Maine Memory Network

Providing health services and medical care for the urban working class and the indigent was increasingly viewed by American's political, educational, and business elite as a practical necessity and moral imperative. Major cities built general hospitals during the 19th century.

In 1868 the Maine legislature unanimously passed an "Act of Incorporation for a State General Hospital," and on August 29, 1871, the corner stone of the East Pavilion was laid with a copper box containing items to mark the occasion. The conditional land grant, effective only when construction funds were raised, came from the state legislature deeding a lot with buildings on Bramhall Hill. The grant was supplemented by the City of Portland with an additional two parcels.

The hospital's statewide value was evident in that patients were admitted from all but two Maine counties. Then Governor Nelson Dingley, Jr. noted the hospital's role both as a provider of medical care and a "school of instruction to every physician and surgeon in state." Superintendent of Nursing, Amelia Smith, pictured at the far right, cared for patients in the women's ward at Maine General Hospital with Dr. Allston Hunt, pictured next to Smith.

Ample light poured through the spacious windows and flowers were allowed in the women's ward. Visiting hours were restricted to one hour a day, except Sunday. Female patients couldn't have male visitors outside of their immediate families and in theory, each patient was allowed only one visitor at a time, but this rule frequently wasn't enforced.

Maine General Hospital's 19th century patients enjoyed few physical comforts and little privacy. Heavy iron beds were lined up in two facing rows, 20 to a ward. Anyone wishing to be admitted to the hospital could apply to the resident physician, Dr. Hunt, in person, by request from a friend if too sick to travel, occasionally by a home visit, or in writing if the patient lived out of town.

Patients unable to pay for their hospital stay could occupy a hospital bed free for up to three months from members of the public who would sponsor free beds, the use of which would be theirs for a year (and otherwise offered to those in need).

From the beginning, Fassett envisioned a hospital that would be built to last and that would grow as fast as need and finances allowed. By 1887, nearly half the services were for charity patients, and overcrowding delayed admissions. The new West Pavilion opened in 1892 doubling the hospital's patient capacity, although Maine General continued to suffer from a nursing shortage.

The addition included the Resident Superintendent's house at the left and the ground floor bay window space. The holder of that position resided in the house into the 1950s.

The hospital also had five cupolas, varying in size, symmetrically arranged along the roofline in true Gothic style. Maintenance costs for these decorative features and the filigree iron work that was part of the original roofline were considerable.

The larger cupolas on each pavilion were removed in 1954, as were the two smaller ones on either side of the central buildings in 1959. The signature tower on the central building is the only one remaining.

The surgeons pictured are Dr. George H. Cummings and Dr. Herbert Henry Brock. The amphitheater, a separate building located behind the East Pavilion and connected by a ramp, was completed in 1885.

The operating theater could seat 200 and was located on the second floor. Skylights 35 feet above the operating floor helped supply the lighting. The space beneath the sides of the amphitheater was used for an orthopedic clinic and for isolation.

As surgery became safer, the number of operations performed at Maine General Hospital drove the need for a surgical amphitheater.

French chemist Louis Pasture discovered the relationship between bacteria and disease in 1857, and Scottish physician Sir Joseph Lister applied this practice to disinfecting surgical instruments, dramatically decreasing the incidence of surgical infection.

In 1895, Maine General Hospital added two water tanks to sterilize all instruments and surgical dressings, and the postoperative infection rate and mortality rate had fallen to six percent.

Schools of nursing were established around New England in 1873 following the trail blazed by Florence Nightingale and the advances achieved in the American military during the Civil War.

The Maine General Hospital Training School for Nurses began offering a two-year program in 1885, and Alida Leese was hired as the first superintendent of nursing, and head of the school. In 1893, Amelia Longfellow Smith took over as superintendent of nursing serving a 15 year tenure.

More nurses were needed as the number of surgeries at Maine General Hospital increased, but space to house nurses became a problem with student nurses bedding down wherever space could be found.

In 1901, the hospital broke ground on the Alida Leese Nurses' Home, a new residence for 58 student nurses. The building lived atop Bramhall Hill until 1966, when it was razed to make room for the Richards Wing.

In 1928, architects Coolidge Shepley Bulfinch and Abbott designed a seven-story pavilion that would increase the hospital’s capacity by 33 beds. It was known as the "private pavilion," indicative of a new emphasis on paying patients and their importance to the hospital’s financial well-being.
The hospital’s older sections also went through comprehensive renovations including a new heating plant, wiring and lighting, plumbing and fireproofing.

In July of 1929, workers removed the 1885 surgical amphitheater, once the pride of a young and growing institution. Three months later the stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.

Despite the crash, the four upper floors opened in 1931 with a new obstetrics unit, seven new operating rooms, and private rooms on the fourth and fifth floor.

