The Lost Woman's Hospital - 113-141 West 109th Street

 photograph by Wurts Bros. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

J. Marion Sims was born in South Carolina in 1813.  In the 1840s, he focused on women's conditions and in 1849 successfully developed a procedure to close vesicovaginal fistulas.  In 1853, Sims moved his family to New York City where he hoped to establish a hospital to treat women patients.  An announcement in The New York Herald on May 18, 1854 noted he would speak at a "Lecture on the necessity of organizing a great hospital in this city for the diseases peculiar to females."

Sims faced an uphill battle.  Although respected physicians like Valentine Mott endorsed his cause, wealthy donors "of the sterner sex," as described by The New York Times, balked.  Sims wrote, "I was called a quack and a humbug, and the hospital was pronounced a fraud."

But the millionaires' wives rallied behind The Woman's Hospital, as did The New York Times.  Pointing out on February 7, 1855 that there was no such facility in the nation, the newspaper stressed, "There are hundreds in our midst of poor women, who, for the lack of a few weeks' skillful surgical treatment, are day by day sinking into incurable state of disease...For the sake of science, such an institution is demanded here.  This class of diseases is little known, for it is little studied, and hence comes a great amount of suffering which ought to be avoided."  The first American hospital dedicated to women was opened in New York later that same year.

Originally functioning from a former rowhouse, in 1858 the City of New York offered Sims the block between Lexington and Park Avenues and from 49th to 50th Streets as the site for a proper hospital.  The first section was opened in 1867 and the second, doubling the size, was completed in 1877.  The facility proved inadequate by the turn of the century, and in 1900 the architectural firm of Allen & Vance was commissioned to design a replacement structure.

Allen & Vance released this rendering in 1900.  Real Estate Record & Guide, June 2, 1900 (copyright expired)

The Lexington Avenue site, however, was often wet and was deemed unsatisfactory for the proposed structure.  Allen & Vance's plans were shelved for two years.  Then, on February 15, 1902, the Real Estate Record & Builders' Guide reported that the Woman's Hospital had purchased 24 lots on the Upper West Side--midway between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues and running through the block from 109th to 110th Street.  (The hospital had sold the East Side property for $450,000, a significant $17.4 million in 2026 terms.)  The article noted, "A new hospital building will be erected from plans by Francis R. Allen, of Allen & Vance, of Boston, on the new site."

The massive structure took four years to complete at a cost equal to $22.5 million today.  Francis R. Allen's original 1900 design was followed.  The architect created a striking French Renaissance Revival-style structure inspired by Loire Valley chateaux.  Faced in two colors of brick above a granite basement level, it rose six stories to a delightful assemblage of mansards and elaborate dormers.  Three slightly projecting sections gave the West 109th Street elevation dimension.  Two prominent wings distinguished the 110th Street side.

The hospital's chapel is seen on the ground floor of the eastern wing on the 110th Street side. 

In 1905, as construction progressed, the New York Charities Directory described: "This Hospital is for the treatment of diseases particular to women, and the new building will have a capacity of 100 beds, of which 25 are free."

The new facility had been opened only a short time before its policy of treating female patients only caused an uproar.  On December 20, 1906, six-year-old Isidor Heller was struck by a truck.  The driver, Robert Boyd, drove the severely injured boy to the nearest facility: the Woman's Hospital.  According to Boyd, when he carried the boy through the door, he was met with a physician who said, "You may leave him here until an ambulance comes, but this is a private hospital and we cannot have such cases brought here."

According to Boyd, "nothing was done" and he put little Isidor Heller back into his truck and drove to St. Luke's Hospital where he died.  On January 5, 1907, The Sun reported that a jury in Coroner George F. Shrady's court the previous day had "censured the management and physicians of the Woman's Hospital" for its "brutal and inhuman" refusal to treat the boy.

photograph by Thaddeus Wilkerson, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York

Despite the early unflattering press, the Woman's Hospital was highly respected.  It democratically treated women from high society--like Margaret Mary Emerson Vanderbilt, Katherine S. C. Hoyt, and Helen Gould Finley--to theatrical figures, like Irene Castle (wife and dancing partner Vernon Castle) and actress Edna May.

Madeline Morando was a dancer in Eddie Foy's vaudeville company.  (Born Edwin Fitzgerald, Foy was an extremely popular actor, comedian, dancer and vaudevillian.)  The couple were married in 1896.  Madeline was admitted to the Woman's Hospital in December 1908.  Upon hearing the news, her husband jumped into his automobile and sped off toward the hospital.  He would get a police escort, but not before getting a traffic ticket.

On December 11, the New-York Tribune reported, "Edward [sic] Foy Fitzgerald, known on the stage as 'Eddie Foy,' was arraigned...yesterday afternoon, charged with driving a motor car without a number."  He explained to the magistrate that "he was on his way to the Woman's Hospital...to see his wife, who is at the point of death."  He said that in his hurry he did not look at the car and "thought that perhaps his children had taken off the tag."  After hearing his story (which was corroborated by the policeman), the magistrate dropped the charges.  The article noted parenthetically, "At the hospital last night it was said that Mrs. Fitzgerald was resting comfortably."

