How the ST. CLOUD HOSPITAL began and developed into what is known today as CentraCare

1406 6th Ave. N.

What would eventually become St. Cloud Hospital began as a succession of hospitals beginning in the late 1880s.

The first such institution was St. Benedict's Hospital, founded in 1886 by a group of Roman Catholic nuns from the Order of St. Benedict. It played a major role in aid following the Sauk Rapids cyclone and was in need of expansion by 1889. At that time the sisters accepted a gift of land southeast of the city for a larger hospital, St. Raphael's, which opened on May 30, 1890. However, the failure of the city to extend roads and bridges to the area made it virtually inaccessible, and the hospital never held more than seven patients at a time.

In 1900 a new hospital was constructed adjacent to the original building. After years of increasing patient admissions, the sisters broke ground on a new hospital north of St. Cloud in May 1926. The hospital was renamed St. Cloud Hospital and dedicated on February 9, 1928. This remains the current site of the hospital. In 1962, the sisters relinquished ownership and it became a not-for-profit corporation. In 1975, the Diocese of St. Cloud joined with the sisters to help maintain the Catholic character of the hospital. Since 1995, the hospital has operated under the guidance of the local Catholic Church of St. Cloud. Also in 1995, the corporations of St. Cloud Hospital and the St. Cloud Clinic of Internal Medicine merged to form the nonprofit CentraCare Health System. Today, it is known as CentraCare St.-Cloud Hospital. What has remained constant since the 1800s is a commitment to understanding the needs of our community and passionately serving those needs.