This Week in Bethlehem History by Karen M. Samuels - St. Luke’s Hospital made medical history

Rev. Cortland Whitehead, then rector of the Church of the Nativity (Protestant Episcopal), was the first to suggest that it was time for the Lehigh Valley to have its own hospital. Local entrepreneurs saw a hospital as an opportunity for providing care to their employees. Laborers suffered countless railroad, mill, furnace and mine accidents. Gifts in kind and funds rolled in from the local industries to support building a hospital.

St. Luke’s Hospital was chartered by legislature in 1872 with a board of trustees consisting of Robert H. Sayre, Tinsley Jeeter, Rev. Cortland Whitehead and John Smylie. There were changes to the charter that same year to make sure that care was available to all patients regardless of creed, race, nationality or ability to pay. A patient’s admission was accomplished through a physician or a member of the executive committee. The first patients were limited to accident victims or those in need of surgery. Even as these first patients were being admitted, the board was seeking donations of books, furniture, utensils, clothes and decorative pictures from the public. There were 47 patients admitted in the first year.

The number of patients soon outgrew the building and there was no room to expand at the Broadway location. On Dec. 8, 1875, Tinsley Jeeter, a developer and “Father of Fountain Hill,” reached an agreement with Judge Asa Packer, founder of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, to sell the water cure hospital property in Fountain Hill for $25,000. The Jeeter property had two buildings and three barns on 20 acres of ground. In addition, Judge Asa Packer donated $10,000 and secured another $5,000 from the Lehigh Valley Railroad for the project.

The St. Luke’s Ladies Aid Society, a group organized by the wives of the captains of Bethlehem industry, raised the rest through fundraisers. The first patients arrived at the old water cure building on May 24, 1876. In the year 1877, the hospital took in 108 cases and by 1878 the hospital had 19 beds. When Judge Asa Packer’s will was probated in 1879, he had provided the hospital with $300,000 a year to pay the expenses of any employee of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. Anything remaining from the bequest could go to general hospital expenses.

In 1881, at age 25, Dr. William L. Estes became the director of the hospital. He was a skillful physician who specialized in surgery. As an administrator, he had great foresight. In 1884, he established the St. Luke’s Nursing School, which today is the oldest nursing school in the country. St. Luke’s was also one of the first hospitals to hire a pathologist and biologist in 1898. The hospital was one of the first to install X-ray equipment and the new concept of a Social Services Department was established in 1914. Dr. W.L. Estes and his wife, Jeanne Wynn Estes, lived on Delaware Avenue, Fountain Hill, with their five children. Dr. Estes retired from St. Luke’s in 1920.

St. Luke’s Hospital has greatly expanded to meet the growing medical needs of the Lehigh Valley. Within its first 40 years, St. Luke’s built 11 separate buildings for specialized medical care such as operations, pathology, contagious diseases and obstetrics.

In memory of his son, Merritt, Elisha P. Wilbur donated the children’s wing in 1890. On March 17, 1830, Elisha P. Wilbur was traveling by train through Savannah, Ga., with his three sons when another train struck the trestle they were crossing. Thirty-nine passengers were killed, including Wilbur’s son, Merritt. Today all the smaller buildings, except the Coxe Pavilion, have been torn down to make way for even larger buildings.

St. Luke’s Hospital has grown to six separate campuses with more than 54,000 annual admissions. Education continues to be a priority at St. Luke’s and it has achieved several awards as one of the nation’s best hospitals. The hospital is currently the second largest employer in the Lehigh Valley, employing more than 9,600 people. Through a partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s has established the only school of medicine in the greater Lehigh Valley.