Martha Ripley and the Hospital Named in Her Honor

Article by Michael Rainville, Jr.

Martha George Rogers RipleyIn the land of 10,000 lakes, medical field advancements, promoting women’s rights, and helping charitable causes have been ever-present, and Martha George Rogers Ripley lived a full life that encompassed all three. From growing up on the East Coast to establishing one of the best maternity hospitals in the nation, this is a story of how one person positively impacted the lives of many.

Born in 1843 in the small town of Lowell, Vermont, Martha Rogers started her life’s journey as an elementary school teacher. Once she married William Ripley, they moved to Massachusetts where she worked in the textile milling industry. Here, she took note of the subpar working conditions for women in the mills, began a suffrage group in Middleton, MA, and eventually was elected to the executive committee of the Massachusetts Women Suffrage Association. In order to be of better assistance to the women working in the mills, she enrolled in the medical school at Boston University and received her medical doctorate in 1883. Shortly after, her husband was involved in a milling accident and could no longer work. The responsibility of supporting her family was now solely on Martha’s shoulders, so the family moved to a land of more opportunity, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Martha Ripley was one of the first women to receive their medical license in Minnesota, and she soon became a top obstetrician. That same year, 1883, she was elected president of the Minnesota Woman Suffrage Association and brought the yearly national convention of the American Woman Suffrage Association to Minneapolis just two years later. During her time as president, she worked to bring more attention to public health issues such as clean water, food availability for all, and proper city sanitation. She also unsuccessfully petitioned the state to grant women the right to vote and to raise the age of consent from ten to eighteen years old. The state would later raise the age to fourteen in 1891. Quite shocking to think this was only 130 years ago.

1909 photo of the Maternity Hospital

Martha Ripley opened her own hospital in 1886 for pregnant women and children at 316 East 15th Street, near the present-day Convention Center. They quickly outgrew their first location and moved to 2529 4th Avenue South, and even then, that location was too small. Ten years after Maternity Hospital opened their doors, they moved to five acres of land on the corner of Penn Avenue North and Western Avenue, now known as Glenwood Avenue. Martha employed an all-women staff and gave care to any woman, regardless of their marital and financial status. There was also room for unwed mothers and abandoned children to live and get back on their feet, similar to the services provided by Sharing & Caring Hands at Mary’s Place.

The new building, 1916

Nurses with babies, 1925

1925 photo of babies playing with a wheelbarrow - and a pitchfork (!?!) - at the hospital.

The first new building for the hospital on this site was the Marshall Stacy Nursery, completed in 1909. In 1910, an intensive care and isolation unit for infants was built, known as the Babies’ Bungalow. That same year, the Emily Paddock Cottage opened, a residential home for nurses. Maternity Hospital was a huge success, but it wasn’t expanding quick enough for the demand it had, so in 1911, Martha asked the State for funding in order to erect a proper hospital building. Unfortunately, Martha succumbed to a respiratory infection and heart failure in 1912. However, her new two-story hospital building was completed four years later and was renamed as the Ripley Memorial Hospital.

The hospital operated until 1957, and during its time, it had one of the best infant mortality rates in the United States. Their maternal death rate was also something to be proud of. During the 1930s when the state of Minnesota saw 4.5 maternal deaths for every 1,000 births, the Ripley Memorial Hospital had 1.35.

Martha's plaque in the MN State Capitol rotunda.The memory of Martha Ripley and the hospital named in her honor still remains, however. In 1939, twenty-seven years after her passing, a bronze plaque depicting her was installed in the Minnesota State Capitol rotunda. The hospital campus was sold to the Children’s Hospital of Minneapolis, and its remaining funds were used to start the Ripley Memorial Foundation. The hospital was included in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and was redeveloped into Ripley Gardens affordable housing in 2007 by Aeon, a Twin Cities organization dedicated to making quality housing available for those who may not be able to afford it otherwise. Martha Ripley may have left us over 100 years ago, but her passion to help those who need it the most continues to live on through her foundation and the housing that now occupies the old Ripley Memorial Hospital.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -     

About Michael Rainville, Jr.

A 6th generation Minneapolitan, Michael Rainville, Jr. received his B.A. in History, Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies, and M.A. in Art History from the University of St. Thomas.

Michael is also a lead guide at Mobile Entertainment, LLC, giving Segway, biking, and walking tours of the riverfront for 9+ years.

He can be reached at mrainvillejr@comcast.net.