City Hospital

Early in the 1850s, a building on Bridge Street (Park Avenue) formerly occupied as a fur shop was taken over by the Mayor as a City Hospital. It was fitted up to contain 35 to 40 beds. A newspaper of the time said, "The hospital is far from what we want in Utica, but it is a large advance on nothing at all and we hail it as a forerunner of its betters."

The City Hospital (later known as the General Hospital) on South street at Mohawk was erected in 1856 by the city and was originally intended as a work house. Two years later it became a hospital under the Poor Master and when the Board of Charities superseded the Poor Master, the building came under their jurisdiction. The three-story building was built of brick and cost $12,000. At the Battle of Cold Harbor in June 1864, many of the wounded soldiers were from Utica and Oneida County, and the City Hospital took care of them for the following year.

On November 19, 1866, a charter was granted under the name of the "Home for the Homeless in the City of Utica" to take care of the aged, indigent and infirm women who were unable to support themselves. The home was opened in a building on Whitesboro street, opposite the State Hospital, in May 1867. Theodore S. Faxton, contributed $20,000 and two acres of land on Faxton street toward the erection of a new home there. Citizens contributed an additional sum of $26,000 and B. F. Jewett and his sisters donated four lots adjoining those of Faxton and a new building was opened on December 26, 1870 at a cost of $30,000 and in 1879 an additional building was added at a cost of $6,000.

St. Elizabeth's

St. Elizabeth Hospital and Home was organized December 12, 1866 by Mother Bernardina, a member of the Franciscan Order. She received the first patient in a small wooden building on Columbia street which was donated by the Franciscan Fathers at St. Joseph's Church for that purpose. Through the generosity of Thomas B. Devereux, another building was added and soon afterward a third. In 1868, the old wooden buildings had to be removed to make room for the new St. Joseph's Church and a house was purchased a few doors west of the former location. This was opened for patients on October 15, 1869. This second hospital was a wooden one of two stories but it soon proved to be inadequate. In 1887 a new hospital was built and served as such until the new modern hospital was erected on Genesee street in 1915-17.

Early in its history, St. Elizabeth's established a dispensary which was visited by the sick residents of Utica in large numbers. It was used to advantage in December of 1871 when a smallpox epidemic broke out.

St. Luke's

There was also the Utica City Dispensary. We read in the "Utica Morning Herald" of March 5, 1872: "On Elizabeth street, just in the rear of the old Central Hotel property, stands a neat little white building on which is the sign 'Utica Dispensary'. Here the needy sick of our city may find the purest of medicine and the best medical advice, free of charge. The front room on the first floor is to be used as a reception room. Opening from this is the room containing the medical stores, and on the same floor are a consulting room and the sleep­ing apartment of the janitor."

In 1872, Mrs. James Watson Williams donated a house at 26 Elizabeth street. On January 13, 1903, the dispensary property was condemned for the site for the new Court House and the proceeds were used to purchase a house at 124 Mary street.

On December 23, 1869, St. Luke's Home was incorporated for the purpose of "establishing and maintaining in the city of Utica a refuge for the poor and friendless members of Grace Church parish in Utica and such others as the Board of Managers may think entitled to its benefits." On September 1, 1870, a double two-story brick dwelling adjoining the Home was purchased on Columbia street and a hospital, St. Luke's, was opened July 9, 1872. By 1886, the old build­ing with over 200 patients was overcrowded and a larger structure of brick, costing over $15,000 was built. In 1892, an addition was added. On October 17, 1905, Mr. and Mrs. Frederick T. Proctor built and furnished a new St. Luke's Hospital on Whitesboro street.

Faxton

The next hospital built was Faxton Hospital, a gift from Theodore S. Faxton, which opened in 1875. The growth of Faxton Hospital for the first ten years was slow. In 1892, a training school for nurses was established and in 1895, Dr. Fred J. Douglas was appointed the first resident physician of Faxton. In 1897, a home for the nurses was opened and in 1926 a new addition was added to the hospital.

In 1878, the upper two floors at Faxton Hospital were converted into a home for aged men. In February 1882, the Home for Aged Men was incorporated and this was amended to include their wives. In 1890, a lot opposite the hospital was secured and the new home opened on July 15, 1891.

In 1895, the homeopathic staff at Faxton withdrew and opened a hospital on Genesee street known as the Utica Homeopathic Hospital. A new building was built on the site and in 1926 the name was changed to "Memorial Hospital".