| Through great vision or foresight, the Daughters of Charity acquired a large tract of land in Bridgeton, a city in northwest St. Louis County, in the 1950s. That property would eventually provide a centralized location for the Catholic order’s three medical facilities and become the DePaul Health Center. |
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DePaul Hospital, N. Kingshighway Blvd. at Wabada Avenue, 1930-1975 |
| The Daughters of Charity founded the first hospital west of the Mississippi River in 1828 in St. Louis. By 1930 this facility had grown into the DePaul Hospital on North Kingshighway Blvd. The Daughters founded the nation’s first orphans’ home in 1853, the St. Anne’s Infant Home. A widow’s home and maternity hospital were soon added. In 1858 the Daughters of Charity founded St. Vincent’s Asylum to treat, not just institutionalize, psychiatric patients. In 1969 the three institutions were merged into a single corporate entity. In 1972 ground was broken in Bridgeton for a modern health center. The St. Anne Division, which included a long-term extended care facility and an alcoholism rehabilitation unit, was completed in November 1975. The DePaul Hospital Division, a 334-bed general, acute care hospital, was completed in March 1977. The St. Vincent ’s Division, a psychiatric facility, was completed in 1978. |