Today's Library Hours | Closed
The North Shore Babies Hospital was established in response to the cholera epidemic in the early 20th century. From 1904, the Babies Summer Hospital Society operated out of cottages on Bakers Island in Salem, Massachusetts. Every summer, from June to October, over 160 children were transported by boat to be treated by nurses and exposed to fresh, clean air. Additionally, a cow was sent to Bakers Island to provide fresh milk for the infants.
The hospital's original location made it difficult to transport children and supplies, and it also separated families from their children during care. After years of fundraising, the hospital moved to the former estate of Charles A. Ropes at 75 Dearborn Street, opening in June 1910. The estate had thirteen rooms and was located at the end of Dearborn Street, an area still known as Ropes’ Point. Aroline Gove funded a portion of the new hospital in memory of her mother, Lydia E. Pinkham. Similarly, in 1922, Aroline built the Lydia E. Pinkham Memorial Building on Derby Street, which served as a baby clinic and headquarters for local health agencies. Today, it operates as a well-baby clinic and offers free vaccinations.
The organization and hospital were primarily managed by women. In 1913, the staff consisted of three graduate nurses and seven undergraduates, led by Superintendent Marion Holmes. After more than a decade of fundraising, the hospital transitioned to offering year-round care for the area’s infants in 1928. The Lynn Daily Item wrote in 1913, "Under existing conditions, the children have to either be sent home or to some other hospital when the annual fall closing time arrives, and that acts as a deterrent on many of the babies who at that particular moment were starting on the rapid road to recovery."
In 1928, a room for toddlers was added, and the furnishings were donated in memory of David Lyman Jewell of Wollaston. This donation also funded the installation of a new bottle sterilizing plant in the hospital’s laboratory. At the time, the hospital relied entirely on donations. It cared for as many as 40 children and primarily focused on premature and malnourished infants. The hospital was credited with lowering the infant mortality rate of Essex County. The North Shore Babies Hospital operated on Dearborn Street until the early 1960s, when it became part of Salem Hospital. In 1972, the Ropes estate was lost to a fire.
_______________________________________
Digitized Archives
North Shore Babies Hospital Photographs and Ephemera
0 Comments.