Abbott Northwestern Hospital is a 686-staffed bed teaching and specialty hospital based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a part of the Allina Health network of hospitals and clinics. Abbott Northwestern Hospital was founded in 1882 as Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children. Harriet G. Walker, the wife of prominent Minneapolis businessman T…Abbott Northwestern Hospital is a 686-staffed bed teaching and specialty hospital based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is a part of the Allina Health network of hospitals and clinics. Abbott Northwestern Hospital was founded in 1882 as Northwestern Hospital for Women and Children. Harriet G. Walker, the wife of prominent Minneapolis businessman Thomas Barlow Walker, invited 44 Minneapolis ladies to a meeting. Although it was billed as a fine social event, Walker actually had the foundation of a charity hospital in mind. Dr. Mary Hood, who attended the birth of Walker's last child Archie, explained the need for a hospital to treat victims of malnutrition, diphtheria, tuberculosis, typhoid, and pneumonia. Dr. Mary Whetstone appealed by saying that no one cared for the people with the worst diseases or "smoothed their dying pillows". Although the typical Victorian women of the time were not used to hearing the details of disease and disadvantaged lives, the ladies donated toward the foundation of a hospital. The first building in late 1882 was a small rented house on 3 1/2 Avenue South which had room for ten patients, two nurses in training, and maids. This facility was hardly big enough for the needs of the community, so it moved to a second home in 1883 at a cost of $3000. In 1887, the hospital moved to a permanent location at the corner of Chicago and 27th Street, at a cost of $36,000. The hospital's care was patterned after Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania, Dr. Hood's alma mater. Dr. Hood and Dr. Whetstone gave simple, practical care such as diet, cleanliness, and rest. The hospital also established a training school for nurses. Meanwhile, the distinguished Dr. Amos W. Abbott co-founded Minnesota College Hospital, the Minnesota Pathological Society, and in 1902, the city's first private surgical hospital. Abbott had to treat women in houses until 1910, when a grateful William Hood Dunwoody paid to build a purpose-built hospital. His wife Kate had been an Abbott patient. Abbott’s Surgical Hospital was designed by William Channing Whitney on First Avenue South.
Save
Share
More