75 years ago today,
Mount Sinai Hospital made a statement.
It was a remarkable moment. February 19, 1951.
The culmination of an intensive, community-wide, 5 year campaign by leaders and philanthropists of the Jewish community to build their own hospital. It would be a place for the dignified treatment of patients without regard of their social status or ethnic background, all the while giving a state of the art environment for Jewish doctors to practice medicine.
Until the mid 1950’s, Jewish doctors did not have admitting privileges to area hospitals. When their patients needed a procedure that required a hospital stay,
a Jewish doctor was forced to consult with a gentile colleague to act as the admitting physician. It was one of the remaining insults and indignities that lingered after the virulent anti-semitism that pervaded in Minneapolis in the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s.
So the Jewish community took matters into their own hands. They built their own hospital. In just 5 years they raised $4,000,000 and opened this premier medical institution. Soon after, the Phillips Eye Institute would become a national center for eye care.
Mount Sinai has be gone for over 35 years. Nearly as long as it existed. Recently the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest was made aware of impending construction that would envelop and ultimately encase the one remaining visible symbol that Mount Sinai once existed; its cornerstone.
Like so many things, time passes and the world changes. We wish we could say that these changes included an end to bigotry and antisemitism.
But 75 years later, here we are.
As we say goodbye to this cornerstone, weathered and cracked, we won’t forget what it represented. In the months to come, we will be remembering the message and spirit of those who helped open the doors of Mount Sinai, and those who practiced healing there. Our community will come together again, and hear the important messages of the past.
*The cornerstone was laid in October of 1950, and the doors opened in 1951.
If you have any information, history, images or artifacts related to Mount Sinai, we
would love to hear about them to be included in the history we are compiling.
You can email us at: history@jhsum.org
You may also upload photos or documents:
It happened right here
It happened right here
The story of the Jews in the Upper Midwest goes back nearly 200 years. The places where today we live, work and play are the same places our predecessors encountered as immigrants, sodbusters, business owners, community leaders and neighbors. Our story is urban and rural, religious and secular, joyful and tragic.
For over 40 years, the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest has uplifted this history through creating exhibits, authoring publications, and hosting events that enable you to place yourself right here where it happened … where it’s happening today.
