Mercy Hospital was a hospital located at 1344 22nd Street South in the city of St. Petersburg, Florida. The hospital was the only primary care facility for the African-American community of St. Petersburg from 1923 to 1966. It was designed by the local architect Henry Taylor, which has also designed other important structures such as the City Comfort Station, the Vinoy Park Hotel and the Jungle Country Club Hotel. It was constructed by Edgar Weeks in July 1923. Mercy Hospital not only served as a medical facility but also as a site for protesting against the segregation of the other hospitals in the city during the Civil Rights Movement. In 1994, it was declared a Historic Place. The city purchased the facility in 1998 due to a lack of redevelopment and deterioration.*change site Then the city leased the facility to Community Health Centers of Pinellas, Inc., which also runs the Johnnie Ruth Clarke Medical Center.
History
Construction
Before Mercy Hospital, African-Americans relied on a small health care facility named the Good Samaritan. The building was built in 1910 on 6th Avenue South and 7th Street with the purpose to provide health care to whites only. However, it was moved in 1913 to 4th Avenue South and 12th Street to serve blacks only this time, making it the first hospital to serve African-American residents in this community. The health care facility only had five rooms, a few beds and minimal care.
It was replaced in 1923 by Mercy Hospital as a result of the growing African-American community in St. Petersburg, Florida. Mercy Hospital was created by the architect Henry Taylor who designed it and the contractor Edgar Weeks who built it. The walls of the new hospital were made of stucco over hollow terra-cotta tile. It had projecting eaves with decorative wooden brackets. The hospital had about sixteen to twenty beds. The state refused to help the financial problems that the hospital faced, and therefore could not afford any more beds. It was not until 1926 that Mercy Hospital gained their first physician, Dr. James Maxie Ponder. Up until then, Mercy Hospital had been run by nurses only.
Operation
Most of the time, the Mercy Hospital was short staffed and did not have the necessary equipment to offer service to the black community. Nonetheless, Mercy Hospital was a family and everyone gave maximum effort while doing their job. Service was their motto and so they offered compassionate and quality health care to the community's African-Americans. Housekeepers kept the place very clean to avoid the spread of diseases. The pharmacist ordered medications the hospital needed and made sure they were properly prepared. The kitchen staff made sure the meals were always warm and ready for the patients. Finally, and most importantly, volunteers worked very hard without pay; the volunteers assisted by greeting visitors, keeping the patients company, answering phones, as well as many other tasks.
During the mid-1940s Mercy Hospital did not meet the standards of other (white) hospitals. In 1959 alone, Mercy admitted around 2,764 patients and performed more than 480 surgeries, but still it was not enough. The white hospitals were always larger, counted with more funds for staff and had better medical equipment. In 1948, thanks to Dr. Timberlake's remarks about how pitiful the facility was, a 15,000-foot addition that cost about $212,742 was built for Mercy, which added more space for beds, now totaling fifty-five. Obviously, this was not enough to efficiently treat the African-American population of St. Petersburg at that time. Despite Dr. Edward Cole's remarks of the hospital having no pharmacy, poor laboratories, inefficient x-ray equipment, no room for the recovery of patients, and no physical therapy service to a newspaper, the city council refuted the proposed $1.7 million addition to it in 1960. It was not until blacks got tired of the "separate but equal" doctrine when the city wanted to build an additional wing for black patients at Mound Park that Mercy Hospital was integrated. Mrs. Altamease Chapman was the first black to be allowed in and treated in Mount Park on February 26, 1961 by Dr. Fred Alsup. However, she was sent to the last available room in the surgery section to be operated on from phlebitis in her left leg. Then, in 1962 Mercy Hospital experienced an $865,000 expansion. This addition added three one-floor wings, more beds totaling seventy-eight now, obstetric and surgery departments, two operating rooms, one recovery room and a very large pediatric department 9.