Saint Alexius Medical Center is a long-term health facility with level II trauma designation on the fringe of downtown Bismarck. When founded in 1885, it was the first hospital in Dakota Territory and the only hospital between Minneapolis and Portland. 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
With the help of Abbot Alexius Edelbrock, the Benedictine Sisters purchased the former Lamborn Hotel building on April 14, 1885. After remodeling the building and acquiring the necessary equipment and supplies, the hospital admitted its first patients on May 6th. Total cost for the building and equipment was about $30,000. It remained in the Lamborn building until completing the oldest section of its current facility in 1915, which first opened with 125 beds and employed eighteen surgeons and physicians.
They treated 65 patients in its first year, despite no formal medical training, at a standard fee of $1 per day. Most patients suffered from common injuries of the era… brawls, frequent horse accidents, drunkenness, deadly diseases, and others. Chief Sitting Bull, future President Theodore Roosevelt, and Medora de Mores were noted patients of the frontier hospital. It operated for a short time as the Lamborn Hospital before adopting the Saint Alexius moniker in 1887.
Saint Alexius progressed under the administration of Sister Boniface (born Agnes Timmins – some sources spell it Tummins or Tommins), who took the position in 1892. She was instrumental in evolving it from a primitive, barely equipped frontier hospital into a well-funded modern healthcare facility. She replaced coal stoves with steam heat, installed telephones, and replaced hand bells with electronic call bells. She administered Saint Alexius until retiring in 1937 – the same year of her death.
Saint Alexius graduated its first class of nursing students in 1915 (some sources say 1918). A dedicated four-story nursing school was built east of the hospital in 1925, appropriately named Boniface Hall. The program was phased out in 1960 when Saint Alexius partnered with Mary College. One of the first buildings erected at today’s University of Mary campus is called Boniface Hall.
Timeline
Note: this is not intended to be all-inclusive
- 1915 – First section of its current facility opened, relocating from the Lamborn building. This section faced 9th Street.
- 1925 – Boniface Hall added east of the hospital building, located south of Rosser Avenue facing 10th Street (demolished in 1999)
- 1948 – $1.15 million five-story north wing facing Rosser Avenue (November), adds 54,000 square feet
- 1962 – L-shaped wing added to the south and west. Section facing 9th Street is single-story, erected in front of the original building. Section facing Thayer Avenue is two stories. It primarily housed the psychiatric unit. Total bed capacity = 259. The south section is expanded to four stories in 1975.
- 1975 – $7 million four-story addition to the south. Part of the expansion adds two stories to the 1962 addition, expanding further on that. It added a new emergency room facing Thayer Avenue, outpatient facility, radiology department, and power plant.
- 1983 – Five-story addition south of the 1962/1975 addition facing Broadway Avenue. A four-story atrium connects to the existing building, and it is at this time that the iconic arches debut to the south, which is adapted into the logo. It is called the Centennial Project, originally intended to finish in 1985 (the hospital’s 100-year anniversary), but the hospital accelerated construction due to increased demand. Commenced in 1981. $22 million. 125,486 square feet. First time since 1962 bed capacity increased, now at 313. Includes new common area containing the gift shop and cafeteria, outdoor courtyard, helicopter landing pad, new ambulatory surgery department, extended maternity department, new nursery, and obstetrical nursing unit. Part of Thayer Avenue and 10th Street are vacated for the expansion, approved by the City Commission in October 1982.
- 1988 – $2.7 million outpatient surgery center, fills in the west courtyard added in 1983. Dedicated in October.
- 1992 – 80-capacity chapel added to ground level, replacing previous chapel on the second floor of its oldest wing
- 2000 – “Project 2000” launches. It is one-part expansion, one part marketing campaign. Its primary goal is to increase convenience and awareness for its growing outpatient services. Boniface Hall is demolished in 1999. In its place, a 110,000-square-foot L-shape addition costing about $12 million. It creates new east entrance (opening June 2001) facing what was once 10th Street with a new admitting area. It connected the original 1915-built building to the inpatient wing. An observation unit is added to the existing emergency room. The addition also includes a new admitting area, pharmacy, laboratory, radiology, coffee shop, and auditorium. More than one house is demolished for additional parking, but one owner refuses to sell. As of 2021, the house remains.
- 2004 – West side of the main floor remodeled for a solarium.
