Our Heritage (p.50)
St. Agnes Hospital - "Founded With Faith, Love, and $1,100"

By Amy Pierce

This first 2012 "Our Heritage" page follows up on a promise made with last year's third-quarter history of Wake Memorial Hospital (WakeMed) to feature the other three major Raleigh hospitals in a future article. Given the rich history of Mary Elizabeth, Saint Agnes, and Rex, we have chosen to devote a full page to each. Watch for the others in July 2012 and January 2013.

Excluding the Civil War years, hospitals have existed in Raleigh since the late 1800s, often with intertwining histories. Firstborn was St. John's, midwifed in 1878 by St. John's Guild, the benevolent society of the Church of the Good Shepherd. The city's first medical son was created to serve its indigent popu-lation. During the late-19th century Depression, mounting debts led to the suffering hospital's rescue in 1893 by the John Rex Hospital Fund, allow-ing it to morph into a new baby named, yes, Rex. In 1882, Leo-nard Hospital was delivered by its parent, Shaw University Medical School. Somehow, both father and son managed to stay alive amid the Depression, though both eventually suc-cumbed to financial difficulties, closing permanently as World War I was ending in 1918. The two daughters, Saint Agnes and Mary Elizabeth, came into the world in 1896 and 1914, respectively.

Like Leonard, Saint Agnes was located on the campus of an African American college, St. Augustine's. Its founder, Sara Hunter, wife of the school's first principal, was white. In fact, in the hospital's early days, all of its principal medical personnel were white women. Mrs. Hunter's initial plea for funds in 1895 was made to the general convention of the Episcopal Church in Minneapolis. She received two gifts, one for $500 and another for $600 – the latter given in honor of the donor's wife, Agnes Collins, for whom this most beloved hospital was named.

"In 1922, it was referred to … as the only well equipped hospital for Negroes between Washington and New Orleans, serving not only North Carolina, but adjacent Virginia and South Carolina. In that year, three white-robed members of the Raleigh Ku Klux Klan stalked into the first meeting of a campaign to raise $40,000 for the Hospital and gave five ten dollar bills … as first payment on a $100 contribution. A letter from the Klan read as follows: 'Dear Sir: Believing in the sincerity of the movement and being in sympathy with the furthering of such a worthy and beneficient cause, the Klan hereby declares its interest in the success and future welfare of the St. Agnes Hospital for colored people and hereby makes known its desire and willingness to lend support. It gives great pleasure, therefore, at this opportunity to tender, as a visible sign, the pledge of the Raleigh Klan to this cause, written for the sum of one hundred dollars. And enclosed herewith are five ten dollar bills as the first payment on the pledge. With the hopes of the Klan for the best success of the campaign, Yours very truly, KLIGRAPP, Raleigh Klan No. 1, Realm of North Carolina.'

"What was the nature of an institution which could earn such a com-prehensive measure of community approval? … From the account of Dr. Mary V. Glenton we learn that 'An old hack driver came one day to take a patient to the station who was well enough to go home, she was broken hearted at leaving her Hospital friends. The driver looked at her for a minute, and said, "I brings these wimmen, and they cries all the way 'cause they has to come, and I takes them away, and they cries all the way 'cause they has to go home."'" ("Saint Agnes Hospital, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1896-1961," W. Montague Cobb, MD, Journal of the American Medical Association, September, 1961, Vol. 53, No. 5)

When the hospital and its teaching programs closed in 1961, its patients and many of its doctors and nurses were enfolded into the newly built Wake Memorial, the first integrated hospital in the area (see "Our Heritage," July / August / September 2011). For nearly half a century, it was not just the only hospital for African Americans between Washington and Atlanta, it was the only training school for black nurses and interns. This Raleigh Historic Landmark was supported by sources as diverse as the Duke Foundation, the National Woman's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Church, the Rosenwald Fund, and the Ku Klux Klan. For many years, January 21 was Saint Agnes Hospital Day in Raleigh, when citizens, businesses, and other groups made generous donations to the institution. None of its donors, however, could hold the place of honor reserved for the school's first two benefactors in 1895. Oft repeated during its 65-year life, "Saint Agnes was founded with faith, love, and $1100." Clearly, the 65-year life of Saint Agnes was one of greatness. In the end, the legacy and honor belongs to Sara Hunter, upon whose shoulders the financial responsibility always rested, and out of whose heart the inspiration and faith always flowed.

For a video about the St. Agnes Hospital building restoration, go to www.wral.com/lifestyles/healthteam/story/9208931/.

Amy Pierce lives in Wake Forest's Mill Village, where she is a writer, minister, and spiritual counselor. She can be reached at 919-554-2711 or visit www.authenticself.us.

Photo courtesy of David Strevel, Raleigh, www.strevelphotos.com