Postcard Mercy Hospital Pittsburgh PA Gothic architecture horse Roman Catholic  

The Sisters of Mercy, a religious congregation founded in Ireland in 1831 by Catherine McAuley, brought its stated mission of caring and compassion to the growing industrial city of Pittsburgh in 1843. Mother Frances Warde led six other sisters to the United States, where they founded the first congregation of the Sisters of Mercy in Pittsburgh. The pioneering “Seven Sisters” of Mercy opened the first permanent hospital in Pittsburgh, and the world’s first Mercy Hospital, on Jan. 1, 1847.^[1] Founded by Bishop Michael O'Conner, it began life in a temporary frame building on Penn Avenue known as Concert Hall.^[2] The hospital they established was open to all regardless of race, nationality, age, gender, or religion. Mercy established the region’s first teaching hospital with resident physicians in training in 1848.

Mercy Hospital grew rapidly with Pittsburgh in the second half of the nineteenth century. To qualify for new funding sources, the hospital was incorporated, a board was established, and Thomas M. Carnegie was elected board president. The Sisters of Mercy and the physicians and nurses of Mercy Hospital continued to serve the Pittsburgh region through World War I, the worldwide epidemic ofSpanish influenza, the Great Depression, and World War II. One of the most compelling examples of the hospital's service to the community occurred in 1931 when Mercy Hospital donated more than $600,000 worth of health care services at a time when one day in the hospital cost less than $4. That commitment to the community was demonstrated again when, in the 1960s, Mercy decided to rebuild and remain in uptown Pittsburgh, and over the next four decades, the hospital expanded, replaced facilities, and developed specialized programs and advanced technology.