Long before the days of Vassar Brothers Medical Center or Mid-Hudson Regional Hospital (formerly St. Francis) there were not many options for medical care here in Poughkeepsie. In the 19th century, if you were ill or had an emergency, the best you could hope for was a trip to the local pharmacy, where you might be given a real cure, or something entirely useless. Or perhaps you were lucky enough to have a trained physician come to your home. By 1870, Poughkeepsie had a population of 20,000 people, but there was still no hospital to meet their medical needs. A year later, the Episcopal churches within the city endeavored to change that.

In 1865, a group of doctors, along with several wealthy subscribers, helped raise the money to rent a space to be used as a “Homoeopathic Medical and Surgical Dispensary,” which was located on Bridge Street. This went on for a few years, until 1871, when leaders of Christ Church, St. Paul’s Church, and the Holy Comforter Church, formed a committee with the intention of forming the city’s first hospital. In March of 1871, a building was rented on Garden Street to house the new hospital and the venture to raise funds to operate it would be an ongoing project. The hospital was opened by June of 1871 and ready to receive patients. Although it was run by the Episcopal Church, it did not turn anyone away regardless of religion, race, or financial status.

In 1873, the hospital moved to a larger location at 108 North Clinton Street, and it had a number of visiting physicians and surgeons who assisted with the operations, including one of Poughkeepsie’s first female physicians to open a practice, Dr. Elizabeth H. Gerow. The cases that came into the hospital ranged from nasty incidents on the railroad tracks and carriage accidents, to various illnesses. Tales of the victims of horrible accidents generally made it into the newspapers, while illnesses usually didn’t. Based on the annual reports that are held here in the Local History Room, there usually weren’t more than 100 patients admitted during the course of each year. This is likely due to the fact that doctors still made house calls then, and many people chose to take their chances and go without medical care.

Vassar Brothers Hospital finally opened its doors in 1887, which of course attracted those physicians who had practiced at St. Barnabas to move on to the larger institution. In 1888, it was decided that the little hospital on North Clinton Street would close its doors, and its furnishings were divided between the Gallaudet home for the deaf and the Children’s Home. The funds that remained for the hospital’s upkeep were put into an endowment fund, which continued to serve the community well into the 20th century. Some of the funds went to local school children who received eye examinations and glasses if they were needed. The fund also allowed for the hiring of an on-call nurse who could visit those in need throughout the year. In 1908, nurse Martha Karnofski became the first district nurse to serve the area, and in 1915 alone, she made over 1800 house calls! During World War II, with a great fear of enemy bombings, money from the endowment was used to create an emergency hospital at Christ Church. Luckily, no real threat ever emerged in the area and the hospital was never needed.

The brick building that once stood on North Clinton Street is now gone. It was torn down sometime in the late 1990s. All that remains of Poughkeepsie’s original hospital are the few annual reports housed within our collection.

Resources:

Poughkeepsie Eagle News – June 27, 1873, March 16, 1915, April 16, 1942, December 18, 1958

St. Barnabas Hospital Records, Annual Reports – 362.11 S – Local History Room

Poucher, Dr. J. Wilson. “St. Barnabas Hospital” 1940 Yearbook of the Dutchess County Historical Society, Vol 25.

Images:

St.Barnabas-1948 – Photo of St. Barnabas Hospital at #108 North Clinton Street. 1948.

Annualreport-1883 – Cover of the Annual report for St. Barnabas Hospital. 1883.