Over the years, the Elliot Park neighborhood has hosted a variety of hospitals and nursing schools. St. Barnabas Hospital was founded as the Cottage Hospital in 1871 by Reverend D.B. Knickerbacker of the Gethsemane Parish of the Episcopal Church.Located between South 7th and 6th Streets and 9th and 10th Avenues South, the six bed facility was the first hospital in the city. After the Cottage Hospital changed its name to St. Barnabas Hospital the campus expanded to fifty beds and the organization opened the School of Nursing to take advantage of a booming interest in the medical professions. Inspired by Florence Nightingale, the school’s mission was inspired by the principles of compassion, commitment, intelligence, and training. On December 30th, 1893 the corner stone of St. Barnabas was laid. The building was completed and dedicated on All Saints Day, November 11th, 1894.The building and equipment cost $50,000.
In 1906, a nurses home was constructed on South 7th Street. In 1907and 1908 the interior of the hospital was entirely renewed, 4 operating rooms were constructed, two more lots were purchased and the hospital was extended on the 6th street side and in the center of the block to 10th Avenue South. A modern home for the employees of the hospital was erected on the 10th avenue lot and a laundry building was built at the rear of the hospital and equipped with a gift of $3,000 left by Miss Kate J. Wells.
In 1915, newly appointed nurses were required to have the one pair ground gripper shoes, one pair rubbers to fit shoes, a watch with a second hand, a fountain pen, a cheap umbrella, and four plain dresses.
Between the opening of the school in 1894 and the second World War II, the age requirements were between 18 and 32. After we entered the war, the minimum age was dropped to 17 and a half. At the time 108 of 109 students were also enrolled in the U.S. military cadet program. In 1948, the St. Barnabas Hospital School of Nursing partnered with the University of Minnesota. Science, Social Science courses and pre-entrance nurse aptitude tests were taken there.
In 1970, St. Barnabas Hospital merged with the Swedish Hospital and St. Andrews Hospital to form the Metropolitan Medical Center. Twenty years later, the Metropolitan Medical was incorporated into the Hennepin County Medical Center. In 2005 the 1910 addition to St. Barnabas Hospital was redeveloped as a historic preservation known as the Barnabas Apartments.
