St. Agnes Hospital
Saint Augustine's College established St. Agnes Hospital and Training School for Nurses to provide medical care for and by African Americans. It was the “first” school of nursing in the state of North Carolina for African American students and served as the only hospital that served African Americans until 1960.
Its beginnings were primitive, with a single cold water faucet in the kitchen and a wood stove to heat water and sterilize equipment. During its first six months of operation, the hospital cared for 17 inpatients and 35 outpatients. An additional 223 people received St. Agnes's medical and nursing care in their homes.
The first head nurse was Marie Louise Burgess, a Black graduate of the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
Students would clean, cook, and make beds during the six-month trial period. If they passed and wanted a career in nursing, they entered the hospital as student nurses. Most of their education was on-the-job training with the matron, staff nurses, and physicians on wards, in the operating room and on home visits. They also heard lectures, which focused on the diseases and conditions of the current patient population.
In 1898, St. Agnes graduated its first two nurses after a training program of 18 months.
Reference:
The Encyclopedia of African-American Heritage
by Susan Altman
Copyright 1997, Facts on File, Inc. New York
ISBN 0-8160-3289-0
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From a collection donated to the State Archives of NC.
Album description
Located on St. Augustine's College campus in Raleigh, NC, St. Agnes Hospital first opened its doors in October 1896 and served as a hospital and nurse training center for African Americans.
The hospital was expanded in 1903 to include new facilities, including an operating room.
A 1904 fire severely damaged the building, prompting students of the college, under the direction of Reverend Henry Beard Delany (North Carolina's first African American Episcopal bishop) to quarry and lay the stone that makes up the current structure.
Construction began in 1905; the cornerstone and electric lighting were installed in 1906. The completed hospital was ready for occupation in June 1909. Its straightforward and functional design includes granite walls laid in random ashlar and segmental-arched windows of various sizes.
By the 1920s, St. Agnes hospital was the largest hospital for Blacks between Atlanta and Washington. In the 1940s the college and school separated; in 1961 the hospital closed when the Wake County Medical Center opened.
The property was returned to St. Augustine's shortly thereafter. St. Agnes Hospital was declared a Raleigh Historic Landmark in 1979.
From localwiki.org/raleigh/St._Agnes_Hospital
See also goodnightraleigh.com/2008/07/the-crumbling-st-agnes-hospi...
LINK to collection at State Archives of NC: https://www.flickr.com/.../north.../albums/72157682100383726