The First Infirmary

The Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the Alexandria Infirmary on December 23, 1872. The original management was a Board of Government of five officers, eleven Lady Managers, and 28 men named as Trustees. The Lady Managers were from the white community and included two representatives from Protestant churches as well as members-at-large. 

The Infirmary opened March 1, 1873 in a converted house at the southwest corner of Duke and Fairfax Streets, the former residence of Dr. Francis Murphy. The Lady Managers oversaw a staff of three consulting physicians, a matron, a nurse, and a cook. Newspapers from the time indicate both white and African American patients received care in segregated facilities. 

A year after opening, inadequate income forced the Infirmary to move to smaller quarters. The Governing Trustees were on the verge of closing until Julia Johns gave an emotional appeal for the hospital to remain open at any cost --- and that she was fully willing to take the cost of running the hospital upon herself. With her leadership the Infirmary continued. 

Patient's Rules from the First Set of By-Laws for the Alexandria Infirmary

-Quiet and order at all times

-No swearing or abusive language

-No card playing

-No spitting on the floor

-No soiling of the walls or passages, windows or wainscoting

-No defacing the furniture

-Convalescents assist in the care of those weaker

-Help with the cleaning and mending

-No food around or spirits unless by orders of doctor

-No Sunday visiting hours

-Plain and simple diet served: meat-bread-potatoes; meat knuckles boiled for broth

Over the years, the increasing population and health care needs of Alexandria led the Infirmary to relocate to larger, better-equipped facilities. 

1873 – 1874

Southwest corner of Duke and Fairfax

1874 – 1880

King Street, west of Fayette Street, northwest corner

1880 – 1884

1100 block of Duke Street

What was likely the Infirmary’s first surgery took place at this location on Christmas afternoon in 1882. Dr. George Klipstein recalled performing an emergency operation that day. Klipstein and two assisting physicians amputated a portion of an African American man’s lower leg because his foot had been crushed in a railroad accident.

1884 – 1917 

500 block of Wolfe Street

The Orphans Asylum & Widows Home on the 500 block of Wolfe Street (south side of Wolfe between Pitt and Saint Asaph Streets) was converted to a 36-bed healthcare facility. The buildings were connected, and architect Glenn Brown designed interiors for hospital functions. Brown’s father practiced medicine in Alexandria. While at this location the Infirmary opened a dispensary and initiated out-patient care in 1900, established a nursing school in 1894, and changed its name to Alexandria Hospital in 1902. 

1917

700 block of Duke Street

Alexandria Hospital’s first purpose-built facility opened in September 1917. By 1913, the hospital on Wolfe Street was out-of-date and over capacity, which reportedly motivated the medical staff to present plans for a new facility to the Board of Lady Managers. Fundraising for a new hospital soon began. 

In May 1914, the Alexandria Times appealed to the community to “join in the movement to raise $50,000.00 for a new and properly equipped hospital.” In June 1915, the Washington Post reported, “A committee of public-spirited citizens several months ago started a campaign to raise a fund of $50,000 . . ..” Community support led to the purchase of the square bounded by Alfred, Columbus, Pendleton, and Wythe streets for the new facility, but it was sold when Edward Daingerfield donated land on the 700 block of Duke Street. This generous gift allowed the Managers and Trustees to sell the purchased property, as well as their Wolfe Street property, and use the proceeds for the new hospital.  

The Colored Citizens Association provided $500 for the African American women’s and men’s wards. Dr. Albert Johnson (1866-1949) was chairman of this organization, which assembled donations from numerous churches, fraternal organizations, and individuals in support of the wards. Dr. Johnson was the first African American physician to practice in Alexandria -- opening a private practice in his home at 814 Duke Street in 1894. Segregation prevented him from seeing patients at Alexandria Hospital. 

Architect Waddy B. Wood designed the hospital. It would grow to be a 200-bed modern facility that provided opportunities for female and African American health-care professionals. The hospital opened a west wing addition in July 1935. Occupancy of the newly built north wing began at the end of 1943. That year was also when the hospital first granted courtesy privileges to African American doctors. In June 1944, the east wing opened, initially comprising a basement and first floor. This wing was soon expanded with a second and third floor opening in February 1945. These floors were designed to house nursing students with the plan that they would later be converted to additional space for patients. By 1946, women doctors were practicing at the hospital. 

