Master's Theses

Department

History

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Abstract

Hadley Memorial Hospital is a voluntary non-profit corporation operating under the discipline of the Methodist Church. Organized in 1922 as the Hays Methodist Episcopal Hospital, it changed its name to Hays Protestant Hospital prior to opening for service in May, 1925. A board of directors governed the hospital and a nurse training school, which closed in 1930. During the depression years, the hospital experienced difficulty in removing its indebtedness, but by 1940, this task was accomplished. Construction of a new addition was begun in 1941, when the Hadley family donated funds for this purpose. In this same year a reorganization of the hospital’s constitution and by-laws was effected. In 1942, the hospital was incorporated as the Hadley Memorial Hospital in honor of the donors of the newly opened addition. Another building program was started in 1949, after Mark Hadley had promised to finance it. However, before the addition was completed and paid for, Hadley died and his will was contested by supposed and actual relatives. Trustees of the hospital, to which Hadley had left most of his estate, settled the litigation out of court and this made funds available to complete the second addition in 1952. With the hospital receiving a substantial income from Hadley estate oil royalties the trustees investigated possible ways of using this income wisely. Utilizing a professional consultant, they determined to establish a rehabilitation center with complete treatment facilities for chronically ill and psychiatric patients. Application for federal assistance, under the Hill-Burton Act, was approved and ground was broken for the new addition in 1956. Dedication ceremonies, held in May, 1959, were significant because they marked the opening of the first comprehensive rehabilitation center in the United States to be located in a rural area, and the first such center under the auspices of the Methodist Church. Hadley Memorial Hospital trustees anticipate further expansion of the hospital’s facilities and services in the future.

Keywords

Hays (Kan.), Ellis County (Kan.), Hospitals, Rehabilitation centers, Philanthropists, History, Clyde Mark Hadley (1873-1949)

Advisor

Dr. Eugene R. Craine

Date of Award

Summer 1962

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

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