All of the private rooms had a sink and toilet and some had baths. Private patients were given headsets to listen to their choices of two radio stations, while ward patients listened over loudspeakers.

The charter creating Maine Medical Center was filed in 1951, providing managerial oversight to Maine General Hospital, Children’s Hospital and Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary. The fundraising brochure stated the center’s three part mission of patient care, education and research.
The construction closed Arsenal Street, and nine Bramhall Street houses were purchased and demolished. Construction began the day Hurricane Carol hit Portland, and yet work progressed on schedule over the next two years.

The new Maine Medical Center opened in 1956, admitting its first patients on July 16. The Children’s Hospital occupied the second floor and Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary moved into the third floor. Additional labor and delivery rooms were on the fourth floor connecting to the existing maternity unit. The fifth floor housed new operating and recovering rooms, while the X-ray and diagnostic departments were in the state-of-the-art facilities in the basement of the new building.

Just five years after the establishment of Maine Medical Center, a 1963 report concluded that major facilities updates were due. Strong sentiments for preserving the Maine General Hospital building prevailed and a joint committee agreed a new wing was needed.

The fundraising campaigned capitalized on the 100-year-old MGH to raise funds in the Centennial Building Fund. The hospital acquired several nearby residential properties, as well as the Bramhall Street Reservoir, which was no longer in use. The former reservoir was filled and provided parking for 260 cars.

The Richards Wing opened in 1969 with additional private and semi-private rooms that replaced once-cramped wards. The wing stood 11 stories with an expanded Emergency Department located at the basement level. A new 12-bed cardiac intensive care unit and a 21-bed special care unit provided care for seriously ill patients.

A new consortium of 17 southern Maine hospitals agreed to share the facility and cost of a new state-of-the-art radiation therapy facility. The result was the Southern Maine Radiation Therapy Institute (SMRTI) in the basement of the New Diagnostic Facility. The new building opened in 1974 and stretched between the original Maine General building and the 1956 Pavilion.

The ever expanding hospital capacity also required infrastructure for the increasing staff. The original parking garage was constructed in 1971, and three stories were added during an expansion in the early 1980s.

A portion of Bramhall Hill was cut away in order to level a lot on which to erect the new 480-space parking garage. The earthmoving created a six-story cliff overlooking Congress Street. Maine Medical Center’s facilities engineers designed a 200-foot-long, 65-foot-high retaining wall as part of an earth retention system.

Before the 1960s, there were no parking garages and the plateau area behind the hospital buildings was used for parking. For Maine Medical Center employees, there was a parking lot on St. John Street. This was in the area where the old Union Station was located prior to its demolition as part of the national Urban Renewal Project.

In 2007, Maine Medical Center got the go-ahead from the city to build a helipad atop the roof of the garage. Being able to accommodate a Black Hawk helicopter allowed MMC to have Level 1 Trauma Center verification from the American College of Surgeons.

As in earlier expansions, lack of space was the pressing problem motivating a new addition. In 1984, a five-story building went up adjacent to the Richards Wing and simultaneously a two-story education center was built above the New Diagnostic Facility. Major gifts came from L.L. Bean, Margaret Milliken Hatch Charitable Trust and the Charles A. Dana Foundation.

The L.L. Bean Building added more than 200,000 square feet and increased the number of beds to 598. New surgical units, including specialized operation rooms, special care and burn units, dialysis center and other features were in the new building. The Hatch Pavilion occupied the entire second floor of the new Bean Building.

The Charles A. Dana Health Education Center – designated for community health programs and education for MMC residents, medical students, doctors, nurses, and allied health professionals – added classrooms, conference rooms, and a 236-seat auditorium. The new facilities were formally dedicated in 1985. Vice President George H.W. Bush and Olympic marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson attended the event.

The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital was officially named in 1995 and Mrs. Bush served as honorary chair of this next fundraising campaign.

The children’s hospital and cancer pavilion expanded in 2002 with the centerpiece of the East Tower. It served as home to a new Family Birth Center, accented with a new main entrance, central utility plant, and expanded Emergency Department all on the Bramhall Campus.

The East Tower, designed by TRO Jung|Branen, reflected architectural themes and, in consideration of residential neighbors, the building’s mass was broken into two wings with a façade that helped create the illusion of a smaller-scale structure. It abutted the Richards Wing and absorbed most of what was once Charles Street.

The location formed a central nexus – the logical place for a new main entrance and lobby. The Bramhall Street lobby, created in the 1956 Pavilion, was renamed the South entrance.

With the addition of 2 oncology floors, the East Tower was renamed The Coulombe Tower in 2019. The opening also celebrated the Linda and Diana Bean Sisters Heliport, with space for two helicopters to land atop the Coulombe Tower.