1962

4320 Seminary Road

The Seminary Road location operating today opened in 1962. Until 1974, the two hospitals operated at the same time as two locations of the Alexandria Hospital system. 

Construction for the hospital at Seminary Road and North Howard Street began on December 7, 1959. The community worked with state and federal authorities to fund the new facility. Half of the cost came from state and federal grants and the other half was provided by a community fundraising drive.  The hospital opened on January 14, 1962 with a dedication ceremony including Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. The new hospital provided integrated facilities and care in a state-of-the art-building with features such as every room having its own thermostat, an automatic nurse-call system for every bed, and one of the first Neonatal Intensive Care Units in the country. The facility had a pneumatic tube system for deliveries and messages, industrial laundry facilities, closed-circuit television, a backup power plant, and a new “Visit Vision” service --- a closed-circuit camera and microphone in the hospital lobby that allowed for virtual visits between patients and visitors, such as young children, who were not permitted in patients’ rooms. 

Over time, the new hospital was renovated and expanded as the course of medicine dictated. The Nursing Health Education Center addition opened in 1974. Another change was the addition of corporate support to the local support. As the economics for a small stand-alone hospital became more challenging, Alexandria Hospital joined the non-profit Inova Health System in 1997.

Joyce Paige Abney

Oral history interview Summer 2008

Logan Wiley: Ms. Abney, were you born in Alexandria? 

Joyce Abney: I was born in Alexandria, [in 1941] in the Alexandria Hospital. 

L.W.: At that time, what was medical care like for black people? 

Joyce Abney: I was a premie [premature birth] and my mother was told to remove me from the incubator so that a white child could be placed in the incubator. I was sent home and [my mother was] told to heat bricks and place them at the foot of the bed to keep me warm. At that time, they had what they called wards. Blacks were put on one side of the hospital and white[s] were put on the other. They [white people] were in private rooms and there were seven or eight of us [black people] in a ward. Many of the nurses were nurse’s aides, not R.N.s [Registered Nurses]. 

Mable Lyles

Oral history interview March 28, 2002

Phyllis Adams: Mrs. Lyles, can you tell us where you were born and when you were born? 

Mabel Lyles: I was born in the old Alexandria Hospital on Duke Street, October 3, 1927. 

P.A.: Tell me a little bit about the old Alexandria Hospital, since you mentioned it. 

Mabel Lyles: The old Alexandria Hospital, as I remember, was a two-story building. There was a separate maternity ward for black and white. My first son, Reginald, was born in the old Alexandria Hospital. There were black nurses. I remember Mrs. Jackson who was quite concerned about me when Reginald was born. At that time, people were allowed to smoke in the hospital. He was born in 1950 and she complained to the mothers about blowing smoke into their babies’ faces. [inaudible] 

P.A.: Who was your doctor? Who was the doctor who delivered your son? 

Mabel Lyles: I think his name was Murphy, Dr. Murphy. He was white. And my prenatal care doctor was Dr. [inaudible] who was black, but evidently, he had privileges in the hospital at that time.

Barbie Beggs Poole Frank

e-mail May 27, 2022

My first memories of the old Alexandria Hospital are from 1956 when I was 5 years old. I had been a somewhat sickly child and one evening I was quite ill. Our pediatrician, Dr. Hightower, came to our house and determined that I needed to have my tonsils and adenoids out ASAP. He called ahead so the hospital would be expecting us.  It was dark and my mother and I went up to a children’s ward.  The nurse would not let my mother go in with me to get me settled so of course I screamed bloody murder, at least as much as my sore throat would let me.  I had to stay in the hospital for several days since I had an ear infection that had to be resolved before I could have surgery. The ward had at least a dozen cribs all full of kids my age and younger.  Many of us weren’t terribly sick so we talked and made the occasional dare. In one case we dared a little boy to climb out of his crib.  He did and of course couldn’t get back in so had to find a nurse.  Needless to say, we were severely scolded. 

There was one little boy with two broken legs that were in traction.  His parents couldn’t visit every day so my mother would sit with him for a few minutes when she visited me.  She had a pair of dangling earrings that looked and sounded like bells.  He loved those so she wore them often.

Finally, I had my surgery and woke up in a private room with a window.  Just before I was released my kindergarten class from St. Paul’s came to visit me and bring me cards. I was able to see them through the window. Looking back, it is amazing that they were allowed to visit me.

