St. Luke's Boise Medical Center

The hospital is named for Luke the Evangelist and was dedicated by Bishop Funsten on October 18, 1902, marking St. Luke's Day.[4] Originally a 6-bed facility in a converted 2-story house at the corner of 1st and Bannock Streets, the hospital immediately began to expand with construction of a contagious disease annex.[5] The hospital opened December 8, 1902, and it featured a dining room/office, a private room, a dispensary, and a bathroom on the main floor with an operating room, a ward, and a bathroom on the second floor.[6]

In 1903 plans for a new, larger hospital were drawn by the architecture firm of Tourtellotte & Co.[7] Completed and opened late in 1903, the new St. Luke's was a 3-story, brick and stone building capable of treating 25 patients, with sleeping quarters for nurses and a nurses training school.[8] Wayland & Fennell designed a 3-story wing addition in 1906, with plans for a future second wing. The hospital also made plans to demolish its original building, the converted house,[9] and St. Luke's graduated its first class of nurses at the training school.[10]

A 9-bed children's hospital was constructed adjacent to the main buildings in 1910.[11]

Patients numbered 541 in 1909, and by 1926 the hospital cared for 2005 patients within facilities constructed in 1906.[12] Construction began on a new main hospital building, and in 1928 St. Luke's opened its 4-story building at the corner of 1st and Bannock Streets, adding 67 beds.[13][14]

In 1947 the hospital again faced overcrowding, partly because of an increase in patients with polio. St. Luke's and its neighbor hospital, St. Alphonsus, initiated the United Hospital Fund Campaign with a goal of constructing new, 100-bed facilities at both hospitals.[15]"Campaign for Hospital Expansion Gets Started". Idaho Statesman. Boise, Idaho. November 5, 1947. p. 1. The funding drive raised over $300,000 for each hospital, but by the end of 1949 the funds remained in escrow, unable to cover costs of new construction.[16] Finally in 1950 the hospital broke ground for construction of a new wing.[17]

By 1970 a shortage of hospital beds and crowded facilities prompted St. Luke's to consider another expansion.[18] St. Luke's and St. Alphonsus also were urged to consolidate emergency rooms into one facility and obstetrics into another.[19] Later that year, St. Luke's increased its number of hospital beds to 206.[20] In 1977 St. Luke's expanded again with a 5-level building, bringing its number of hospital beds to 300. The hospital became St. Luke's Regional Medical Center in 1980.[21]

In 1993 St. Luke's opened the first 4-stories of its 10-story tower that now defines the hospital skyline at N 1st and Bannock Sts.[21] In 1999 a new children's hospital was dedicated in existing buildings at the site.[22] The hospital also opened a large parking garage at the site.[23]

The hospital expanded its emergency department in 2001.[24] In 2009 a medical office building was approved by city planners. The building would be connected by skybridge to the east wing of the hospital along Avenue B.[25] The project proposal became part of a larger expansion plan in 2014 that includes a new building with 60 beds, laboratory space, and cardiac care facilities north of E Jefferson St., directly behind the existing hospital.[26] By 2015 the expansion plan had grown to a 4-phase proposal to occur over several decades.[27] Groundbreaking for phase one, a children's hospital pavilion at Avenue B and E Jefferson St., began in 2016.[28]

In 2017 a 98-foot giant sequoia, planted in 1912, was moved from the hospital grounds to provide space for construction.[29] St. Luke's began moving historic homes away from its second E Jefferson St. construction site in 2018.[30]

The hospital is considered a 578-bed hospital when combined with its affiliate hospital in Meridian.[31]

• Media related to St. Luke's Boise Medical Center at Wikimedia Commons
• St. Luke's Regional Medical Center, U.S. News & World Report

• Barbara Herrick, St. Luke´s Regional Medical Center: A Century of Community, 1902-2002 (Heritage Publishers, Inc., 2002)