The History of OSF St. Joseph Medical Center
From its beginnings in the Waddle Mansion to its growth into a modern regional medical center, OSF Saint Joseph has consistently led with innovation, introducing early breakthroughs in anesthesia, advancing trauma and cardiac care and expanding services to meet the needs of a growing community.
Rooted in the Sisters’ Mission and supported by generations of dedicated caregivers, OSF Saint Joseph continues its tradition of compassionate, exceptional care for all who seek healing.
Late 1800s
1880: At the request of Bishop John Lancaster Spalding, the Sisters established their first Mission hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bloomington, Illinois.
1880: Sister M. Augustine Krasse, O.S.F., served as the first superior and administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital.
March 22, 1880: St. Joseph’s Hospital received its first patient in the former Waddle Mansion located on the southeast corner of Morris Avenue and South Water Street.
1883: A cornerstone was laid for the first expansion of St. Joseph’s Hospital, a two-story brick addition with a basement.
1895: The new St. Joseph’s Hospital operating room – considered “one of the most perfect surgical rooms in the state” – was completed. The room was constructed entirely out of glass, steel and cement to ensure sanitary conditions.
1899: A three-story addition was added, that included a larger chapel with eight large stained-glass windows, two of which were donated by the Wochner family to honor Xavier and Francis Wochner.
Early 1900s
1900: Dr. Park reported during St. Joseph’s Hospital annual meeting that 250 patients were cared for during 1899, with 40 charity cases.
1903: Some of the first tests of “Twilight Sleep” were made at St. Joseph’s Hospital. After testing, the St. Joseph’s Hospital doctors chose to use anesthesia gas instead.
1908: St. Joseph’s Hospital was the first hospital in the U.S. to use nitrous oxide gas, commonly known as laughing gas.
1909: A new three-story addition opened with the patient rooms named in honor of the local citizen or organization that provided the furnishings.
1912: A dedication ceremony was held for a grotto donated by William Moratz modeled after the famous grotto in Lourdes, France. The grotto was located just south of the hospital entrance.
1913: Sister M. Bernadine Krampe, O.S.F., hospital administrator, reported that during 1912, there were 23 Sisters stationed at St. Joseph’s Hospital that cared for 1,362 patients.
1919: One hundred women went house to house to help raise funds for a much-needed addition to St. Joseph’s hospital.
1920s & 1930s
1920: The St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing was organized.
1921: A new five-story addition with new surgical wards for men and women, maternity/nursery areas and space for the school of nursing was completed.
1921: An open house was held for National Hospital Day. The festivities included an exhibit and demonstration of X-ray technology by Sister Basilda Barduhn, O.S.F.
1923: St. Joseph’s Hospital was the first facility in downstate Illinois to hold clinics demonstrating ethylene gas. A patient would become ready for surgery in three to four minutes, instead of 15-20 minutes if either was used.
1923: The first international clinical meeting of the American Association for the Study of Goiter, now known as the American Thyroid Association, was held at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
1924: The first class, consisting of six students, graduated from St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing.
1929: The new $150,000 nurses’ home was blessed and dedicated.
1933: Seven clinical operations were performed during the 10th annual Central Illinois Physicians Clinic held at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
1939: The area’s first dial telephone system was installed at St. Joseph’s Hospital; calls could be made without an operator.
1940s & 1950s
1940: The first set of triplets born at St. Joseph’s Hospital were delivered.
1943: The Emergency Department was modernized, which included adding a separate ambulance entrance.
1945: A cutting-edge technology X-ray machine was purchased for $10,000 and installed at St. Joseph’s Hospital.
1949: An emergency “wooden” iron lung was built by a group of engineering staff from the Eureka-Williams vacuum plant to help save the lives of children with polio.
1951: The St. Joseph’s Hospital Auxiliary was organized.
1954: The newly constructed Marian Wing was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Cousins. The unit of 30 beds was used to care for children with cerebral palsy.
1960s
1962: The St. Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing closed.
1963: Plans are announced for a new $4.5 million state-of-the-art facility with air conditioning and space for 150 beds.
