St. Francis Hospital is a former Catholic hospital which operated in New York City during the 19th and 20th centuries.

St. Francis Hospital
Poor Sisters of St. Francis
St. Francis Hospital (New York City) is located in New York City
St. Francis Hospital (New York City)
Location in The Bronx shown within New York City
Geography
Location
, New York City, New York, United States
Coordinates40°48′38″N 73°55′02″W / 40.810448°N 73.917139°W / 40.810448; -73.917139
Services
Beds240 in 1892,[1] 380 in 1966[2]
History
OpenedMay 1, 1865; 159 years ago (1865-05-01)
Closed1966; 58 years ago (1966)
Links
ListsHospitals in New York State
Other links

History

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St. Francis Hospital c. 1870

It was founded in 1865 by the Poor Sisters of St. Francis, who had been founded in Germany in 1851 by Mother Frances Schervier.[3]

In the late 19th century[4] and early 20th century[5] it was located at 407-409 East 5th Street, Manhattan, where it served the large German immigrant population of the Lower East Side. In 1892 it had 240 beds.[1] In 1906 the hospital moved to 525 East 142nd Street, in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx, also largely populated by German immigrants.[6]

The hospital provided free care to all comers without respect to nationality or religion.[7] Faced with a crumbling infrastructure, for which there were not sufficient funds to replace, the hospital was closed by the Archdiocese of New York on December 31, 1966, amidst wide popular protest.[8][2]


In 1970, a 17-story New York City Housing complex was built on the site.

References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b Kobbé, Gustav (1892). New York and Its Environs. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 61. OCLC 7570781.
  2. ^ a b Tolchin, Martin (November 2, 1966). "Hospital in Bronx Ordered Closed". The New York Times. p. 54. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  3. ^ "St. Francis Hospital's Work". The New York Times. March 5, 1884. p. 8. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  4. ^ "Work of St. Francis's Hospital". The New York Times. April 1, 1889. p. 8. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
  5. ^ Koren, John; United States Bureau of the Census (1905). Benevolent Institutions 1904. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office. OCLC 3638187.
  6. ^ "St Francis Hospital". New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
  7. ^ Appleton's Dictionary of Greater New York and Its Vicinity: With Maps of New York and its Environs: an Alphabetically Arranged Descriptive Index and Guide to Places, Institutions, Societies, Amusements, Resorts, Etc., in and About the City of New York (14th ed.). New York: D. Appleton and Company Publishers. 1892. p. 128. OCLC 154728261.
  8. ^ Clark, Alfred E. (June 4, 1985). "St. Francis Hospital Sadly Waits For End of 100-Year Existence". The New York Times. p. 22. Retrieved September 27, 2015.

Source