Property Record
W MAIN ST AND K ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | St. Mary's Hospital |
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| Other Name: | St. Mary's Hospital |
| Contributing: | |
| Reference Number: | 74752 |
| Location (Address): | W MAIN ST AND K ST |
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| County: | Monroe |
| City: | Sparta |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1915 |
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| Additions: | 1920 1966 |
| Survey Date: | 1989 |
| Historic Use: | hospital/medical clinic |
| Architectural Style: | Other Vernacular |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
| Architect: | Parkinson and Dockendorff |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| National Register Listing Date: | |
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| Additional Information: | St. Mary's Hospital was commissioned as a hospital (Sparta's second) in 1915. The first hospital in Sparta was located in a house on Wolcott Street. This dispensary expanded several times and operated until 1915. At that time, additional space was needed and a new hospital location was sought out. The former hospital still stands on Wolcott as an apartment house. In 1915, the hospital was moved to this building which formerly was an early orphanage building that was purchased in 1878 by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration and modified several times thereafter for educational purposes as the St. Mary's Domestic Science School. Renamed St. Mary's Hospital, this facility at South L and West Main Street was Sparta's first real hospital. St. Mary's Hospital utilized diagnostic and therapeutic equipment to treat all kinds of illnesses, such as diptheria and typhoid, and promoted public awareness of the prevention of disease. St. Mary's Hospital did not have a resident nursing staff, but was instead supplied with nurses from St. Francis Hospital in La Crosse. These nurses worked 16-hour days at St. Mary's and then returned to La Crosse at the end of the day. In 1921, to alleviate this nursing shortage, which especially occurred during emergencies, St. Mary's expanded its facilities and established a nurse's training school in connection with the hospital, which trained nurses until 1932. In 1921, St. Mary's Chapel on South Main Street was added to the facility to serve the sisters and the patients. St. Mary's Hospital served the community in this old building until 1966. At that time, tyhe old section of the hospital facilities could no longer meet the demands on it and upgrading the aging building proved too costly. In 1966, most of the "old" St. Mary's Hospital was razed during the construction of the new hospital wing. St. Mary's Hospital exhibits a contemporary style in the main part of its four-story L-shaped building and a Romanesque style (chapel) on its west end, which fronts on West Main. The St. Mary's Hospital buliding evolved from a two story brick building located at the corner of Main and K Streets used previously as an orphanage and later as a domestic science school for girls. The third story of this original building was designed by Parkinson and Dockendorff of La Crosse in 1907. The transformation of this building into the present structure began in 1915 when the hospital was established in this building. A building campaign begun in 1915 was not finished until after WW I when building materials became more available. This construction project resulted in an L-shaped brick building consisting of three floors on an elevated foundation and a "unique chapel" on the west end of the complex. The building was ornamented by a Classical Revival styled main entrance fronting on K Street. In 1965, the oldest section of the hospital, the original three story building [known as the domestic science school building built on the corner of Main and K Streets in 1876 with the 1907 third floor addition was demolished and a new contemporary styled section with a modern styled main entrance was added. At the same time, the remainder of the building, except the chapel, was remodeled in the same unadorned contemporary manner. |
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| Bibliographic References: | (A) Sparta Herald Sept. 20, 1876; April 2, 1907; June 22, 1922; April 22, 1919; Jan. 20, 1920; May 1, 1923; July 16, 1951; April 5, 1965; Jan. 6, 1966. (B) Middleman, Julia E., "History of Sparta's Parochial Schools," (1980) Typescript, pp. 1-2. (C) Sparta Centennial Celebration Committee, Sparta Incorporation City Centennial: 1883-1983 (1983), unpublished pamphlet, p. 32. (D) Unknown Newspapers, "Hospital Has Come a Long Way in 60 Years" circa 1976. (E) Sanborn Insurance Map, City of Sparta, 1889, 1900, 1911, 1922, 1931. (F) Monroe County History Room, Photograph Collection. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |