St Marys Hospital

St. Mary's Hospital is owned and operated by the Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. On October 16, 1875, 21 Hospital Sisters set sail for New York from Muenster, Germany. Sponsored by Bishop Baltes of Alton, the Sisters arrived in Illinois on November 6, 1875.

In November of 1878, three Hospital Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis came to Decatur to establish a hospital. A small, rented, frame house on the corner of Wood and Webster Streets with only a six-bed capacity became Decatur's first hospital, St. Mary's.

In those days most nursing services were performed in the patient's home, but as the need for hospital care increased the Sisters built a new structure on the same ground in 1891. The hospital grew with the needs of the community. Between 1907 and 1937, three major additions were made to the two-story building, until, in 1958 it became necessary to break ground for a new structure on the present site, 1800 E. Lake Shore Drive.