ST. LOUIS - As St. Louis celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day, NewsChannel 5 took the time to look at a bi-state institution that made a major impact in the black community close to 80 years ago.
If you have ever driven on Interstate 64, near downtown, you have likely passed the old St. Mary's Infirmary building without knowing it. The old SSM hospital now sits abandoned, between downtown and Lafayette Square.
However, the building made history in 1933. According to Sister Kathy Buchheit of SSM, that was when the decision was made to make it the first black Catholic hospital in the country.
"It was always said to us, 'just go where the needs are,'" Buchheit said.
She added the infirmary also staffed black doctors and black nurses on its bi-racial staff; a rare occurrence at that time in segregated America.
The infirmary ultimately operated until the 1950s. It closed when desegregation went into effect.
According to Washington University, there were a few other public hospitals that made their services available to blacks at the time too. St. Louis City Hospital No. 2 opened in 1919. Homer G. Phillips Hospital also started its operations in the 1930s.
