St. Francis Hospital

This photo is of the cornerstone being laid. The groundbreaking ceremony took place on April 24, 1954, and by July of 1956, construction of the seven-story hospital was complete. More than 500 people attended the solemn dedication.

This photo, taken on the first anniversary of St. Francis Hospital's opening, is of parents with babies born in the first year from 1956 to 1957.

This photo is of all the babies born at St. Francis Hospital in the hospital's first year, from 1956 to 1957. 

St. Francis Hospital Administrator Sister Mary Paschalisa pins a merit award on a volunteer candy striper in June 1960.

Sister Mary Lucentia and a hospital staff member in the St. Francis Hospital lab.

The entrance to St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, WI, in the 1950s.

Hospital supervisors meeting with St. Francis Hospital Director of Nursing, SM Laetissima, in 1962.

In this photo, Mr. Allen Dennenber, assistant administrator, looks over plans for the dietary department with Sister Mary Imeldine, department director, Mrs. Norma Hustedde, administrative dietitian, and Mrs. Margaret Walch, administrative dietitian. In 1966, the hospital's labs were expanded, and in 1968, a new 150-bed care facility was extended. In the spring of 1978, the east addition to St. Francis was completed.

Sister Mary Felixine Wegner is adjusting a cardiac monitor at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, WI.

Sister Mary Laetissima, a patient representative at St. Francis Hospital, meets with a patient in 1978. St. Francis Hospital became the first Catholic hospital in Milwaukee to provide intensive care.

Nurse Sister Mary Juanita Nowak with a patient at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, WI, in the 1980s.

Groundbreaking in 1986.

An exterior view of St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, WI, from around 1990.