Wesley Hospital

The new Wesley Hospital at the northwest corner of 11th and Harrison streets, of concrete and steel and faced in tapestry brick and terra cotta, was built in 1915. Sun parlors were constructed on the front on each floor. The building replaced an earlier Wesley Hospital located across the street south which had operated for seven years. Dr. Archie Robertson was president of both institutions, and he purchased an additional 25 feet adjoining the new hospital on the north for a nurses home with quarters for 75. A tunnel was built connecting the home to the hospital. The hospital was taken over by the United States War Department in March, 1943, as a hospital for military personnel then training in Kansas City, and $50,000 was spent putting the structure in shape. In June, 1944, the Kansas City College of Osteopathy and Surgery purchased the hospital after funds were raised in a campaign carried on through the summer and fall of 1943. Funds were subscribed through alumni of the school, osteopathic physicians and friends. The building was vacated in 1972 when the new $17-million facility for the college was built at 2105 Independence Avenue. Today the sturdy old building remains empty and unused. The old post card, picturing the nurses home at the right, was published by Hall Brothers, in color. Kansas City Times, January 4, 1975.