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| LRH's 100th Centennial |
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Littleton Hospital Laundry - 1930
In 1930, the Littleton Hospital Board of Trustees voted to expand hospital facilities to include an out-building to be built to house a new power plant and laundry. The laundry (pictured above) was on the second floor of the building. In later years, this would become a general repair shop.
Anyone with historical information or photos about Littleton Hospital is encouraged to contact Linda Ford at LRH’s Gale Medical Library. All of the hospital’s historical information will be used as part of a time-line when LRH celebrates its 100th Centennial next June.
Littleton Regional Hospital's First Ambulance
LRH's First Motor Ambulance - A gift of Mr. & Mrs. Alvin Ivie of New York City and Bethlehem, NH.
Littleton Regional Hospital's first motor ambulance was the gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Ivie of New York City and Bethlehem, NH. It was first used in June of 1922. The Hospital Trustees voted that the ambulance be under the direct supervision of the Littleton Hospital Superintendent (administrator) and that all calls be referred to her. The rates for ambulance calls were set at $3.00 for calls within Littleton Village District and twenty cents per mile, with a minimum charge of $5.00, for calls outside Littleton Village District.
A horse drawn vehicle was used before the Hospital received this very generous and needed gift. A typical horse drawn ambulance had a moveable floor that could be drawn out to receive the patient. A container under the driver's seat held emergency supplies: brandy, tourniquets, bandages, small sponges, splint material, blankets and a vial of persulphate of iron. By the 1920s, ambulances were stocking a tank of oxygen, gauze dressings, tannic acid compound, ammonia inhalant, tincture of iodine and other supplies.
Plans are underway for a 100th Celebration for Littleton Regional Hospital on Saturday, June 23, 2007. Anyone with additional information, artifacts or pictures is encouraged to call Linda Ford or Anne Conner of LRH's Gale Medical Library at (603) 444-9564.
LRH - How it Grew
Photo- 1907 Exterior
The original Littleton Hospital building was constructed in 1906-l907, funded in large part by the Glessner family, Bethlehem summer residents. Designed by renowned New Hampshire architect, Chase Roy Whitcher, the building was remodeled in 1932 with a new section added to create an H-plan building.
During the Second World War the Hospital was renovated, and by 1946 all patient rooms and service areas had been refinished. In 1962, a three-story addition added twenty beds to the hospital's capacity, for a total of sixty beds. In 1974, a new wing expanded the radiology department and the pharmacy, and provided a fully equipped emergency department and physicians' office space.
Renovations in 1980 provided a new cardiac laboratory, a new pediatric patient room; renovated obstetric and intensive care units and other modernizations. In 1987, further renovations provided additions to the kitchen and interior alterations. In 1991, a new main entrance was constructed, along with a new emergency department entrance.
By the late 1990s projected maintenance and renovation costs led the Hospital Board of Trustees to consider replacing the original building with a new facility on donated property at 600 St. Johnsbury Road where the new LRH campus is located.
LRH is making plans for its 100th Centennial Celebration in June - 2007. If you have additional information or artifacts that you would be willing to share, please contact Linda Ford, director of the Gale Medical Library at (603) 444-9564.
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| Aerial View with the 1974 Additon |
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Celebrating 100 Years of Service Excellence
On June 27, 2007, Littleton Regional Hospital will celebrate its 100th Anniversary. In preparation for this community wide event, a planning committee is in place to plan a spectacular celebration for everyone to enjoy.
LRH’s Gale Medical Library has been collecting historical information, data and artifacts in preparation for the event. Linda Ford, Director of the Gale Medical Library is interested in all information that has been gathered over the years, but is looking for information from the 1930’s and 1940’s in particular.
Community members are encouraged to contact Linda Ford at 603-444-9564 if they have any additional information, pictures or articles of interest that they are willing to share with Littleton Regional Hospital as they make plans for their 100th Anniversary Celebration.
The Nurse’s Home and original Hospital building - dates back to 1930’s
Littleton Hospital - The Remich Home for Nurses
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| The Remich School of Nursing |
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As far back as 1910, nursing was a thriving profession for young women in Littleton, New Hampshire. Today, nurses number 2.7 million and rank as the nation’s largest health care profession for both men and women.
At Littleton Regional, in order to draw qualified staff, in 1910 the Littleton Hospital began a training program for nurses under the tutelage of Dr. [William] Beattie. The three-year program included a fixed course of instruction that met with the requirements of the State Board of Registration for nurses. The curriculum for the three-year program was very impressive and included: deportment, health, order and cleanliness, theory of nursing, hygiene, anatomy and physiology, dietetics, solutions, bandaging, ethics, diseases of the nervous system, materia medica (study of remedies), diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat, contagious diseases, children’s disease, obstetrics, bacteriology, diseases of the skin, urinalysis and massage. Littleton Hospital Association leased the Lathrop House for their quarters.
By 1918, the training school had ten students enrolled and had graduated three women the previous year…
In 1918, there was a drastic increase in the number of patients due to the influenza epidemic. The total number of patients serviced that year was 379, including 150 surgical cases and 44 births…
In 1918 the Hospital received two major donations - an X-Ray apparatus and a $10,000 bequest from Daniel C. and Elizabeth K. Remich for the construction of a Nurse’s Home. The Woman’s Auxiliary Board raised over $13,000 to support the Nurse’s Home.
---New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, NHDHR Inventory Number: LTL0001
The Littleton Hospital School of Nursing [Training School for Nurses], having provided professional training to nearly 200 women and graduated over 60 registered nurses, became a victim of the economic woes, which swept the North Country during the years 1933-1935. The “pinch of the Depression” forced the hospital board to eliminate all but the most essential items related to patient care, and in October 1935 the board voted to discontinue nurses’ training at the hospital. The Remich home was closed to save fuel cost in the forthcoming winter. Students in session were placed in other schools to complete their training.
--Colby, John H., ed. Littleton: Crossroads of Northern New Hampshire, c. 1984, Town of Littleton
June 27 marked the beginning of Littleton Regional Hospital’s 100th year of providing quality health care to its northern New Hampshire community. Plans are underway for what we hope will be a memorable event to mark the Centennial Celebration of Littleton Hospital. Linda Ford of the Gale Medical Library is seeking artifacts and information from the 1930’s and 1940’s and encourages anyone with information to call her at (603) 444-9564.
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