Saint Mary's Hospital (1909-1988)

This was the location of St. Mary's Hospital, which served the Kansas City community from 1909 to 1988. Built by the Franciscan Order of the Sisters of Saint Mary, over the years the hospital grew from a humble beginning in a modest brick building with 150 beds to major hospital complex covering several acres. However, by the early 1980s, declining admissions and the high costs of maintaining the aging infrastructure were deciding factors in the hospital's relocation to Blue Springs, Mo. in 1988. The original buildings were mostly vacated and were demolished in 2004 to make way for the Federal Reserve Building. Today all that remains is a small monument at this location built of bricks from the first 1909 building. The monument holds the original cornerstone and the hospital chapel's bell.

In 1872, four German nuns lead by Sister Odilia Berger arrived in St. Louis. The Sisters dedicated themselves to caring for the sick in St. Louis, earning the nickname “the Smallpox Sisters” during a citywide smallpox epidemic, during which they took to the streets to beg for food, medicine and supplies for the afflicted. The fame of the “Smallpox Sisters” spread and the order grew as women were attracted to a life in service to the church and community. A convent was built next door to the St. Mary’s Church to house the new members. This inevitably led to the order being called the Sisters of Saint Mary. They incorporated under this name in 1874.

The sisters gained a reputation throughout Missouri as skilled nurses and health care providers. In 1877, the Sisters of Saint Mary borrowed $16,000 to open their first hospital in St. Louis, St. Mary’s Infirmary. The hospital was run efficiently and provided quality care to the people of St. Louis. More than 60% of patients could not afford to pay for services.

Their reputation attracted the attention of the directors of Kansas City’s German Hospital, which was founded in 1887 on Hospital Hill. In 1895, they contracted with the Sisters of Saint Mary to provide nursing and administrative staff at German Hospital. The sisters arrived with a mandate to run German Hospital but a mission to establish a hospital of their own in Kansas City.

The sisters managed German Hospital until 1905, when fundraising and planning for the new St. Mary’s hospital became their primary focus. Construction for the hospital began in 1907 on the southwest corner of 28^th and Main St. on Liberty Hill overlooking downtown.  At the time this was a small neighborhood bounded by Penn Valley Park and Main St.  The location was on the central line of Kansas City’s streetcar system, which gave access to people all over the city. The modest brick building had just 150 beds. However, the sisters were tireless fundraisers, and they expanded the building in 1916 and started a school of nursing. Subsequent additions came in 1947, 1950, 1966 and 1974. Eventually St. Mary’s was a complex that covered nearly half of the original neighborhood. For more than 75 years, St. Mary’s Hospital was a fixture on Main St. and provided quality health care to the people of Kansas City regardless of race, creed or ability to pay.

However, by the 1980s, the healthcare landscape of Kansas City had changed. Children’s Mercy Hospital had moved to Hospital Hill and built a new facility. The city had constructed the Truman Medical Center and UMKC had moved its School of Dentistry, and its new Schools of Medicine and Nursing to Hospital Hill. St. Mary’s was an aging and obsolete facility comparatively. Admissions had declined from 85,000 in 1981 to just 51,000 in 1987.  Moreover, the structure, some of which was over 75 years old, was expensive to maintain. In 1988, St. Mary’s established a new hospital to serve the growing Kansas City suburb of Blue Springs, Mo. Most of the original hospital was closed in 1988 with the exception of their Departments of Mental Health and Community Health, which remained for several years. The majority of the buildings sat empty for many years. The hospital complex was demolished in 2004 to make way for the Federal Reserve Building, which has its own Clio entry.

During the demolition, workers uncovered a time capsule in the original 1909 cornerstone of the hospital. It was opened during a small ceremony with city and hospital officials. They discovered a contemporary German language newspaper as well as some coins and religious medals. These are on display at the hospital's current location in Blue Springs, Mo. All that remains of the hospital today is small monument at this location built with bricks from the original building. The monument holds the bell from the hospital’s chapel and the original cornerstone.

Soward, James L.. Hospital Hill: An Illustrated Account of Public Healthcare Institutions in Kansas City, Missouri.. Kansas City, Mo.. Truman Medical Center Charitable Foundation, 1995.

A Tradition of Excellence. St. Mary's Highlights. December 1st, 1976. 10 - 11.

Campbell, Matt. "Box yields pieces of history." Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) June 29th, 2004. , B sec.3.

Hillen, Sean. "Declines in patients, aid cited by hospital." Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Mo.) January 14th, 1988. .28.

"Moving Occupies the Last Day of St. Mary Hospital." Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Mo.) February 17th, 1988. .95.

Our Heritage of Healing, SSMhealth.com. Accessed February 21st, 2025. https://www.ssmhealth.com/resources/about/mission-vision-values/our-heritage.

Sisters of Saint Mary, Historical Marker Database. February 10th, 2023. Accessed February 21st, 2025. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=44387.

"St. Mary's Hospital Dedicated with Elaborate Ceremonies." Kansas City Post (Kansas City, Mo.) May 18th, 1909. .3.