Our beginning dates back to 1927 and the efforts of Rev. Alphonse M. Schwitalla, then the dean of the Saint Louis University School of Medicine. His goal was to build a hospital on the medical school campus that would serve as a humanitarian health care facility to meet the needs of patients with modest means.

By 1930, through fund-raising efforts, $40,000 had been raised. In February 1930, the school received a $1 million bequest from the estate of Firmin Vincent Desloge. The year 1930 also brought a donation of $850,000 from Blanche Bordley, widow of Daniel C. Bordley. On the same day, another donation was received from the Desloge family. This gift of $100,000 from Lydia Desloge was designated to build a chapel next to the hospital. The hospital's cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1931.

On November 3, 1933, Firmin Desloge Hospital was officially dedicated. The hospital building was described as modified French Gothic architecture, rising 250 feet and is topped by a Gothic roof of copper-covered lead.

This original structure - renamed Desloge Towers - continues to serve our hospital as physician offices and administrative space. The original copper-covered roof proudly remains a St. Louis landmark and is a distinctive part of our city's skyline. There were 206 beds in the new hospital. Two-thirds of them were double-occupancy rooms and the rest were private rooms. This broke the tradition of large open wards, which were common at the time.

The hospital was originally operated under the auspices of the Sisters of St. Mary. In 1959, administration of Firmin Desloge Hospital shifted completely to Saint Louis University. At this time, Firmin Desloge Hospital, the Bordley Memorial Pavilion and the David P. Wohl Sr. Memorial Institute were collectively renamed Saint Louis University Hospitals.

Continuous growth and the need for modern facilities and equipment resulted in the construction of a new hospital facility as an addition to the original structure. This new part of the hospital was built directly behind the old Firmin Desloge Hospital at a cost of $39.1 million dollars. The first patients moved in on January 30, 1988, marking our current era as a leader in health care excellence.

In 1998, the hospital was purchased from Saint Louis University by Tenet HealthSystem, which also operates SouthPointe Hospital (formerly Lutheran Medical Center), Forest Park Hospital (formerly Deaconess Central Hospital) and Des Peres Hospital (formerly Deaconess West Hospital). We are looking forward to our future as part of a health system that cares not only for St. Louisans, but for patients throughout the world.