Almost three years later, my mother went into the hospital to deliver my baby sisters.  The triplets were the first living triplets born in Alexandria Hospital. Susanna, Grace, and Augusta were born on February 28, 1959 to Liz and Don Beggs. It was quite an event and articles appeared in the Alexandria Gazette and the Washington Star.  I and my younger sister weren’t able to visit [mother], but I remember that when she came home, she was crying because she had to leave one of the girls behind.  Augusta, the smallest at 3+ lbs., had to stay in an incubator for another week or so. Susanna (Susie) and Grace (Mimi) were both over 5 lbs. and were able to come home.  The picture I provided was taken for another newspaper article when the triplets were about 3 months old.  From left to right are my sister Lillie, who was 5 when the triplets were born, Susie, Mimi, Augusta, and me. I was 7 and a half.  The triplets were always pictured and referred to by the order of their birth.

Julianna “Julia” Johns was a key figure in the founding of the Alexandria Infirmary.  She shared beliefs in Christian charitable activism with the white Protestant middle-class women who formed the Infirmary’s founding administrative board.  Through Johns and the Board of Female Managers, local church communities provided donations that sustained the Infirmary during its early years.   

Julia Johns, like her father Bishop John Johns, believed that service to others was an expression of Christian beliefs – to serve others and to spread the gospel.  John Johns became Assistant Bishop of Virginia in 1842 and served as president of the Virginia Theological Seminary’s Board of Trustees after the Civil War until his death in 1876. 

Julia lived in Bishop Johns’ household until his death.  As an unmarried woman in antebellum Virginia, Julia Johns’ opportunities and responsibilities in her father’s household differed from married contemporaries who were birthing and raising children.  The Johns relied on enslaved and hired African American workers for domestic and farm labors while the family devoted time to pastoral and community endeavors.  John Johns regularly traveled throughout the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which then encompassed Virginia and West Virginia, preached to Confederate troops in the field, and ministered to wounded soldiers in Richmond’s hospitals. Julia accompanied him for some of these duties.   

During the Civil War, the families of Bishop Johns and Reverend John McGuire fled Alexandria and formed a joint household outside Richmond in October 1862.  In her diary, Mrs. McGuire writes that she and Julia Johns volunteered as nurses in Richmond hospitals.  Mrs. McGuire worked as a volunteer nurse at Robertson Hospital. It was run by fellow Episcopalian and Confederate Captain Sally Tompkins. Mrs. McGuire did not say where Julia Johns worked but noted Julia’s continued interest in hospitals and nursing: “J.J. has returned home, as usual much interested in hospital work.” After returning home to Alexandria, Julia Johns was able to combine her knowledge of hospital care and administration to create and sustain a successful hospital that continues to benefit her hometown 150 years later. 

The creation of the Alexandria Infirmary by Julia Johns and the women who formed the founding Board of Lady Managers stands within a 19th-century sisterhood of labor, activism, and advocacy by individual women and of the organizations they organized, led, and supported to improve their communities and nation.

The 19th century was a time of growth and development for women’s participation and leadership in civic activities. The Second Great Awakening, a Protestant religious revival movement that began at the turn of the 19th century, brought more public engagement through faith. As a result, women were able to extend their moral authority outside the home and into the community. As religious-affiliated organizations, such as Sunday schools, orphan asylums, and other social programs developed, women were able to further their leadership and management skills independently of male-led groups. The growth of women’s roles in religious circles also allowed them to move into other social movements. A notable local example is the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association (MVLA), founded by Ann Pamela Cunningham in 1853. The MVLA was the first national historic preservation organization, and today is still a woman-led organization that secures and manages funds for Mount Vernon’s preservation and educational initiatives. 

The outbreak of the Civil War accelerated the growth of women’s leadership in many spaces, as they took on both labor and financial responsibilities for men who had left for war. Women also led efforts to provide support and supplies to soldiers on the battlefield. White women in both northern and southern areas of the country established soldiers’ aid societies to supply armies with food, clothing, and medicine. These aid societies did not have a central organization in the southern states. In the north, women’s aid societies were coordinated under the Women’s Central Association of Relief (WCAR), managed by Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell. Dr. Blackwell was best known for founding the New York Infirmary in 1857, the first female-staffed and female-managed hospital in the country. The WCAR transitioned into the New York auxiliary for the U.S. Sanitary Commission (USSC). It was an official government organization with a male board. However, women led the estimated 7,000 USSC societies.