Saint Alexius Medical Center is a long-term health facility with level II trauma designation on the fringe of downtown Bismarck. Established in 1885, it was the first hospital in Dakota Territory. It began an affiliation with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) in 2014, forming a regional healthcare network. The founding Benedictine Sisters remain the hospital’s primary sponsors.
Together with Sanford Health (previously Medcenter One), the two healthcare facilities once composed the largest medical facilities between Minneapolis and Seattle.
As of 2017, Saint Alexius had a capacity of 306 beds – the largest of the two Bismarck hospitals.
History
The Benedictine Sisters founded what became Saint Alexius as the Lamborn Hospital, in or around June 1885. Its original name was taken from the fact that it occupied what was originally intended to be the Lamborn Hotel, which never opened. That hospital was renamed Saint Alexius in 1887.
It remained in the Lamborn building until completing the oldest section of its current facility in 1915, which has seen steady updates since.
