The Gibbons Hospital
Maternity Record
The Gibbons Hospital
first opened as a medical facility in 1922. It recorded its
first birth in 1933 (there were four babies born that year),
and closed—48 years and over 13,000 births later—on
July 1, 1980.
There was only one maternal death
in this entire number of newborns and that occurred in the
late 30s. There was also one abdominal pregnancy—delivered
successfully. In the two years of 1948 and 1949 there were
more babies born per admission than any other hospital in
the United States (other than OB hospitals). When the post-war
boom started, the hospital had but a total of 35 beds. Expansion
in 1947 added ten more, all of which were reserved for maternity.
At one time there were 21 babies in the nursery.
In April 1954,
speculation as to when the 10,000th baby would
be born had that it would occur in May 1964. The 10,000th
baby was a girl, Connie Ann, born to Mrs. John Hierholzer
on September 3, 1961.
The last baby born
at Gibbons Hospital was a boy, Aaron Lucas, who was born to
Mrs. David Peggs on June 28, 1980. He was baby number 13,560.
