When the hospital was founded on Aug. 22, 1874, St. Mary’s was the only hospital north of Detroit. Saginaw and East Saginaw had grown to roughly 27,000 residents, and a hospital was necessary for the booming lumber towns. According to "There is Life Here: A Celebration of Service" by Carol Jonson, the need of care was especially for the "lumberjacks, shanty boys, river hogs, and mill hands...There were many men in Saginaw from the lumber woods who were suffering from injuries and disease, wasting away and dying from sheer lack of proper care."

Under the direction of Father Francis Van der Bom, pastor of St. Mary’s Church (now the Cathedral), a group of area residents leased the Monitor House to establish the hospital while funds were raised to build a new facility. Within two weeks, the $1,500 goal was met.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, whose motherhouse was in Emmitsburg, Maryland, assigned four Sisters to staff the new hospital at Father Van der Bom’s request. The Daughters of Charity were known as both excellent nurses and as pioneers in developing hospitals in America’s vast wilderness settlements. Historical records indicate that many of the locals were initially nervous of the arrival of the nuns, as no one had ever seen their distinctive habits with elaborate headdress, called a coronet. Many described these four as the “flying nuns.”

St. Mary’s was originally in the 15-room Monitor House. In the beginning, the hospital spent roughly $600 to furnish the hospital and staffed by three doctors: Dr. Benjamin B. Ross, Dr. Chester H. Sample and Dr. Harvey W. Williams.

On Aug. 25, the first patient applied for admission, and he was admitted Sept. 1. Robert Perry was a 33-year-old Canadian worker diagnosed with typhoid fever, likely contracted in the area with the mosquito-infested wetlands.

Using the funds raised from the community and from selling insurance plans, the Monitor House was replaced with a new wooden three-story structure with a basement in 1875. It contained a spacious hall, a reception room, a chapel and apartments for the Sisters, in addition to the several wards and a pharmacy. It also had a United States Marine Ward, which had its own resident surgeon and assistant to care for Marines injured in service on the Great Lakes and nearby rivers. The old building was then used for contagious diseases. As the need grew for medical services, St. Mary’s expanded, remodeled and adapted. Annual admissions swelled from 72 patients in 1875 to 588 in 1890.

According to the Historical Society of Saginaw County, in 1879, St. Mary's cared for 415 men under its insurance plan with an average stay of 32 days. Nearly 170 of the patients had malaria, dysentery, tuberculosis, pneumonia or bronchitis; 98 suffered wounds and fractures, and 14 patients required amputations. In the early years, only two women were admitted:  one was suffering from a fever, while the other recovered from a sore thumb.

During the 1920s and 1930s, specialty departments began to pop up in the hospital, including pathology (1926), obstetrics (1927), roentgenology (1928, with the installation of a diagnostic x-ray machine and an x-ray therapy machine) and the Diet Department and Nutrition Laboratory (1928). Many patients were treated in their rooms until 1947, when St. Mary's hired its first registered physical therapist and developed a physical therapy treatment room.

The charitable mission of the Sisters continued through a free clinic run by St. Mary’s from 1891 to 1933 until it was taken over by the Saginaw County Medical Society. However, in 1945, the clinic came under the supervision of the Diocese of Saginaw and was renamed the Guadalupe Center.

The community thanked God for the hospital’s growth and service at a Solemn High Mass for St. Mary’s 75th anniversary on Sept. 20, 1949 at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption. Monsignor John Sonefeld celebrated Mass, and Father James Kenny, Father Francis Jurek, Father Joseph A. Castanier and Father Joseph W. Roach concelebrated.

St. Mary’s continued to grow, including with educational programs. Over the years, St. Mary’s was recognized for innovation and technologies that would place Saginaw on the map. St. Mary’s performed the region’s first open heart surgery in 1984 and was the first in the area to offer a comprehensive cancer treatment and Neuro Intensive Care. In November 1999, St. Mary’s was renamed as Ascension St. Mary’s after the unification of the Daughters of Charity National Health System and Sisters of St. Joseph Health System and their rebranding as Ascension Health.

While 2024 marked the 150th anniversary of the hospital, it also marked a new chapter. In August, the hospital joined the MyMichigan Health system with the name as MyMichigan Health Saginaw. It is the first time the hospital has operated without a Catholic presence in the building.

Father James Carlson, a senior priest of the Diocese, served as the final chaplain for St. Mary’s Hospital.

"In my years of service here at St. Mary's Hospital, an image continually comes to my mind: the image of being the hands of Christ," he said in a speech to the hospital staff. “You are touching our patients with the loving, living presence of Christ as you care for them each day with compassion and love. That has been the mission of this hospital for 150 years. We have been Christ to so many who have come to us for healing and comfort. Truly, through your hands and loving, compassionate care, people have found life here."

His words reflected the words of an unnamed lumberjack and former patient, who described his time with St. Mary’s in the early days of its founding: “There is life here!”

St. Mary's Hospital Timeline

Aug. 22, 1874

St. Mary’s Hospital opens in the former “Monitor House.”

1875

A new wooden, three-story structure with a basement was built.

St. Mary’s was incorporated as a non-profit under Michigan state laws.

1889

The south wing of the hospital was completed, adding 85 beds.

1890

Annual admissions grew to 588 patients.

1891-1893

Mathilda Bruno became the first St. Mary’s School of Nursing student.

1902

A three-year nursing program was introduced.

1927

Obstetrics department opens and delivers 211 babies, including two sets of twins, in the first year.

1928

A two-year hospital expansion project was completed, standing six stories tall with 88 beds.

The first chaplain, Father Alfred A. Hyland, was assigned.

1934

A new X-ray machine was installed by the Welfare League.

1949

A Solemn High Mass at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption celebrates the hospital’s 75th anniversary on Sept. 20.

1960

The St. Mary’s Hospital Auxiliary was organized by the Children’s Free Ward Association. St. Mary’s has expanded to 242 beds plus 48 infant bassinets.  

1961

Bishop Stephen Woznicki blessed and set the cornerstone on April 9 after a three-year-long expansion project was completed.

1962

The School of Medical Technology was added and approved by the Council on Medical Education and Hospitals of the AMA.

1973

St. Mary’s opens a cardiac special procedures room and neurosurgical intensive care unit.

1976

Obstetrical Unit closes.

1981

The first lay administrator is hired. St. Mary’s opens the region’s first cancer treatment center.  

1984

St. Mary’s performed the region’s first open heart surgery.

1987

FlightCare helicopter transport service begins.

1999

Daughters of Charity National Health System merges with the Sisters of St. Joseph, forming Ascension Health. The hospital is renamed Ascension St. Mary’s.

2024

Ascension St. Mary’s is acquired by MyMichigan Health and renamed MyMichigan Medical Center- Saginaw.