Michael Reese Hospital

Michael Reese was a real estate developer who died August 1, 1878,[4][5] leaving funds in his will to build a new hospital. Reese's heirs requested that the hospital would be open to all people, regardless of creed, nationality, or race. Construction of the first hospital on the corner of 29th and Groveland Avenue was completed in 1880. In its early years, it served a diverse array of mostly European immigrants; by the time the hospital was shuttered in 2009, it primarily served the black community. For much of its history, Michael Reese was dedicated to charity care as well as medical research and education. In 1890, the hospital established a training school for nurses in order to ensure a steady supply of nursing staff. In 1899, the hospital became famous as the first US institution to implement a motorized ambulance service. The vehicle was electric, running on a 44-cell battery. Similar models used shortly thereafter in New York City had a top speed of 16 miles (26 km) per hour and a range of approximately 25 miles (40 km) before they needed to be recharged.

The original Michael Reese building was demolished in 1905 and replaced in 1907 by another, larger 1000 Bed, building on the same site. Leonidas Berry was a pioneer in the development and use of the gastroscope. Dr. Samuel Soskin and Dr. Rachmiel Levine made important discoveries about the "gatekeeper" action in insulin, which is of fundamental importance to the understanding of diabetes. Dr. Albert Milzer and his research team were the first to kill the polio virus and make an effective vaccine against this debilitating virus. The hospital was also the first to have an infant incubator in 1915, and the first permanent incubator station for prematurely born babies 1922, both of which were innovated by Dr. Julius Hess.

As early as the 1940s, the area surrounding Michael Reese Hospital was already in economic and physical decline. The hospital, along with Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, was one of the businesses in the area responsible for creating the South Side Planning Board. IIT and Michael Reese opted to try urban renewal instead of abandoning the neighborhood altogether. From 1954 to 1986, Reese purchased adjacent properties, (such as the Conrad Seipp Brewery on 27th Street, which failed and closed in 1933 as a result of Prohibition), demolished existing structures on those properties, and constructed additional clinics and pavilions on the growing campus. The new buildings housed many specialty clinics, including a tumor center, a Psychosomatic and Psychiatric Institute, a city public health clinic, a nurse's residence and school building, a heart surgery center, the Siegel Institute for Communicative Disorders, and the Simon Wexler outpatient psychiatric facility. At its height, the hospital had 2,400 beds and was the largest hospital in Chicago. At the time of its closure, there were only 150. In 1991, Michael Reese Hospital was acquired by Humana.[1] In March 1993, Humana spun off its hospitals under the name Galen Health Care.[6] In June, Galen merged with Columbia Healthcare.[7] In 1994, Columbia merged with HCA to form Columbia/HCA.[8]

Portions of the hospital campus were over 100 years old and believed by some preservationists to hold historic value. The older buildings were constructed in an ornate style. The Rothschild Nurses' Residence was built in extensive detail and ornate styling, with molded ceilings, arched double windows, solid hardwood floors, and extensive woodwork throughout. The oldest portion of the main hospital building, which was shuttered in 1997 and soon fell into disrepair, also had significant detail and ornate styling in the auditorium and common areas. Although small-scale preservation efforts were made, both buildings were eventually demolished. A series of newer buildings were completed after a 1946 plan created by Walter Gropius, the first director of the Bauhaus in Germany. These buildings, built from 1946 to 1959, were designed by Chicago firms based in part on the Gropius plan. In addition, the landscaping on the campus was designed by modernist landscape architect Hideo Sasaki,[12] a colleague of Gropius's at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Preservation Magazine reported in June 2009 that "according to [Molly] Sullivan in the city's Community Development department, the original 1907 Prairie-style building designed by Schmidt, Garden & Martin will be preserved, but the rest of the 29-building campus is not "feasible to save," she says. "Our intention is to utilize the main Michael Reese building, but everything in addition to that, including the Gropius buildings, needs to be cleared from the area."[13] However, the original hospital building, which had been neglected since 1997 and was in poor condition, was later demolished after repeated break ins and acts of looting and vandalism, and due to lack of interest in redevelopment. Initial demolition began in 2009 and continued through 2010. By 2012, all buildings with the exception of a small former administration building had been cleared from the site. Construction and demolition work was complicated in August 2009 by the discovery of radioactive contamination of soil on the site.[14] A radium separation company had previously operated on site in the early 1900s and was purchased by the hospital to supply radium for medical procedures. The US Environmental Protection Agency has mandated a cleanup of the site to remove contamination.

The site is currently vacant, with the exception of the Singer Pavilion building (formerly the psychiatric institute), and is fenced off. The site was proposed as the location for the Barack Obama Presidential Library and Museum,[15] but the Obama Foundation ultimately selected Jackson Park (in part due to its proximity to the University of Chicago).[16]

Medical staff residency training records and verification have become available through the Federation Credentials Verification Service (FCVS)[30] Closed Residency program records.[31] Psychology internship/residency training records and verifications have become available through the Association of State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB) Closed Record Verification Service (CRVS).[32] Nursing school transcripts and records are available from the Registrar at the University of Illinois at Chicago for the last few decades of the program's existence. "Students seeking access to their own records must contact the Registrar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, which is responsible for production of transcripts and all other records production for Michael Reese School of Nursing for the years 1965 to 1981. Students should contact the Registrar through the transcript request form: ."[33]

• Michael Reese Hospital History on Forgotten Chicago
• Michael Reese Medical Center undergoing demolition - view from above
• A short documentary about the hospital's closure

41.84138°N 87.61356°W / 41.84138; -87.61356