Still More on Longmont's Hospital History

I previously mentioned that Longmont's first hospital in 1902 was at 6th and Kimbark but I didn't know the actual location. I've since found out that it was on the northwest corner, at 603 Kimbark. Today, a brick building is there, used by an insurance company and this is certainly not the same structure that was used as a hospital 107 years ago:


603 Kimbark, in 1902, was owned by Mrs. Mary L. Carr, who was an interesting person in her own right, deserving more attention in a future article, I hope (One subject seems to lead to another!) Mrs. Carr was the national president of the largest women's organization in the USA at the time, the Women's Relief Corp (WRC) and also ran on the Democratic ticket for state representative in 1904. Needless to say, it was very rare to have a woman on the state government ballot back then.

In August 1902, Mrs. Carr leased her house to Miss Laura Atkinson of Colorado Springs and a Miss German from Denver, to be operated as a hospital. The newspaper welcomed the hospital, noting that patients would not need to go to Boulder or Denver anymore. It's not clear how successful this hospital was, but it was listed two years later in the 1904 phonebook. Despite the same name, it appears unrelated to the formation of the future and permanent Longmont Hospital at 4th & Coffman.

One more hospital apparently existed in Longmont, before the first-class one opened in 1907: the newspaper notes in 1904 that a new hospital was created above some doctor's offices on Main Street.

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The complete Longmont hospital timeline looks like this (so far):

1. Longmont Hospital (1902 - ?). 603 Kimbark
   
   
2. Mystery Main Street hospital (1904- ?) mentioned above.
   
   
3. Longmont Hospital (1907-1961). 4th and Coffman.
   
   
4. St. Vrain Hospital
   
   • 320 Bross (1915 - 1921)
   • 502 Collyer (1921-1929). See pictures below.
     
   • 303 Coffman (1929-1950). This is the Dickens House, or now called the Dickens Manor apartment house.
     
     
5. Longmont United Hospital (LUH) (1959-present). Mountain View Avenue. Spawned from Longmont Hospital.
   
   
6. Longmont Clinic (1961- present). Mountain View Avenue. Also spawned from Longmont Hospital.
   

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Just a few blocks away from the 603 Kimbark hospital site is the Mead House at 502 Collyer, the home of the St. Vrain Hospital for a few years in the 1920's. This historic building today:



Update: Carr Park in Longmont is actually named after Mr. Byron Leander Carr (1842-1899) and Mary Lord Carr (1837-1933).