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Rush University Medical Center Archives

Welcome to the Rush University Medical Center Archives. The Rush Archives, a department of the Library of Rush University Medical Center, is the official archival agency of Rush University Medical Center and Rush University.

PRESBYTERIAN-ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL, 1956-1969

Brief History of PRESBYTERIAN-ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL:

  • PSLH seal1956: Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital was the product of the April 1956 merger of St. Luke’s Hospital, founded in 1864, and Presbyterian Hospital, founded in 1883. The nursing schools merged to become Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing.
  • 1959: The physical merger of the two hospitals occurred in 1959 when the staff of St. Luke’s Hospital moved to the Presbyterian Hospital campus at the intersection of West Congress Parkway and South Wood Street in Chicago.  The new institution constructed the New East Pavilion building (renamed the John L. and Helen Kellogg Pavilion in 1979) to accommodate the merger and the growth of the hospital. Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital maintained Presbyterian Hospital’s teaching hospital relationship with the University of Illinois at Chicago.  
  • 1960: The John F. Jelke and Louanna Frazier Jelke Memorial Building opened in 1960, followed soon after by the Jelke South building which expanded Jelke further west. 
  • 1969: RUSH Medical College was revived from its closure in 1942, and Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Hospital voted to merge with the school to form RUSH-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center.

Brief History of PRESBYTERIAN-ST. LUKE'S HOSPITAL SCHOOL OF NURSING:

  • PSLHSN seal1956: Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing (PSLHSN) was created upon the merger of Presbyterian Hospital and St. Luke's Hospital and their nursing schools.
  • 1968: The school closed in 1968 after graduating its ninth class.
  • 1969: Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital hospital affiliated with RUSH Medical College, which was re-activated after closing in 1942. This corporation became RUSH-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in 1969.
  • 1972: RUSH University was established, and its College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences admitted its first students in 1973, continuing our institution's long legacy of nursing education.

Several items from the Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital Records, #4706, and Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital School of Nursing Records, #4778, have been digitized and are available online.

More resources related to Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital:

  • ***You can explore issue summaries of the hospital's NewsRounds newsletter or search a list of News Releases, 1956-2005, by visiting the PDFs below. Please contact the RUSH Archives for more information. [We hope to digitize our collection of News Releases very soon!]
  • Explore the Personal Papers of many individuals related to Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital. Click on the "Personal Papers" tab above for more information.
  • selection of photographs related to Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital and its nursing school can be found in our Flickr collection.
Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital, 1956-1969

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