St. Paul Hospital and School of Nursing History exhibit now in Library

An exhibit of photos and artifacts illustrating the history of the University Hospital—St. Paul is now on display in the South Campus (main) Library. The photos range in date from the early 1900s through about 1975.

St. Paul began in 1896 in a frame cottage on Hall Street that was both a 10-bed hospital and home to a few Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul sisters. From this modest beginning, St. Paul grew rapidly. In 1898, a new 110-bed hospital building opened on Bryan Street, and substantial additions were made in 1916 and 1952. A School of Nursing was begun in 1900, and would operate until 1971. In 1964, St. Paul moved to a new state-of-the-art building on Harry Hines Blvd., where it remains today. These milestones are all reflected in the photographs on display.

A humorous, illustrated essay from 1923 titled “Evolution of a Uniform: 1903-1913-1923” is included in the exhibit and traces the radical changes in nurses uniforms over that twenty-year period.

The exhibit will be on display for at least two months.