Sts. Mary & Elizabeth Hospital's History
A History of Service to Our Community

1874 Saints Mary & Elizabeth Hospital was founded by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth on May 18, 1874
Located at 12th and Magnolia Streets, it was the city’s first privately owned hospital.

Saint Mary’s was built with funds donated by William Shakespeare Caldwell in memory of his wife, Mary Elizabeth Caldwell, daughter of Kentucky Senator James Breckinridge.

The three-story brick hospital included 75 patient rooms in six large wards and 30 private rooms, a chapel, an operating room and living quarters for the sisters, employees and chaplains. The lot cost was $24,000 and construction cost $60,000.

Staffed by seven nurses – all Sisters of Charity of Nazareth – the hospital opened its doors to patients June 1, 1874. Dr. W.O. Roberts was the first to admit a patient to Saint Mary’s, Mr. S. McMahon, an Irish Catholic man injured in a train accident. He was hospitalized for three years until his death and was charged nothing for his stay.

Of the one Baptist and seven Catholic patients admitted that first day, only three were charged a fee for services. By the end of 1874, 61 women and 92 men had been admitted; 41 of them were charged a fee.

1875 Sister Augustine Donovan assisted in the laundry and also cared for a two-ward, 24-bed accommodation. At night, she sprinkled each patient with holy water saying, "Good night. God bless you."

1876 The Sisters bought land across 12th Street to use as pasture for hospital livestock. The cows gave milk for patients; chickens gave eggs and meat; and the horse pulled the wagon used for errands.

1910 A new annex at the hospital boasted the city’s first electric elevators. The large passenger elevator cost $5,000 while the smaller unit used to convey food cost $3,000. According to hospital annals, "owners of business houses, offices and other large buildings would like to have this new life, but fear the consequences." The new annex also added 80 beds, a power plant and a laundry.

1915 Saints Mary & Elizabeth Hospital opened the state’s first Catholic School of Nursing. It had two students. Most of the teaching was done by the hospital’s medical staff.

The hospital’s first baby was born November 14, 1915. Jerome Seelbach was the son of a supervisor at Publicker Chemical Company.

1917 Thirty-eight people injured in a Shepherdsville railway crash were brought to Saint Mary’s December 20. Nurses worked with the patients around the clock for three days until nurses from Norton Hospital relieved them. Only two accident victims died.

1919 The hospital’s first medical staff was organized.

1924 Sister Jane Frances set up the hospital’s fully-equipped x-ray department in two small rooms on the third floor of the main building.

1936 Ahead of its time, Saint Mary’s opened a weekly Well Baby Clinic where a pediatrician and three assistants taught parents how to care for infants and pre-schoolers.

1937 The last annex to the original hospital added 20 beds and two operating rooms at a cost of $125,000.

During the 1937 flood, which hit during the frigid days of January, water rationing made it impossible for the boiler system to heat the hospital. Sister Mary Albert clambered up a nearby railroad trestle and hailed a passing freight train, determined to get water from the railside water tanks. Convincing the engineers to take her to Standard Manufacturing Company, she commandeered workers and a supply of pipe and created a conduit to the hospital. Saint Mary’s was the only hospital in Louisville with water and heat at that time.

Whiskey was the medicine of choice during the flood, when supplies were hard to come by. A call to local distillers brought an avalanche of donated liquor.

Saint Mary’s served as a shelter as well as a hospital during the flood, offering refuge to 205 people, some of whom found rest on Army cots lining the hallways. No one was charged a fee for care received during the crisis.

1938 The American Medical Association approved Saint Mary’s Clinical Lab as a teaching center known as the School of Medical Technology.

1939 Sister Augustine refused to give up on a patient for whom doctors said there was no hope. She administered castor oil every day for eight days until the patient recovered.

1942 The first set of triplets was born at Saint Mary’s October 3, 1942. They were named Sue Darlene, Lou Marlene and Charles Dallas Mefford.

1943 The hospital’s new blood bank had 100 units of plasma available and maintained a rotating supply of whole blood.

1948 Community leaders, physicians and Sisters broke ground for Our Lady of Peace Hospital on September 24.

1951 Our Lady of Peace opened its doors February 1 with 170 beds. The first patients included 30 transferred from Our Lady of Peace’s forerunner, Mt. St. Agnes, also owned by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth.

1955 Two auxiliaries were organized, women’s and men’s. Saint Mary’s was the region’s first auxiliary for men.

1957 Daily room rates at Saint Mary’s were $11 and $19 when The Courier-Journal reported that most major hospitals were raising their rates by $1 a day.

1958 The hospital moved from 12th and Magnolia Streets to its new address at Churchman and Bluegrass Avenues on January 25, 1958.

More than 1000 volunteers drove more than 150 ambulances, moving vans and cars in bitter cold weather to transfer everything from 26 patients to file cabinets to the new hospital.

Lauded as Louisville’s most modern hospital, the new site was the first in Louisville to be air-conditioned throughout, and one of the few to replace bedside bells with nurse call buttons.

Frederick Anderson was the first baby born in the new hospital.

Our Lady of Peace Hospital added Lourdes Hall.

1968 Saint Mary’s and St. Joseph’s School of Nursing merged.

1970 Saint Mary’s School of Nursing closed after graduating 816 nurses over 55 years.

1971 Nazareth Home Health began with funding for a mobile unit to serve patients in Bullitt and Nelson counties.

1972 New construction added 107 beds, a new Radiology Department, nursing units and patient rooms, bringing Saint Mary’s to its current count of 331 beds.

