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Hospital Thrift Shop Demi-Centennial 1929-1979 by Robert Carrick THE STORT OF the Nantucket Hospital Thrift Shop can be en capsulated in two words: "dedication"and "dollars". For it was—and still is—the dedication of an industrious group of women who have raised over half a million dollars for the hospital in the last 50years.
The Nantucket Hospital got its start on April 18, 1911 at the home of Dr. John S. Grouard who said: "If we value our own lives and we would take no hazard with them, we shall be content no longer to see Nantucket without a hospital." And so it grew out of the basic need for modern health care on the island. Necessity was also the mother of the Hospital Thrift Shop. From the time the hospital opened in 1913, the need for supplemental income was very apparent. Many individual benefits were helpful but there was no permanent organization (outside of the hospital itself) devoted solely to raising funds for Nantucket's fledgling medical center. So in 1929 a group of determined ladies came up with the idea of the Hospital Thrift Shop. They started on a shoestring, probably a second hand one, and built up a business of selling second-hand clothes, fur niture, books, new articles made from donated material and also homecooked food. They also accepted merchandise to sell on consignment. Actually, the Shop had a good thing going for the community. It provided extra financial support for the hospital and at the same time enabled people to purchase serviceable merchandise at a reasonable price. Among the original organizers were: Annie Ayers, Edna May, Mrs. Alice Baldwin, Mrs. Phoebe Pancoast, Mrs. Margaret Crosby, Mrs. Anne Congdon, Mrs. Hugh Sanford. The Shop was administered by a Board of Directors with Mrs. Pancoast serving as the first Chairman. They didn't have chairpersons in those days. In their first year of operation the Shop cleared $603.00 for the hospital. For the first 16 years, the Thrift Shop was housed in rented quarters, the first location being a Macy house on Liberty Street. Subsequently, the place of business moved to a Macy house on Federal Street (now the site of the Post Office), then to the Annie Alden Folger Antique shop on Union Street. Next was a house at 24 Broad Street and then the Sanford House on Federal Street (now the site of the Town and County Building). Finally, in 1945 the Thrift Shop purchased the house at 17 India Street which they occupy today. Prior to this purchase, in September 1944 the Shop became a cor-