Mary Craig Kimbrough married author Upton Sinclair in 1913.  On the voyage home from their honeymoon in August, "Mrs. Sinclair slipped on the deck of the steamer...and the fall affected her spine," as reported by The New York Times.  After three months of various treatments, on November 19 the newspaper reported, "it was decided some days ago that permanent relief from her injury could be obtained only by an operation."  Mary Sinclair underwent spinal surgery here on November 18.  The New York Times reported, "It was said last night at the hospital that the operation was a complete success."

from the collection of Columbia University Libraries

Like Mary Sinclair, traditional treatments for Christine Schnell's condition had not resulted in relief by March 1916.  She was admitted to the Woman's Hospital and scheduled to have an examination "to determine whether an operation was necessary," according The New York Times.  Her nurse divulged that the 40-year-old was apprehensive at the idea of surgery and "could not sleep Friday night because of worry over her approaching trial [i.e., examination]."  Christine Schnell's solution to avoid the dreaded operation was drastic.  On March 11, the nurse left the ward for a moment.  In her absence, Schnell jumped from fifth-floor window.  The article said, "Looking from the window the nurse saw a crumpled body lying in an areaway separating the hospital and the adjoining building."  Christine Schnell had died instantly.

Margaret Vanderbilt was the widow of millionaire Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, lost in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in May 1915.  She was admitted to the Woman's Hospital in March 1917 with appendicitis.  A week later, on March 19, the New York Herald reported, "she is recovering rapidly, and it is expected that she will be able to return to her home with a short time."

The Woman's Hospital received unflattering press in January 1922.  Nellie Harris filed a $5,000 suit in State Supreme Court "for the alleged refusal to admit her to the post graduate course for nurses because the plaintiff is a negro," reported the New-York Tribune on January 5.   Nellie Harris had admirable credentials.  A graduate of Freeman's Hospital in Washington, she took charge of the surgical ward in Lincoln Hospital in New York in 1920.  Later she was a nurse in charge of a sanatorium in Harlem.

A 1925 advertisement detailed the courses available.  from the collection of the University of Wisconsin-Madison

When she applied to the post graduate course here in August 1921, she was told the class was full.  When she tried again on December 1, "she was informed that she could not be admitted because of her color," reported the New-York Tribune.  The stalwart nurse's stance was successful.  In its March 1922 issue, The Crisis reported, "Nellie Harris, a colored nurse, has won admittance to the Post-Graduate course at the Woman's Hospital, New York City."  The article noted, "The case was settled out of court."

Mr. and Mrs. Leon Dukas "delayed the trip to the hospital too long" on February 18, 1928, according to officials.  The couple's baby "arrived at the very moment Mrs. Dukas entered the main hall of the hospital," reported The New York Times.  Because the seven-pound girl was not born in their taxi or outside the hospital doors, the infant was honored as "Miss Fourteen Thousand."  The 14,000th baby delivered within the building was celebrated a few days later with a "birthday party" in the maternity ward.  She was crowned and given a gift.

The Woman's Hospital was significantly enlarged in 1929.  Wings were erected at the east and west ends of the building.  They included a new "out-patient clinic building" that opened on March 13, 1929.  The wings were design in sympathy to Francis R. Allen's 1900 design.

from the collection of the  Museum of the City of New York

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An disturbing incident occurred on February 6, 1945.  Catherine Keagen was a 20-year-old white nurse and her supervisor was Emma Miles, a 36-year-old black nurse.  Emma was in charge of the entire fifth floor.  Catherine Keagen, according to Emma Miles, refused to recognize her as her superior.  At 6:00 that morning, Emma snapped.  The New York Times reported that Catherine was in critical condition "with a fractured skull after having been struck on the head with a fire axe wielded by Emma Miles."  

Emma had fled the hospital, but was arrested that afternoon.  She admitted to the attack, explaining that Keagen, "refused to obey instructions."

The hospital instituted an innovation in 1949--a beauty salon.  It opened in February and physicians told reporters that "they had found the beauty service an excellent device for transferring the patient's attention from the discomfort of illness and improving morale."  The New York Times reported, "It humanizes hospitals and helps eliminate tension and anxieties created by unfamiliar and sometimes terrifying surroundings, the physicians said."

In 1952, the Woman's Hospital merged with St. Luke's Hospital.  Thirteen years later, on June 5, 1965, the N. Y. Amsterdam News reported on the dedication "of the new Woman's Hospital at Amsterdam Avenue and 114th Street."  The article reminded readers that the Woman's Hospital was "now a part of St. Luke's Hospital Center."

The immense 1906 Woman's Hospital building was demolished, replaced with the Cathedral Parkway Towers apartment building, completed in 1974.

image via apartments.com