Skip to main content

Grandview Hospital, Inc. (La Crosse, Wisconsin) Collection

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 117

Scope and Contents

Papers in this collection include photocopied documents that remained at the former hospital building, such as association annual meetings (1943-1970); Grandview clinic and medical staff, land sales (1950-1957); merger talks with La Crosse Hospital (1951-1960); and miscellaneous correspondence (1943-1956). The original documents were returned to the building’s owner, Rick Masrud.

Other materials were gathered to complete a written history of the hospital by Anita Taylor Doering and William T. Doering. This includes biographical material on the medical staff and nurses’ training school; general articles and other information on the hospital; clinic and nursing school; maps, drawings and notes related to properties; photographs; and the first draft of the paper “Grandview Hospital: A Grand History” written in 1999. A final version can be located in the book collection.

Dates

  • 1943-1999

Creator

Access to Materials

Materials in this collection are available for patron use.

Historical Note

Grandview Hospital, Inc., operated in La Crosse, Wis., from 1914 to 1969. An affiliated clinic and nurses training program were also a part of the hospital’s history.

Dr. William A. Henke began private practice in La Crosse in a downtown office in 1911. By 1914, he and his wife Beulah had purchased two lots on Main Street for their hospital. Soon after Grandview opened, it was filled to capacity. Additions in 1917 and 1921 expanded the hospital. A remodeling project was completed in 1925 and another addition done in 1926. A new nurses’ home, connected by an underground tunnel to the hospital, was completed in 1921. The Henke Clinic soon moved into the hospital space in 1926.

The Grandview Nursing School became a victim of the Depression and closed in 1934. In 1940, Henke decided he wanted to be released of the day-to-day operations of the hospital and wanted to return to clinical duties. Unfortunately, Henke suffered a fatal heart attack the night before the hospital was to be turned over to the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, the operators of the St. Francis Hospital.

After Henke’s death the hospital suffered and was eventually closed in 1969. The Clinic merged with Skemp Clinic.

Extent

0.2 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Grandview Hospital, Inc., begun by Dr. William A. Henke (1881-1940), operated in La Crosse, Wis., from 1914 to 1969. An affiliated clinic and nurses training program were also a part of the hospital’s history.

Materials include photocopied documents that remained at the former hospital building, such as association annual meetings (1943-1970); Grandview clinic and medical staff, land sales (1950-1957); merger talks with La Crosse Hospital (1951-1960); and miscellaneous correspondence (1943-1956).

Other materials were gathered to complete a written history of the hospital by Anita Taylor Doering and William T. Doering. This includes biographical material on the medical staff and nursing school; general articles and other information on the hospital; clinic and nursing school; maps, drawings and notes related to properties; photographs; and the first draft of the paper Grandview Hospital: A Grand History written in 1999.

Acquisitions Information

(Accession no. 1999.010) Grandview Hospital, Inc. materials loaned to the library for photocopying by Rick Masrud, 1999

(Accession no. 2007.018) Doering notes and photographs donated by Anita Taylor Doering, 2007 March

Related Materials

Missing Title

(Clipping file)
La Crosse--Hospitals and clinics--Grandview
(Picture file)
Hospitals and clinics--Grandview
(Online content)
Grandview Hospital: A Grand History
(901 H388R 1983)
The Rough Road to Civilization, by W. A. Henke

Physical Description

1 archives box

Processing Information

Processed by Anita Taylor Doering, 2007 March

Title
Guide to the Grandview Hospital, Inc. (La Crosse, Wisconsin) Collection, 1943-1999
Status
Completed
Author
Anita Taylor Doering
Date
2007 March
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the La Crosse Public Library Archives Repository

Contact:
800 Main St.
La Crosse Wisconsin 54601
(608) 789-7136