Ramsey County History – Spring 1987: “Diphtheria, Typhoid, Tuberculosis: Roots of Ramsey’s Health Care Trace Back to Anker Hospital”

Diphtheria, Typhoid, Tuberculosis: Roots of Ramsey’s Health Care Trace Back to Anker Hospital
Author: Mary Alice Czerwonka

This article describes the history of Ramsey County’s public hospitals from 1873 to 1987. Dr. Arthur Ancker arrived in St. Paul in 1883, and, over the next forty years, created a much-admired institution. A new hospital was built in 1887, and Ancker presided over endless modifications. He led public health battles against diseases and pressed constantly for higher standards of care. The hospital continued to expand, adding a diabetes clinic, heart surgery, poison control, psychiatry, and a burn unit. The St. Paul-Ramsey County Medical Center—later Regions Hospital—opened in 1965. Public health and innovation continued in burns, emergency medicine, a helipad, pediatrics, and research. There were also innovations like the independent hospital board of directors and physicians.

PDF of Czerwonka article