| | Abstract: | Saint Luke's Hospital was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1894 as the Cleveland General Hospital. Its purpose was to provide clinical training for medical students of Wooster University and as a training school for nurses. At the same time, the College Building and Hospital Association was incorporated. The College Building and Hospital Association became the Saint Luke's Hospital Association of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1904. Medical staff at the hospital affiliated with the medical department of Ohio Wesleyan University. In 1906 Cleveland General Hospital was renamed Saint Luke's Hospital. Cleveland industrialist and philanthropist Francis Fleury Prentiss provided financial support and leadership, serving as president of the association from 1906 until his death in 1937. His wife, Elisabeth Severance Allen Prentiss, succeeded him as president until her death in 1944. The Saint Luke's Hospital School of Nursing closed in 1970. In 1980, the Saint Luke's Hospital Association adopted a long range plan of acquisition and new programs. By 1983, it held leases on five medical buildings and had control over Saint Luke's Hospital, Shaker Medical Center Hospital, and the for-profit Medical Outreach Services, Inc. In 1992, the Saint Luke's system merged with MetroHealth Medical Center, and its name was changed to MetroHealth Saint Luke's Medical Center. The merger dissolved in 1993, but the affiliation continued. In 1993 the name of the hospital changed once more, becoming Saint Luke's Medical Center. In 1997, Saint Luke's Medical Center was sold to Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corporation and its regional partners, the Sisters of Charity of Saint Augustine. The proceeds of this sale and the endowments of the Saint Luke's Hospital Association and Saint Luke's Medical Center were used to create the Saint Luke's Foundation. The collection consists of the institutional records of Saint Luke's Hospital, MetroHealth Saint Luke's Medical Center, Saint Luke's Medical Center, and the Saint Luke's Hospital Association, including historical records, correspondence, contracts and agreements, minutes, financial statements, wills, newspaper clippings, publications, transcripts, reports, and surveys. | |
