Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is a nationally recognized healthcare facility for children. But how did the hospital get its start in Milwaukee? Opening in June 1894, it was then called Children’s Free Hospital. Located on Cass and Brady Streets, the hospital had its humble beginnings in a small house. Margaret Jacobs Falk (1864-1958); Carol M. Allis (1868-1947); Eleanor Simpson (1867-1947); Alice Bradley Ilsley (1867-1923); and, Alice G. Chapman (1853-1935), who are all buried at Forest Home Cemetery, were its founding members. Dr. Frances Sercombe served as the hospital’s physician.
The goal of the women was to offer free hospital care and health services to poor children. A letter written to the local newspaper by a Milwaukee physician at that time, said that the women were ill-advised, merely seeking publicity, and not to be taken seriously! Undeterred, women rented the house for $30 per month. They made curtains, bound blankets, scrubbed and varnished the floors, and bought 10 plain iron beds with horsehair mattresses. They bought medical and surgical supplies, developed an operating room and hired a nurse for $25 per month. They served as the hospital’s Board of Directors.
Children’s Free Hospital was the first hospital in Wisconsin devoted solely to children, thanks to the efforts of the women now at rest in Forest Home Cemetery.
Contributor: Anita Pietrykowski (49212778)
The goal of the women was to offer free hospital care and health services to poor children. A letter written to the local newspaper by a Milwaukee physician at that time, said that the women were ill-advised, merely seeking publicity, and not to be taken seriously! Undeterred, women rented the house for $30 per month. They made curtains, bound blankets, scrubbed and varnished the floors, and bought 10 plain iron beds with horsehair mattresses. They bought medical and surgical supplies, developed an operating room and hired a nurse for $25 per month. They served as the hospital’s Board of Directors.
Children’s Free Hospital was the first hospital in Wisconsin devoted solely to children, thanks to the efforts of the women now at rest in Forest Home Cemetery.
Contributor: Anita Pietrykowski (49212778)
Children's Hospital of Wisconsin is a nationally recognized healthcare facility for children. But how did the hospital get its start in Milwaukee? Opening in June 1894, it was then called Children’s Free Hospital. Located on Cass and Brady Streets, the hospital had its humble beginnings in a small house. Margaret Jacobs Falk (1864-1958); Carol M. Allis (1868-1947); Eleanor Simpson (1867-1947); Alice Bradley Ilsley (1867-1923); and, Alice G. Chapman (1853-1935), who are all buried at Forest Home Cemetery, were its founding members. Dr. Frances Sercombe served as the hospital’s physician.
The goal of the women was to offer free hospital care and health services to poor children. A letter written to the local newspaper by a Milwaukee physician at that time, said that the women were ill-advised, merely seeking publicity, and not to be taken seriously! Undeterred, women rented the house for $30 per month. They made curtains, bound blankets, scrubbed and varnished the floors, and bought 10 plain iron beds with horsehair mattresses. They bought medical and surgical supplies, developed an operating room and hired a nurse for $25 per month. They served as the hospital’s Board of Directors.
Children’s Free Hospital was the first hospital in Wisconsin devoted solely to children, thanks to the efforts of the women now at rest in Forest Home Cemetery.
Contributor: Anita Pietrykowski (49212778)
The goal of the women was to offer free hospital care and health services to poor children. A letter written to the local newspaper by a Milwaukee physician at that time, said that the women were ill-advised, merely seeking publicity, and not to be taken seriously! Undeterred, women rented the house for $30 per month. They made curtains, bound blankets, scrubbed and varnished the floors, and bought 10 plain iron beds with horsehair mattresses. They bought medical and surgical supplies, developed an operating room and hired a nurse for $25 per month. They served as the hospital’s Board of Directors.
Children’s Free Hospital was the first hospital in Wisconsin devoted solely to children, thanks to the efforts of the women now at rest in Forest Home Cemetery.
Contributor: Anita Pietrykowski (49212778)
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