Early Attempts

Early attempts to establish a hospital in Rochelle were short-lived. In 1913, A.W. Chandler, M.D., established community healthcare with the opening of Lincoln Hospital, located in an apartment building on 13th Street. The hospital served the area until 1924 when Dr. Louis Petritz purchased it and became the owner/director. He served as director of Lincoln Hospital's operation for several years, but had to close its door due to bankruptcy at the beginning of the Great Depression in 1930.

Rochelle was without local hospital service again until March of 1931, when Mrs. Marie Talcott reopened and operated the Lincoln Hospital once more. With the onset of World War II in 1939, Mrs. Talcott found it increasingly difficult to maintain operation of the hospital and had to once again close its doors and convert it back to apartments in 1942.

Under City Management

The City of Rochelle, under the mayor's leadership, reopened Lincoln Hospital later in 1942 as Rochelle City Hospital. This time, the hospital was under city management in an effort to facilitate and enhance community healthcare and establish a permanent hospital for the area.

Operation was greatly stabilized and improved under city management. Still, the existing facilities were inadequate and outdated for providing healthcare to the community. During World War II, any construction materials had to be obtained through the Federal Office of Price Administration. Despite many "red tape" delays, the city's officials and leaders persevered until they finally received approval for a new hospital building. Land for the present hospital site was sold to the City of Rochelle for $1.00 by Amelia McConaughy, a well-known community leader. The new hospital's construction began in early 1945.

Due to the population growth in Rochelle and the changes in healthcare needs and technology, the Rochelle City Hospital needed yet another expansion in 1963. Unfortunately, Rochelle City Hospital's revenues did not often match its expenses so city officials levied a hospital tax upon area citizens to help subsidize the hospital's operations. Needless to say, this didn't go over well in the community and was under much debate. Due to the additional burdens on city officials created by this debate, the city council decided to reduce the number of the hospital's Board of Trustees to five (down from nine). This new board was faced with several immediate concerns:

A new, considerably larger, up-to-date facility with state-of-the-art medical equipment was desperately needed.
After the opening of the "new hospital" in 1946, area residents increased their usage of hospital services, thereby increasing demands placed upon the City Clerk. The clerk managed the hospital's finances and could no longer juggle his regular duties along with those created by the hospital.
A new system of hospital management was also needed because Rochelle's government officials needed to be relieved of their duties with the hospital's operations.
Since there was so much debate on the hospital tax, a new, more equitable means of financing hospital operations needed to be determined. A 1963 survey sent to the hospital's patients indicated that more than half the patients were coming in from outside the city limits! These patients were not, in fact, contributing to the support of the hospital's operation, even though they were using it.