Before Atrium, there was St. Peter's Hospital
April 3, 2020
In 1875, St. Peter’s Hospital, the first non-military hospital in North Carolina, was founded to serve the underprivileged Charlotte community.
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 1910
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church formed the Church Aid Society after an inspiring message by Reverend Benjamin Bronson on taking care of the underprivileged and sick in Charlotte’s community. Patients were first treated at the church, but Jane Wilkes and other Church Aid Society women recognized the need for a hospital setting to better serve their patients.
St. Peter’s underwent several location changes and renovations in its operation. In 1875-1876, the hospital rented two rooms in Mr. Ferdinand Kuester’s home on East Seventh Street between College Street and the North Carolina Railroad. While serving patients at this location, St. Peter’s Hospital came to be known as the Charlotte Home and Hospital, which only served white patients (Jane Wilkes later aided in the fundraising and founding of Good Samaritan Hospital in 1892 to serve the black community).
In 1877, a single story, four-bedroom permanent facility was built on the corner of Sixth and Popular Streets. In 1907, the facility expanded to twenty-one rooms, five baths, seven closets and several storage rooms. By 1899, Charlotte Home and Hospital returned to its original name, St. Peter’s Hospital, after the organization amended its charter.
Donations from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church board members and their belief in strengthening Charlotte’s healthcare system enabled the hospital to stay open as their services rapidly expanded. The success of the hospital soon attracted people as far away as New Hampshire and Alabama.
Charlotte Memorial Hospital, 1940
With many patients visiting from other states, St. Peter’s eventually expanded to the edges of its property lot in 1935. Five years later, the hospital moved to Memorial Hospital due , in part, to the trustees of St. Peter's Hospital, who worked to form the new medical facility. Today, it is known as Atrium Health (formerly named Carolinas Medical Center).
St. Peter’s Hospital served patients in the Charlotte community for 60 years and became one of the most recognizable hospitals in the southeast. After much expansion and growth over the years, the hospital is now known as the Carolinas Medical Center.
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Sources
Houser, Jeffrey. St. Peter’s Hospital, Charlotte’s First Civilian Hospital. Charlotte Museum of History. Accessed March 2020. https://charlottemuseum.org/st-peters-hospital-charlottes-first-civilian-hospital/
Photos courtesy of the Robinson-Spangler Carolina Room, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
St. Peter’s Hospital. CMStory.org. Accessed March 2020. https://www.cmstory.org/exhibits/turn-20th-century-life-charlotte-1900-1910-medicine/st-peters-hospital