Hospital History (Illinois and Wisconsin)

The history of Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center began in 1903 when Dr. William F. Malone added a private hospital and office to his residence on the corner of Madison and Hanover (now south 3rd Street) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The hospital was named Malone Hospital, and Dr. Malone remained there as head of surgery for fifteen years. By 1920 the facility had expanded to 40 beds, and was renamed Hanover General Hospital under new ownership. A nurses training school was developed in the early 1920s. In 1928, the now 105-bed Hanover General Hospital was purchased by the Lutheran Hospital Association and was renamed St. Luke’s Hospital. In 1952, the new St Luke’s opened on its current site on Oklahoma Avenue with 177 beds.

In 1984, St. Luke's Medical Center and Good Samaritan Medical Center, located on Milwaukee's near north side, formed an affiliation called St. Luke's Samaritan Health Care. This partnership was the first in the Milwaukee area of two formerly independent hospitals. Three years later, when Mount Sinai Medical Center merged with Good Samaritan Medical Center in 1987, the partnership changed its name to Aurora Health Care.

Additional digitized documents and images are available.