CROWN CITY HISTORY: Caring for the Sick Throughout Coronado’s History

Crown City History

IN COLLABORATION WITH CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

Caring for the Sick

B y CAROL PASTOR, CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION VOLUNTEER

here was a time in the late 1800s when Coronado was primarily known as a place to which one rowed to hunt rabbits. Then came the boom era — the building of the Hotel del Coronado, the sale of building lots, and people settling in. They came to work in construction, while some aspired to open a business. We had the bakery, market, boarding house but medical care was a bit more difficult to find. In 1887, the village saw the arrival of the first physician, Dr. R.E. Armstrong. He treated patients from his home, then from an office location at Orange Avenue and 3rd Street. But patients who needed surgery or overnight care had to be taken to San Diego. Other doctors came during that first 20 years and set up various practices including at the Hotel del Coronado.

By 1926, the population had grown to 3,200 residents and the need for longer-term medical facilities was clear. Fortunately for Coronado, Maud Lancaster, a registered nurse, came to town. She first was a tourist, but she fell in love with our community. Maud, who had operated a hospital in North Dakota with her deceased husband, saw a need in Coronado that she could definitely fill. Maud purchased a two-story home on Alameda Boulevard, and a friend, Emma White, who was a nurse, joined her to help take care of the people of Coronado.

Doctors were soon referring patients who needed nursing care for overnight or longer to the duo. Maud soon realized they were outgrowing their house. She had witnessed the birth of a baby on the ferry when a woman had been attempting to reach Mercy Hospital in San Diego for the delivery. She soon leased a larger space on Orange Avenue from another well-known name in San Diego, Dr. Paul Wegeforth. The Orange Avenue facility became Coronado Emergency Hospital. In 1938, Maud was looking forward to retiring, having given 12 years to the people of Coronado. That seemed to have been the impetus for Coronado to step up and move forward with a plan to build a bona fide CORONADO HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION hospital. There were many hurdles to overcome — it was the post-depression era, World War II was pending and much fundraising was needed. That was when The residence of Dr. Lorini, a long-time house physician for the Hotel Del and one of Coronado’s earliest doctors. 1972. Mrs. Paul Wegeforth, her sister-in-law, Mrs. Claus Spreckels, and two other women worked to raise the $75,000 needed to build a 30-bed hospital. Those four also gave generous contributions to the fundraising efforts.

But the tale was not over yet. We were in a war in 1941, and materials were scarce. With the increasing troops at North Island, Congress was finally convinced that we deserved a dispensation and could move forward with the construction. And so, the Coronado Hospital opened for business on Christmas Eve Day in 1942. The hospital was located on some raw land on Soledad Place, and the building is used to this day as part of the modern hospital facilities. There are so many memories, and so many people, both medical and otherwise, who have contributed to the success of this hospital.

Twenty years later, in 1962, efforts began to build a new hospital at that location. Many obstacles had to be overcome with the hospital board dealing with entities of the state. State guidelines and restrictions forced changes, meaning more money needed to be raised. In 1970, Coronado Hospital broke ground on the new building, with the support of Frances Nunnelly Goodrich-Winzer through a gift of $2.3 million in Coca-Cola stock to open the hospital debt-free. Her daughter, Fran Harpst, continued in her mother’s footsteps. Over the span of her lifetime, Harpst donated more than $5.5 million to Coronado Hospital Foundation.

Since then, so much has happened in Coronado, with development increasing our population to over 20,000. Our hospital has grown with the population, providing more and more services as the need arose. Even now, an expansion of the emergency room is being proposed. It is now part of the Sharp Hospital group.

Location of the Coronado Emergency Hospital (later the Bayberry Tree as seen here) on Orange Avenue. Date Unknown.

Groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital building. 1968. Mary Theodora Howe McLeod, reading “Clinical Medicine”, worked for well-known physician Dr. Paul Wegeforth. 1917.