011r Catl:olic H erieage in. Texas
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St. Paul's Hospital, Dallas, z896. Everywhere the services of devoted women like the Sisters were needed as much as were the general hospitals to care for the sick in the rapidly growing cities of the state. Physicians and public spirited citizens joined in Dallas to enlist the mediation of Bishop Edward Dunne in securing the services of a Sisters nursing order. The good Bishop called upon the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul of Emmitsburg, Maryland, who in spite of many other calls, accepted the opportunity to come to Dallas to establish a hospital to care for the sick and the poor. The Director of the Daughters of St. Vincent de Paul in the United States, Very Reverend R. A. Lennon, C.M., came to Dallas in August, 1896, with a group of Sisters to look the situation over and to make final arrangements. Satisfied with the prospect for service, he named Sister Bernard Riordan of Mobile, Alabama, the first superioress of the projected hospital, who immediately took charge of supervising the erection of the proposed hospital. Ground was broken on November 13, 1896, and work was begun at once, but the hospital was not opened on its present location for patients until June 15, 1898. In the meantime three Sisters carried on the work of caring for the sick and the poor in a modest cottage on Hull Street. The reason for the apparently slow progress in completing the permanent building of the new hospital, which was called St. Paul in honor of the saintly founder, was the care and solidity with which the work -was planned and carried out. The man with the vision who foresaw the greatness of the mission to which the Sister had dedicated their lives and built deliberately the proper setting for its development was Doctor Egan Letcher. The permanent site was chosen with care and five acres were acquired to permit future growth and expansion. It is located on a prominent thoroughfare, convenient and adjacent to the business section and railroad terminals. The main building is a stately Doric structure, and to this day is recognized as handsome and admirably suited to its purpose. The main unit had accommodations for one hundred and ten patients, which were increased by 19r6 to three hundred when the annex was completed on November 27 of that year. From the beginning. St. Paul's was designed as a general hospital and in its growth and development, it has been kept as modem and up-to-date as possible. AU its departments are fully equipped with the latest appli- ances so essential for the best care and greaterst comfort of the patients. By 1936 it included Medicine, Surgical, Obstetrical, Gynecological, Pe- diatric, Orthopedic, Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat, and Dietetic departments.
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