Salem Hospital: A Timeline

1896: Salem Hospital treated its first patient, sewing machine salesman Fred Demeler, in January at the five-bed converted school.

1916: Franz B. Wedel and four Mennonite deaconesses buy the Capitol Hotel at 665 Winter St. SE (Salem Hospital’s current location) and establish Salem Deaconess Hospital and Home.

1917: Salem Hospital breaks ground for a new building at 2561 Center St. NE. However, the campaign to raise funds for the new facility fails, and construction stops.

1919: Staff at Salem Deaconess treat 664 patients, including a butcher, shipbuilder and a couple of weavers.

1927:  Salem Hospital changes its name to Salem General Hospital.

1938: Charles S. Campbell, Salem’s first accredited specialist in internal medicine, begins to practice.

1943: Almost half of the professional staff at both hospitals are sent to serve in World War II. The Red Cross trains students and volunteers as nurse aides.

1947: Mennonites turn Deaconess Hospital over to board of Salem citizens. Deaconess changes its name to Salem Memorial Hospital.

1953: General Hospital Unit breaks ground for the Morse building. Memorial auxiliary holds first High Fever Follies as a fund raiser

1954: Television sets installed in patient rooms.

1964: Flood. Patients evacuated.

1965: Memorial Unit publishes the first issue of its newsletter The Messenger.

1969:  General announced merger with Memorial. Board adopts Salem Hospital name. Maternity services centralized at General; emergency room at Memorial.

1987: All acute care services consolidated at Memorial.

1991: The Hospital adopts a smoke free policy.

1996: Salem Hospital celebrated 100 years of service to the community.

1997: The Sr. Anna Duerksen Care Unit opens on 6 South. Ground is broken for the new Center for Outpatient Medicine.

1998: A new 552-space parking structure opens.

2000: Center for Outpatient Medicine opens.

Compiled by Cynthia Harvey and Monica Mersinger

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Bibliography:

Salem Public Hospital Patient Information Guide, published 2000

A Century of Service, Salem Hospital 1896-1996 by John McMillan

This article originally appeared on the original Salem Online History site and has not been updated since 2006.