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Maternity Hospital, also known as Ripley Memorial Hospital, is a former hospital building in the Harrison neighborhood
Harrison, Minneapolis

Harrison is a neighborhood in the Near North, Minneapolis community in Minneapolis, located to the west of downtown. Its boundaries are Olson Memorial Highway to the north, Interstate 94 to the east, Bassett Creek to the south, and Theodore Wirth Park to the west....
 of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, Minnesota, the state's Capital ....
. The hospital was established by Dr. Martha Ripley
Martha Ripley

Martha George Ripley of Lowell, Vermont was an United States physician and founder of the Maternity Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ripley was nominated director of public schools but not elected because she was female....
 in 1886 in response to the exceptionally high mortality rate
Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in some population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 100,000 would mean 950 deaths per year in that entire population....
s for women in childbirth
Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
. Dr. Ripley was one of only a few female physicians in the late 19th century, and she employed only women as physicians and board members. The hospital provided services for primarily poor, unmarried, and widowed women.






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Maternity Hospital, also known as Ripley Memorial Hospital, is a former hospital building in the Harrison neighborhood
Harrison, Minneapolis

Harrison is a neighborhood in the Near North, Minneapolis community in Minneapolis, located to the west of downtown. Its boundaries are Olson Memorial Highway to the north, Interstate 94 to the east, Bassett Creek to the south, and Theodore Wirth Park to the west....
 of Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County, Minnesota. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, Minnesota, the state's Capital ....
. The hospital was established by Dr. Martha Ripley
Martha Ripley

Martha George Ripley of Lowell, Vermont was an United States physician and founder of the Maternity Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ripley was nominated director of public schools but not elected because she was female....
 in 1886 in response to the exceptionally high mortality rate
Mortality rate

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths in some population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 100,000 would mean 950 deaths per year in that entire population....
s for women in childbirth
Childbirth

Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the delivery of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus. The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour: the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and delivery of the infant, and delivery of the placenta.....
. Dr. Ripley was one of only a few female physicians in the late 19th century, and she employed only women as physicians and board members. The hospital provided services for primarily poor, unmarried, and widowed women. The hospital was originally located in a house at 316 15th Street South, but it quickly outgrew that house and moved to 2529 4th Avenue South. Demand continued to grow, so in 1896 the hospital purchased a house on of land at the corner of Glenwood and Penn Avenues. The hospital built the Marshall Stacy Nursery in 1909, followed by the Babies' Bungalow in 1910 and the Emily Paddock Cottage in 1911. Also in 1911, Ripley appealed to the government for funds to build an even larger building. Ripley died on April 18, 1912, of a respiratory infection.

In 1916, the new building was completed. The hospital was renamed from Maternity Hospital to Ripley Memorial Hospital at that time. The hospital served the community until 1957, when it was closed due to low occupancy and funding problems. The hospital building was sold to Children's Hospital of Minneapolis, and the remaining funds were used to establish the Ripley Memorial Foundation. The foundation has sponsored teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is defined as a teenage or underage girl becoming pregnant. The term in everyday speech usually refers to women who have not reached Age of majority, which varies across the world, who become pregnant....
 prevention programs since 1993. The former hospital buildings were listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation....
 in 1980.

The building was redeveloped in 2007 by , a Minneapolis organization that provides affordable housing. The development, now known as Ripley Gardens, provides housing for low- to moderate-income residents, and provides both rental housing and home ownership opportunities. The redevelopment was one of twelve properties around the nation funded by the Restore America program, sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation
National Trust for Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is an United States member-supported organization that was founded in 1949 by congressional charter to support preservation of historic buildings and neighborhoods through a range of programs and activities....
 and HGTV.

See also

  • Martha Ripley
    Martha Ripley

    Martha George Ripley of Lowell, Vermont was an United States physician and founder of the Maternity Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Ripley was nominated director of public schools but not elected because she was female....


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