St. Luke's Hospital (Davenport, Iowa)

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St. Luke’s Hospital was a hospital building on a bluff above downtown Davenport, Iowa. It is listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties and the National Register of Historic Places, but the building was torn down in 2017.

In 1892, Bishop William Stevens Perry proposed starting a Davenport hospital. Funding came from money left in the Iowa Christian Home bequest, amounting to $10,176.45. The Trustees bought the Daniel Newcomb residence on Eighth Street and, after remodeling it at a cost of $1,600, opened a 20-bed hospital on April 30, 1885. A few years later an addition on the north side tripled the building’s size. The hospital’s 22-member Board of Managers included 13 women, and women served as the hospital’s chief officer until 1946.

St. Luke’s was Davenport’s second hospital, after Mercy Hospital (founded in 1869). It was meant to be an emergency facility to complement Mercy’s long-term care. The operating room was on the second floor. Surgeries depended on daylight, so sunny days allowed operations while overcast days could delay them. Doctors and nurses did not wear surgical masks, and a patient’s relative could be in the room during surgery in street clothes.

The Davenport Training School for Nurses began at the hospital on August 27, 1895, and was renamed St. Luke’s Hospital Training School two years later. In 1903 the hospital added space for 50 more patients and modern operating rooms. By 1909 the hospital treated 356 patients. The hospital became a charter member of the American Hospital Association in 1918 and expanded that year with a new facility at Bridge and High Streets. The Eighth Street location was abandoned when the new hospital opened in December 1919, and the old building was converted into apartments.

There were major expansions in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1980s. St. Luke’s tried to consolidate with Mercy Hospital in 1975–1976 but remained separate. The two hospitals finally merged in 1993, forming Genesis Health System on May 24, 1994.

The old St. Luke’s building later housed apartments with 28 units into the 21st century. It was acquired by Palmer College of Chiropractic and torn down in 2017.

The Daniel Newcomb House, built in 1850 in Italianate style and later used as St. Luke’s Hospital, was made of red brick with a shallow hipped roof and decorative eaves, topped by a belvedere. A 1903 addition complemented the old building, though it introduced a steeper roof and dormers. The T-shaped wing nearly tripled the floor space, and some exterior features were altered.