Observations about Longmont, Colorado: Longmont, Then and Now #9: Longmont Hospital

In addition to being a sacred street in the 1900's with its churches, Coffman Street was also "medical row", home to two Longmont Hospitals. The first and most well known to us today is the Longmont Hospital, which spawned both the Longmont United Hospital and the Longmont Clinic.

The Longmont Hospital was opened in 1907 at a cost of $30,000, at the intersection of 4th and Coffman. The complete history is available here (3 MB PDF) from the Longmont Clinic, written in 2006 as part of their 100th anniversary celebration. This building stayed in operation at this location until 1961 when the Clinic moved to their new location. The Hospital operations moved two years earlier to the current LUH location in 1959. Finally, in 1964, the building at 4th and Coffman was town down.

The church next to the Hospital was the Methodist Church. This area is now occupied by the Longmont Times-Call newspaper building.

Today, you're likely familiar with the bank building at this same corner:

Just a few blocks further south on Coffman, at the intersecton with 3rd Avenue was the lesser-known St. Vrain Hospital. Today, this is an apartment house but from 1930 to 1950, 303 Coffman Street was a hospital and was previously the residence of the well-known Dickens family of Longmont. The late Katherine Greenamyre wrote in her 1991 autobiography "Let Me Take You Back With Me" (available at the Longmont Library) about visiting one of her students there:

"I recall going to see him at the old St. Vrain Hospital at the corner
of Coffman Street and 3rd Avenue (now a rooming house)"

St. Vrain Hospital goes back earlier than this, with the previous location at 502 Collyer, from 1921 to 1929. If I find out more information about this hospital, I'll post it.

A summary of the informal "Longmont: Then and Now" series so far: