St. Margaret's Hospital...strange

[Scout]

We were up in Kansas City the other day, doing some business in an area that I seldom go to any more but that I spent a lot of time in when I was growing up. I lived briefly in KCK before moving to Overland Park where we lived for quite a few years. My Dad worked just across the Kansas river from this area though and crossed the bridge a lot to eat and get car parts, etc. At any rate, we were over there and I went to get on I-70 to get the he// out when I spied this old hospital way up on the hill above us. I decided to check it out. Turns out it is on Strawberry Hill. I thought it was St. Joseph's as it says, but it is old St. Margaret's, one of the oldest hospitals in Kansas City and at one time, the largest west of the Mississippi.

Here is the front.



East wing.





East side.



Back. You can see part of the old building, before it was redone with the tan colored brick. The old red brick building was huge too. What struck me was the lack of parking in front. More later on this...







Smokestack of the incinerator. You gotta wonder how many arms were burned up here...





And finally, a pic of the cross on the east wing. This turned out in an amazing manner, I thought.

[ropingk]

great pics

[Scout]

Okay, thought I'd go ahead and load the pics and then comment more.

I researched the building because though I lived in the KC area quite awhile growing up and had heard of lots of the hospitals and visited a few, I didn't remember this one. It is mentioned in an online history of Kansas City, Kansas, along with Bethany. It was built in 1887 and originally looked much different. The original was a more gothic-looking structure. I don't know whether the actual style was Gothic or Victorian, but it looked pretty severe. In back there was originally a garden, fountain, and a bunch of other stuff-quite attractive. Now there are houses built right up to the property and you can barely negotiate the turns in the alley to get behind it. I shudder to think what a semi would have to do to unload. I don't know what year it was redone, but I saw a pic of it with the tan brick which looked to be mid-fifties, so I'm thinking it was redone in the forties or fifties, to the basic configuration in these pics.

I would have loved to have entered. It looks to be in pretty good shape and I believe it was used until just here lately. I'm guessing it has stood empty at most, ten years. Probably less. There was a cop following me around though and I had attracted attention of the natives...

So I asked my Dad about the big hospital on the hill up from 7th Street. Here's the strangeness. He remembered it well. My Mom had actually spent the night there once. He didn't relate what for, but I have an idea.

A piece of Kansas City history that is forgotten and that will be torn down, as soon as somebody can figure out how to profit from it, or somebody's BIL needs a contract. Sad.

It is on the Asbestos-polluted site list, btw.

[KansasCity]

Wow, I looked it up on the UER DB and no one has ever put in a location for it. It currently has two easy ways into, we were in 2 weeks ago. If you are ever back, and need someone to explore with, let one of us KC people know. We've been in there a few times.

[Scout]

Hey KC, could you post what it was like inside? Were there still beds in there? Desks? Was stuff intact or all in pretty bad shape?

[Esoteric]

From what I remember (we had to make a hasty exit), it was gutted and looked like a warzone inside

[Scout]

[ropingk]

be a good place to wage a paint ball war

[Esoteric]

here is peterbillionaire's gallery from kcurbex - btw the place should be seen, it's huge

http://www.kcurbex.org/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=86

[redox]

http://www.kcurbex.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=86&pos=53

yummy!