Local hospitals: A History

1887: Three sisters of the Franciscan Order of the Sacred Heart founded La Salle's St. Mary's Hospital.

1903: Seven nuns from the Sisters of Mary of the Presentation arrived in Spring Valley after being expelled from France by an anti-religious movement. The Rev. John Power, then the pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, donated 25 acres of land and a two-story frame house for the sisters. The house contained a five-bed ward and one private room. Lit with kerosene lamps and heated with coal stoves, the home was informally called "Nazareth" by the sisters and "Miners Hospital" by the townspeople.

1905: Efforts were made to raise money to build a new hospital in Spring Valley, as the original house was quickly becoming too small.

1907: Citizens gathered for the first meeting of the Peru Hospital Association, with a mission of building a hospital to serve the area. Fundraising would not begin until 1910.

1908: A contract was awarded to the McBeth company of Peoria to build a new hospital in Spring Valley in May and the cornerstone was laid in August for the three-story, 25 bed building. The Rev. John Power named the new hospital "St. Margaret's" in honor of his mother.

1911: The Illinois Secretary of State officially grants the Peru Hospital Association charter as a non-profit institution. In Spring Valley, due to the increasing population, St. Margaret's made plans to add a two-story west wing with 14 additional beds, a bakery and a laundry.

1913: In Peru, Peoples Hospital Women's Auxiliary forms, the same year ground breaks for construction on the new hospital.

1914: The new and modern $90,000 four-story 40-bed Peoples Hospital formally opens in Peru.

1924: St. Margaret's constructed a north wing, which included two operating rooms, an x-ray department, laboratory, chapel, doctor's room and 33 additional patient rooms. In La Salle, St. Mary's Hospital broke ground on a major building addition, which was christened in 1927.

1930: A convent was built adjacent to St. Margaret's Hospital with 50 rooms for the sisters.

1938: Peoples Hospital modernized the entire top floor, upgrading and rebuilding all operating rooms.

1940: Construction begins on a new Northeast Wing of Peoples Hospital, which added 12 rooms to the original 40, expanding capacity to 52 rooms.

1941: Peoples Hospital School of Nursing closed its doors after 27 years of operation.

1942: Peoples Hospital makes upgrades and increases the size of the kitchen.

1946: St. Margaret's expands again by adding a four story building with 104 rooms, bringing the hospitals bed total to 142.

1947: St. Mary's breaks ground on another building expansion, which would later increase the bed capacity to 130.

1954: Peoples Hospital adds a Southeast Wing featuring 20 new double rooms, plus a new pharmacy, director's room, business offices, parking lot and switchboard.

1957: Peoples Hospital expands the "Maternity Section" taking the hospital's total capacity to 110 rooms. The Northeast Wing offered a state-of-the-art OB unit complete with eight patient rooms, two delivery rooms, sterilizing and formula rooms and a nursery.

1958: Citizens Hospital Council forms to discuss the growth of Peoples Hospital with annual admissions up from 569 in 1931 to well over 2,000.

1961: Renovations add new x-ray technology and lab equipment, two modern operating rooms, a recovery room and urology room, plus air conditioning at Peoples Hospital.

1964: Peoples Hospital looks into expanding the emergency room, adding 10 patient rooms and two physical therapy rooms, and building a cafeteria, dining room and soda fountain.

1966: The convent at St. Margaret's was transferred to Maryvale, Valley City, N.D., at the newly built Provincial House. Also, St. Margaret's explores the feasibility of constructing a new $7 million hospital. The plan was abandoned due to financial reasons.

1967: The State Healthcare Planning Commission determines that a single new hospital would provide better health care than the three existing hospitals (Peoples in Peru, St. Mary's in La Salle and St. Margaret's in Spring Valley).

1971: St. Margaret's adds another four-story addition, which included a new X-ray, laboratory, emergency, physical therapy and pharmacy department.

1973: Peoples Hospital adds intermediate and critical care units and new equipment for cardiac monitoring.

1974: Peoples Hospital gains accredited status with a bed capacity of 133 and adds a 14 bed pediatric unit. In Spring Valley, the sisters donated a plot of land for 10/33 Ambulance Service.

1975: Illinois Valley Community Hospital makes its debut through the merger of Peoples Hospital and St. Mary's Hospital.

1978: Contractors finished construction of a new building at St. Margaret's, which replaced the 1908 and 1911 buildings. The renovations also updated the 1948 building.

1979: IVCH dedicates a new four-floor, 80-bed wing — a major expansion with a 35 bed nursing unit, intensive care unit, 29 patient rooms, three operating rooms and more. All IVCH services are moved from St. Mary's in La Salle to the new expansion.

1982: The former St. Mary's Hospital building is destroyed by fire in October.

1987: Members of the IVCH Volunteer Escort Service, better known as the Red Coats, make their first trips.

1990: The former St. Mary's Hospital property finds new life as the Illinois Veterans Home at La Salle opens.

1992: Illinois Valley Adult Day Center, an IVCH affiliate, opens its doors.

1994: IVCH constructs the one of the area's only skybridges and new parking garage. The medical building expands care and services with a second-story addition.

1998: In a momentous move, IVCH's Hygienic Institute leaves its La Salle building, which it had occupied since 1914, for a modern new location on North Chartres Street.

2000: IVCH opens the Women's Health Care Center.

2003: IVCH opens its East Addition, including 10 exam rooms and larger surgery and day surgery units.

2004: IVCH opens the Special Procedures Unit.

2006: IVCH opens the Center for Physical Rehabilitation and Aquatics located next to the Illinois Valley Y.

2007: The IVCH Oglesby Medical Clinic opens.

2008: In January, St. Margaret's announced plans to construct a new $90 million facility on the north side of U.S. 6 across from St. Bede. Groundbreaking was expected by August.

2009: St. Margaret's announced they had abandoned the plans to build a new facility.

2011: IVCH completes the final phase of the landmark east addition, with a new intensive care unit and a new OB unit featuring the option of water birth.

2015: St. Margaret's announced plans for a $5.5 million emergency room expansion project. The renovation doubled the emergency room in size and it was granted occupancy in January 2016.

2018: St. Margaret's began construction on a new 7,000 square-foot clinic in Oglesby.