1964: The first gift toward the new building fund campaign was pledged by the St. Joseph’s Hospital Auxiliary. The $75,000 pledge card was presented by the auxiliary president, Mrs. Freehill.
1965: The grounds for the new St. Joseph’s Hospital were blessed.
1966: A groundbreaking was held for the new $5.5 million St. Joseph’s Hospital.
1967: St. Joseph Hospital joined the $4.5 million shared hospital information system for the facilities founded by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.
1968: The new $7.5 million St. Joseph’s Hospital located on East Washington Street – the site of the current hospital – was blessed and dedicated.
1970s
1970: The third floor was completed adding 46 beds and 9,100 square feet.
1970: The only cancer treatment center in McLean County opened at. St. Joseph’s Hospital.
1972: St. Joseph’s Hospital became the fourth hospital in the state of Illinois to receive the designation as an area-wide trauma center.
1975: St. Joseph’s Hospital changed its name to St. Joseph’s Hospital Medical Center.
1980s
1983: A new CT scanner was installed.
1984: An open house was held for the “New Beginnings” Birthing Center.
1986: A monument honoring the 635 graduates from the St. Joseph’s School of Nursing was dedicated.
1986: The first cardiac catheterization lab in Bloomington-Normal was opened at St. Joseph.
1988: A revolutionary medical imaging system called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was installed.
1988: The facility name changed to St. Joseph Medical Center.
1989: The new 96,000-square-foot Eastland Medical Plaza was opened. The facility was designed to provide modern out-patient services.
1989: The first St. Joseph Medical Center Auxiliary’s Crystal Ball was held at the Bloomington Country Club.
1990s
1990: The areas first coronary artery bypass surgery was performed at St. Joseph Medical Center.
1991: A blessing, dedication and open house was held for the expanded emergency area and chest pain unit.
1994: The 1,000th open heart surgery was performed at St. Joseph Medical Center, which in 1990 became the first hospital in McLean County to offer the procedure.
1995: The letters “OSF” were added to all the facility names to create system identity.
1995: A blessing and special Mass was held for the opening of Eastland Medical Plaza II.
1995: The first PromptCare in McLean County opened in the Eastland Medical Plaza II building
1997: A $7.7 million surgery wing was blessed and dedicated.
2000s
2003: The Children’s Hospital of Illinois opened a Bloomington-Normal office.
2004: A new 84,211-square-foot Center for Advanced Medicine addition opened.
2004: The OSF Center for Health at Fort Jesse in Normal, Illinois, opened.
2005: A special author signing event was held for St. Joseph Medical Center’s 125th anniversary book “125 Years of Faith, Hope, and Healing” written by Ruth Cobb.
2008: OSF St. Joseph Medical Center hosted the areas first public drug disposal program.
2008: OSF St. Joseph Medical Center became the first hospital in McLean County to achieve Magnet recognition and the 17th in the state of Illinois.
2010s
2011: The new $17.5 million, 29,000-square-foot birthing center opened at OSF St Joseph Medical Center.
2015: The Dana and Howard Little Family Waiting Alcove in the surgical waiting area was unveiled.
2016: A new $8.9 million hybrid operating room and post anesthesia care unit was blessed.
2017: Neonatology services were added to the Birthing Center.
2019: The new $25.3 million, 53,000-square-foot OSF Center for Health located on the OSF St. Joseph Medical Center campus was blessed.
2020s
2021: A blessing ceremony was held for the new OSF Cancer Center in Bloomington.
2023: OSF HealthCare and Illinois State University signed a connected communities program agreement, bringing together clinicians, researchers and students to focus on innovation in clinical patient engineering, data science and cybersecurity.
2023: A meet and greet event was held to welcome three Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George as Mission Partners.
2023: OSF HealthCare partnered with Illinois State University to be the sole medical provider for student athletes.
2024: A new Women’s Health and Fertility Care office opened. The center is the only one of its kind in Illinois, with no other certified NaPro surgeons in the state.
2025: The new $17.8 million, 18,000-square-foot ICU expansion was blessed.