Above from top: Gratiot County Herald headlines the history of Smith Memorial Hospital in a 1955 article; photograph of Smith Memorial Hospital as it looked probably taken in the 1940s; Dr. R.B. Smith, doctor, mayor of Alma, Alma school board member for whom Smith Memorial Hospital was named.

The babies were loaded to the rafters, someone said after a trip to Alma’s Smith Memorial Hospital in the summer of 1952. In fact, the hospital staff wondered just where to put the next baby to be born in the nursery.

 During June 1952, a total of 68 babies were born. The nursery overflowed with flowers for each of the mothers, brought in by the husbands, who were forced to sit on their wives’ beds due to overcrowding during visitation. An observer noted that many of the babies born on one late June Sunday belonged to patients of Dr. Budge, who had been very busy at Smith delivering babies. Throughout its history, Smith Memorial Hospital was the place where thousands of babies were born in Gratiot County.

During the summer of 1952, many young men from Gratiot County served in a far-off war in a place called Korea. The county would soon prepare for centennial celebrations in a series of towns and villages. Twenty years of Democratic rule in the White House, which started with the Great Depression and encompassed the Second World War, began to change as Dwight D. Eisenhower announced his intention to run for President.

However, at Smith Memorial Hospital, overcrowding led to the need for a new hospital – one large enough to serve a community (or county) that then comprised 33,000 people. It was not just the nursery that was overcrowded at Smith. It was not uncommon for patients to be placed along a narrow hallway or packed into other rooms in the house,  once built and lived in by Alma businessman A.W. Wright.

After the passing of the last member of the Ammi Wright family, the Wright House was purchased in 1934 for $5,000 by the widow of the late Doctor R.B. Smith, a well-known Alma physician who had served as Alma’s mayor and a long-time school board member. Mrs. Smith donated the hospital, which initially operated with only ten beds. By October 1937, the hospital’s growing needs meant an addition to the building. However, by the 1950s, if one wanted treatment at a proper facility, county residents would have to go to St. Johns, Mt. Pleasant, Greenville, Midland, Saginaw, or Owosso.

It became increasingly clear that Gratiot County needed a modern hospital. In November 1952, Smith Memorial initiated the idea of a new hospital by purchasing ten acres of land north of town, where Consumers Power and Alma Production Credit Corporation would be its main neighbors. The new location was chosen because it offered potential for sufficient parking, access to water and sewer, and was a quieter area than downtown Alma.

Also, in November, a group of physicians and area residents had been meeting to discuss the idea of a new hospital. The first formal meeting took place on Friday, November 7, at the Park Hotel in St. Louis, where Alma Mayor E.E. Thompson presided over the gathering. A total of 31 people, including doctors, supervisors, mayors, the county nurse, and other interested individuals, all attended. A recent survey conducted by the American City Bureau, a specialist in hospital fundraising projects that had completed 260 campaigns before advising people in Alma, recommended a hospital with 140-150 beds. Some in the group thought the number of beds and the costs were too high and advised going for a 75-bed hospital due to the expected cost of $1.125 million. However, a survey and some doctors mentioned that federal funding for such a project could lower the amount of money to be raised to 45 percent of the projected cost. The remaining funds would need to be raised by the residents. A fact-finding committee was established, and its members visited other modern hospitals, including those in Lagrange, Indiana, and Gaylord, Michigan, to observe their operations. To keep the idea of a new county hospital alive through future meetings on the first Wednesday of each month.

One month later, on December 16, 1952, anyone interested in the idea of a new community hospital was invited to a meeting at the Midwest Refinery offices to hear reports from the committee. The question presented at the end of this meeting was whether people in Gratiot County should agree to the project and how to proceed with it. The answer was overwhelmingly yes, and a nine-person committee was appointed to begin working on articles of incorporation and further organizing the promotion and financing of a $900,000 hospital. The committee hoped to secure federal funding to cover half of the cost, and the rest to be raised through donations and subscriptions. Those placed on the more permanent hospital committee included Earle Brenneman (chairperson), Paul Raycraft, Dr. Harry Wahlman, James Redman, Lynn T. Miller, Frank Curtiss, Miss Lou Nickerson, Gordon Netzorg, and L.R. Kamperman.

However, the first financial help to build the new hospital came from the Smith Memorial Hospital Board. As early as 1952, the Smith Hospital Board stated that it had purchased the land for the new hospital and would be able to donate an estimated $125,000 through its cash, equipment, and accounts receivable. Newspapers later recorded that the amount donated in 1955 was $100,000. The first official fundraiser for the new Alma hospital took place on Friday, December 11, at 10:00 a.m. at the Gamble Store in Alma. Smith personnel members held a bazaar and bake sale to raise money for the children’s wing at the new hospital.

As 1952 ended, many people came together as the journey began to build a new county hospital.

Copyright 2025 James M Goodspeed