The Courier-Journal heralded Saint Mary’s as the first hospital in Kentucky to use ultrasound as an alternative to x-rays.

Saint Mary’s was the first hospital to contract with private physicians to provide emergency care in its Emergency Room.

The hospital’s first computer was installed.

1975 Saint Mary’s discontinued obstetrics to make room for additional medical-surgical care.

1977 Due to increasing services, Nazareth Home Health more than doubled its office space.

1980 Recognizing a national trend in health care, Saint Mary’s initiated outpatient surgery.

1984 Nazareth Home Health made 4,000 more visits in 1984 than in 1983. A certificate of need allowed the organization to expand into Jefferson, Hardin, Grayson, Meade and Breckinridge counties, bringing to 11 the number of counties served.

1985 A $30 million expansion and renovation added a four-story tower to Saint Mary’s campus. It included new and advanced facilities for Physical Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Special Diagnostics, 84 private patient rooms, Intensive Care and Coronary Care units, Cardiac Rehabilitation and Respiratory Therapy.

Nazareth Home Health responded to a growing call for home services by opening two satellite offices in Jefferson and Hardin counties.

1989 Saint Mary’s became one of three hospitals in Louisville to operate a decontamination room for victims exposed to toxic materials.

Technological advances included the QAD-1 which allowed physicians to study the heart without performing surgery; Louisville’s first Microscan Walkaway, which reduced turnaround time on Lab tests from 24 to three hours; and nuclear imaging.

Saint Mary’s became the first in Louisville to have mammography services accredited by the American College of Radiology.

The hospital introduced the most comprehensive care available for patients with diabetes at its Diabetes Treatment Center.

1990 Saint Mary’s was recognized by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations as being in the top 10 percent of the nation’s hospitals for delivering quality care.

After three years of court battles, Saint Mary’s opened the city’s newest and most advanced Cardiac Catheterization Lab.

1991 The Pain Management Center of Kentucky at Saint Mary’s offered Louisville’s only individually-tailored program to help patients manage chronic pain.

The Sleep Apnea Center was Louisville’s first non-profit center to diagnose the dangerous and common sleep disorder.

The four-story, $8.3 million Bluegrass Medical Building opened adjacent to the hospital, housing a pharmacy and offices for 60 physicians.

The hospital’s first Foundation was established to increase charitable giving to the organization.

1992 The highly-sophisticated MRI Center boasted the city’s most powerful computer.

1994 The hospital acquired the area’s largest primary care practice – Valley Medical Associates – as part of an aggressive strategy to become the premiere primary care provider by 2000.

Saint Mary’s became the first hospital to offer therapeutic massage.

The Auxiliary of Saint Mary & Elizabeth Hospital underwrote costs of the new 28-bed Skilled Nursing Unit, where patients received specialized rehabilitative and restorative care.

Saints Mary & Elizabeth Hospital, Our Lady of Peace Hospital and Nazareth Home Health merged September 1 to form a new, comprehensive health-care organization offering a full continuum of care. Owned and operated by the SCN Health System, the new organization was aimed at offering a more fully integrated service mix while reducing costs.

1995 The health-care organization created by the merger of Saints Mary &Elizabeth Hospital, Our Lady of Peace Hospital and Nazareth Home Health announced its new name April 18, 1995: CARITAS Health Services. Caritas, a Latin word connoting loving care, has been in the creed of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth since 1812: "Caritas Christi Urget Nos...The love of Christ impels us."

The $4.5 million CARITAS Regional Cancer Center opened, boasting the area’s newest and most advanced radiation equipment and treatment in its anchor tenant, Louisville Radiation Oncology.

The Sky Chapel and Contemplative Garden was dedicated, offering patients and their families a place to find comfort and peace in a setting featuring trees, flowers, and pooling waters.

CARITAS Health Services became the first in Louisville to shift the model of health care from one based on illness to one based on wellness by teaming up with Blairwood Health and Fitness Club to promote the development of healthy lifestyles.

1996 CARITAS Health Services announced the CARITAS Catholic Covenant, a partnership with the Archdiocese of Louisville to identify and meet the physical and emotional needs of children in its schools and families in its parishes.

The CARITAS Wholistic Center at Spalding University became the first in Louisville to link a health-care organization and a university to minister to the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of patients.

The City of Louisville contracted with CARITAS Health Services to restore and manage its Louisville Tennis Center as part of CARITAS’ commitment to health and wellness.

1997 The CARITAS Medical Mall opened as the state’s first facility to offer a health and fitness club, private physician offices, community meeting rooms and a health resource center all under one roof.

CARITAS Health Services became part of the Catholic Health Initiative family in September, when the SCN Health System consolidated with the national health care organization to strengthen the Catholic mission of ministry.

1998 The Peace Innovations Center became Kentucky’s first psychiatric unit serving children with a dual diagnosis of mental retardation and mental illness.

A $168,000 grant from Catholic Health Initiatives funded the Healthy Schools 2000 program, bringing health education to 7,500 children at 27 area Catholic schools.

1999 CARITAS Health Services celebrates 125 years of offering the highest quality, most compassionate care to its community.

2004 CARITAS Health Services celebrates 130 years of offering the highest quality, most compassionate care to its community.

2005 The boards of CARITAS Health Services, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Jewish Hospital HealthCare Services (JHHS) each approved an agreement to merge CARITAS and JHHS into a single healthcare organization - Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare.