnes Hospital was a special hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. It was open from 1896 to 1961. This hospital was very important because it provided medical care for the city's Black residents. At that time, there were not many places where Black people could get good medical help.
The hospital and a nursing school were started by Aaron Burris Hunter and Sarah Hunter. They were teachers at St. Augustine's College. They saw that Black residents in Raleigh had very few choices for healthcare. St. Agnes Hospital first operated out of an old house on the college campus. Later, in 1909, it moved into a new, large stone building.
St. Agnes Hospital relied a lot on donations from people and groups. It often struggled to get enough money to run. Many patients could not pay for their care, so the hospital helped them for free. Over the years, the hospital trained many doctors and about 500 nurses. It was recognized by important medical groups like the American Medical Association.
By the mid-1950s, the hospital found it hard to pay for new medical equipment and meet stricter rules for hospitals. The main hospital building was later found to be unsafe in 1955. St. Agnes Hospital closed in April 1961. This happened because Wake County opened a new public hospital that treated both Black and white patients. The old St. Agnes Hospital building became ruins, but it was named a local historic landmark in 1979.
How St. Agnes Hospital Started
In 1867, Reverend Aaron Burris Hunter and his wife Sarah moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. They came to teach at St. Augustine's College. This college was an Episcopal school created for Black freedmen and women after the American Civil War.
As the college grew, the Hunters became worried. They saw that Black patients in Raleigh did not have enough medical care. So, they asked for help to build a hospital. Two donors, the Episcopal Church Women and I. L. Collins, gave $1,100 to start the hospital. This money helped make their dream a reality.
The Hospital's History
St. Agnes Hospital and Training School for Colored Nurses opened on October 18, 1896. It was in an empty house on the campus of St. Augustine's College. This building also served as a home for the nurses.
When St. Agnes opened, there were only a few other options for Black residents in Raleigh. These included a small part of Rex Hospital and Leonard Hospital at Shaw University, which was only open part of the year. Sarah Hunter became the hospital's first leader. Dr. Lawson A. Scruggs was the first doctor to treat patients there.
The hospital welcomed its first patient a week after opening. Within six months, it had cared for 51 people. Its staff also visited 223 people in their homes to provide care. The first surgery happened on April 6, 1897. The nursing school celebrated its first two graduates on April 21 the next year.
Around 1900, two white doctors, Hubert Royster and Catherine Hayden, took charge of St. Agnes. In 1903, the hospital added more rooms, including an operating room and a kitchen. A fire in 1904 led to the decision to build a new hospital. Students from St. Augustine's helped a lot with the construction. They even dug up the stone for the new four-story building. It cost about $15,000 to build.
On February 1, 1909, another fire broke out on the third floor of the original hospital building. It was caused by a faulty stove. The fire caused about $1,000 in damage. The Raleigh Fire Department put out the fire. Hospital staff safely moved their 20 patients to temporary places.
The new hospital building opened in June 1909. It had modern features like electricity and running water. It could hold 75 beds and also housed the nursing school. The nurses lived in the old building until 1930. Then, new brick housing was built for them. The original building then became office space.
After the new St. Agnes building opened, Rex Hospital stopped treating Black patients. In 1916, Shaw University closed Leonard Hospital. This meant St. Agnes was the only hospital in Raleigh that served Black patients. During the 1918 flu pandemic, St. Agnes nurses ran an emergency hospital to help flu patients.
On December 17, 1926, the St. Agnes Hospital building was badly damaged by another fire. Patients had to move to McCauley Private Hospital. People started a fundraising campaign to fix the building. By 1941, St. Agnes had 100 beds. During World War II, the nursing school joined the Cadet Nurse Corps. This program helped the hospital get money from the government for improvements.
The hospital often struggled to get enough money to run. This was especially true because many patients received free care. During the Great Depression, donations and student numbers at the nursing school went down. More patients also could not pay their medical bills. In 1947, the hospital had a $27,000 debt because of so many charity patients.
In 1949, the city of Raleigh agreed to pay the hospital $4.50 per day for each charity patient. Besides the city, the hospital also received donations from groups like the Duke Endowment and the Rosenwald Fund. The hospital also got support from the white community in Raleigh. For example, during a fundraising drive in 1922, they received money from a local rotary club and a newspaper publisher.
Between 1932 and 1954, about 80 doctors were trained at St. Agnes Hospital. The hospital was recognized for training doctors in different areas like surgery and women's health. Nursing students took classes at St. Augustine's. By 1950, they also went to other hospitals for special training. The nursing school was known for its high standards and often received top grades. The school closed in 1959, after training around 500 nurses.
In 1956, St. Agnes cared for about 80 patients each day. By this time, the hospital found it very hard to pay for new medical advances and meet strict hospital rules. Donors could not give enough money to update the facilities. Only half of the patients could pay for their own care.
In 1955, Wake County voters approved a plan to build the county's first public hospital. This new hospital would have separate areas for white and Black patients. In the same year, an inspection team said the St. Agnes Hospital building was unsafe. They called it "a disgrace." In 1959, an expert said the hospital could not be fixed or made bigger. St. Agnes Hospital closed on April 27, 1961. All its remaining patients were moved to the new Wake Memorial Hospital.
Site Ruins
After the hospital closed, its land and four buildings went to St. Augustine's College. The college used one of the nurse dorms for women students. The main hospital building slowly fell into ruins. Its inside parts, like the floors, were removed. In 1979, it was named a Raleigh Historic Landmark. In recent years, people have tried to find ways to save the building. St. Augustine's even put in steel beams to help keep the stone walls stable. In 2022, a study was funded to see if the ruins could be saved or rebuilt.
