The St. Cloud Hospital celebrates 100 years of care

In 1857, the Sisters of the Order of St. Benedict travelled up the Mississippi River and settled in the area that is now known as St. Cloud. The St. Benedict’s Monastery was initially established in 1857 but relocated in 1863 to what is now known as St. Joseph.  

Their dedication to care at the monastery had pushed them to create St. Benedict’s Hospital in 1886, which contained 15 beds and a singular operating room. Their care was mainly devoted towards the sick and elderly communities in the now presently known St. Cloud area.  

“The sisters saw a need in the St. Cloud community, even without the money, they still went out with the dignity of working prayer and worked tirelessly to build one unit,” CSB senior nursing student Alaynna Kriz said. 

Later in the year of 1886, one of the deadliest tornados in Minnesota’s history hit St. Cloud and Sauk Rapids, but the St. Benedict’s Hospital remained standing. The sisters worked tirelessly to care for the mass amount of people injured in the disaster over the course of several days. The prior public opinion of the hospital had characterized it as unimportant and unfavorable, but how the sisters handled the aftermath of the storm had heavily persuaded the public’s perception of the hospital.  

The success and dedication of the sisters ultimately led them to open two more institutions, one in North Dakota, known as St. Alexius, and another in Duluth, known as St. Mary’s Medical Center. For 80 years, the sisters would continue to operate the hospital and continue to expand with staff and personnel, while remaining to support patients through a catholic perspective. Through the years, they continued their expansion through new buildings and added facilities to accommodate the growing population in the St. Cloud area.  

In 1918, the sisters that were currently working at the larger facility of St. Raphael’s were hit by an overwhelming number of patients during the height of the Spanish influenza spread. The sisters began to acknowledge that they needed a larger care facility to adequately care for the patients, this led to the 1926 “groundbreaking moment,” which had officially initiated the earliest construction of St. Cloud Hospital, later opening in 1928. The sisters had taken on a $2 million loan to complete the construction, leaving them with a concerning debt. On the opening of the hospital, all the sisters had worked with no salary from the hospital and earned their wage through secondary jobs. Their sacrifice had helped the hospital continue to make huge payments to recover from their debt. 

In the summer of 1929, the Great Depression had begun, which introduced immense hardship for the sisters as they actively were trying to pay off the debt. This resulted in the sisters cutting back on buying their own necessities and contributing financial support to continue paying off the debt. They eventually began to regain structure after the Great Depression began to end, as they continued to flourish in their dedication and care to the institution. Around 1946, the poliovirus began to spread over Central Minnesota, but through the care that the hospital provided, they ended up being a pillar to treating those affected with polio.  

“Care, prayer and being there are the three things you cannot force a person to do, they have to be willing,” said Sister Judy Kramer, a member of the St. Cloud Hospital Advisory Board. 

In 1962, the Benedictine community had decided to officially establish the St. Cloud Hospital as a separate institution. This decision then led the sisters to change the ownership of the St. Cloud Hospital to the established corporation in 1964, including all the buildings, the land it stood on and all equipment. Instead of gaining a large amount of financial compensation, they had decided to sell the ownership over for $1. This decision resulted in the development of the current St. Cloud Hospital, as expertise and specialty care had begun to progress.  

“St. Cloud Hospital is huge now, with so many levels and units, and it employs so many people” Kriz acknowledges. “This is all thanks to the sisters and the tireless efforts they put into watering the seeds of this hospital.”