This is the prelude to a series exploring the history of St. Francis Hospital—from its construction and staff to the nursing school and beyond When I began researching St. Francis Hospital of Macomb, two personal reasons drove me. My mother was a nursing student there from 1947 to 1950. During that time, she met a young man who was a patient suffering from kidney stones—a wavy-haired, brown-eyed patient who would become my father. They married in October 1950.
Another connection: I was born at St. Francis in 1956. I wasn’t alone, more than 470 babies were delivered just in the year of 1951 and numbers increased each year after. But my stay was brief and fraught.
Unbeknownst to all, my mother had RH factor complications. By doctor’s orders, my father rushed me to Peoria for urgent blood transfusions. Unlike today’s airlifts or ambulances, the trip was a tense, hurried drive.
As I dug deeper, I found much of St. Francis’s history was already documented.
In 2015, the Heritage Days theme was “Macomb’s Healthcare.” Kathy Nichols of the WIU Library compiled a booklet on Macomb’s earliest hospitals and healthcare providers. Others who deserve credit include Maren Baker, John Hallwas, Alice Krause, and the archives of the *McDonough Times* and *Macomb Daily Journal* (1902–1956).
The Location: Grant and Johnson Streets Today, the intersection of South Johnson and West Grant streets is, what I consider to be, a modern marvel of orderly chaos. Traffic flows from all directions—north, south, east, and west—with drivers choosing left, right, or straight ahead. That’s 12 possible movements converging in one spot.
Add in young drivers from Macomb High School, a football field house, a primary school with buses, a nursing home with the occasional ambulance or rescue vehicle— and you have a recipe for disaster. Yet, remarkably, this intersection runs smoothly.
Drivers patiently wait their turn, signal properly, and respect the flow. I’ve never witnessed a serious accident there. It’s almost as if angels—or maybe Saints—are watching over.
Now, rewind to 1903. There was no bustling intersection, no schools, no nursing home. Instead, at the end of South Johnson Street stood a striking new building—St.
Francis Hospital, a “castle” rising from the flat landscape. Today, the hospital itself is gone, only a couple of (somewhat neglected) nursing school buildings remain.
The history of St. Francis Hospital in Macomb deserves to be retold—not just because of my personal ties, but because St.
Francis Hospital and its School of Nursing laid the foundation for healthcare in McDonough County.
*Look for Part 1: “The Beginning and Construction of St. Francis Hospital” in Friday’s edition of the Community News Brief.*
