Excerpts from the book All Our Lives: A Centennial History of Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center, 1881-1981, Sarah Gordon, ed.
The first Michael Reese Hospital opened in 1881 at 29th Street and Groveland Park Avenue (renamed Ellis Avenue) in Chicago, at a cost of $60,000 donated from a charitable fund derived from the will of Michael Reese, a Bavarian immigrant who had come to the United States in 1836. The building, constructed of brick and stone, was three stories tall, with beds for 60 patients. For a century after its founding, Michael Reese Hospital became one of the most famous healthcare institutions in America, with recognized excellence in patient care, education, and research.
“I, Michael Reese, being of sound Mind, and Memory, do make, ordain, publish and declare this to be my last Will and Testament, written with my own hand. . .”
“To Jakob Rosenberg, and my Dear Sister Henrietta Rosenfeld, of the City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Two Hundred Thousand Dollars in trust to be disbursed by them in such Charities as they may think fit. . . . To my Nephews H. L. Frank and Joseph Frank in trust for an Orphan Asylum in Cleveland, Ohio and other charities in Chicago which I omitted, Fifty Thousand Dollars, which they can use and disburse as they may think fit.”The hospital was designed by architect John Cochrane and constructed at a cost of $60,000. The cornerstone was laid November 4, 1880, and the building opened October 23, 1881.
The laboratory of Reese, 1900 (Reform Advocate)
Three views of the operating room on the top floor of the building (Reform Advocate)
The West Side Dispensary: eye, ear, and throat clinic
To give our readers the best experience, we use technologies such as cookies to store and/or access unique information about your use of our site. By clicking "Accept", you consent to this processing of your personal data as explained in our Privacy Policy. You can revoke or customize your consent by clicking "Update preferences".
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Leave a Reply