A history of Manatee Memorial Hospital, from concept to community asset

A decades-long dream among Manatee County’s physicians and civic-minded citizens – especially women – came alive with the opening of Manatee Veterans Memorial Hospital in February 1953.

Under construction starting in June 1951 and completed almost 18 months later, the six-story hospital earned the description as “one of the most completely equipped institutions of its kind in the state of Florida.”

The hospital was named to honor veterans of all wars and serve as a memorial to their sacrifices and service. Thus, the name: Manatee Veterans Memorial Hospital.

More than a decade earlier, in 1939, the Bradenton Women’s Club, along with other visionaries, began to lay the groundwork for a new county hospital to replace the outdated, inadequate and cramped Bradenton General Hospital.

The idea for a new and larger hospital became a casualty of World War II, but resurfaced after the war. Fundraising began in September 1947 led by Bert W. Hendrickson, who, along with his very activist wife, Blanche Hendrickson, engineered the decisive political tidal wave and massive popular support for a critical, modern community asset.

That support, he stated, “will be necessary to make it the success is should be. We must always remember that what we are doing is for the good of all …” Under Hendrickson’s stewardship, the fund drive for a 100-bed medical center collected more than $200,000 – well above the initial $150,000 goal.

The history of Manatee County’s public hospital is also remarkable as a broader badge of this community’s evolution from a little town into an influential regional player – one with a state-of-art medical center that shined as the envy of neighboring counties. The new facility attracted a number of new doctors to the county, an important point of pride for the community.

As Brack Cheshire, then the managing editor of the Bradenton Herald, wrote: The project not only served “… as a tribute to men who served their nation, but a monument to the cooperative spirit of the people of Manatee County, including many winter residents. … This is what makes the Manatee Veterans Memorial Hospital one of the most outstanding community projects in not just Florida, but the entire country.”

The construction cost in the 1950s looks ridiculously low by modern standards, almost $1.35 million by the final tally. In comparison, the new Emergency Care Center now being built on the campus of Manatee Memorial will cost over 33 million.

The cost of the original hospital was only “made possible by thousands of gifts,” a newspaper headline touted – a testament to the extensive community endorsement for the project.

A full-page April 1950 newspaper advertisement called for passage of the May 2 bond measure. Referendum supporters called the project an economic development tool and cited the potential loss of new residents and businesses because of insufficient medical care.

The $400,000, 25-year bond request only covered less than 40 percent of the $1.35 million cost with $411,200 coming from the federal government and the remainder from the community’s generous public. By comparison, Manatee County government’s 1952-53 budget came in at just shy of $1.8 million.

The May 1950 ballot measure won with 6,184 for and only 744 against – an “overwhelming ratification” for “one of the most completely equipped institutions in the state of Florida,” Cheshire wrote at the time. The impressive voter turnout – 81 percent – dwarfs today’s election results. “A sweeping vote in every district,” one newspaper report stated.

Kiwanis alone contributed more than $10,000, dedicated to children’s medical services. Mrs. Annette F. Causey, the owner of the Hotel Dixie Grande, once an elegant eight-story downtown Bradenton landmark popular with tourists in the 1920s and ‘30s but demolished in 1974, also donated $10,000. The X-ray room, built with lead-lined blocks and a special ceiling, alone cost $11,800.

C.R. Rose of Osprey gave $18,000 just for the landscaping – “the largest single contribution to the hospital fund” at the time but later matched by the city of Bradenton. The city donated the land for the facility. Subsequently, county commissioners pledged $100,000 from race track tax revenue, and also placed five mills in the budget for the hospital, a figure sliced in half less than two years later.

An estimated 250 people attended the June 5, 1951, ground-breaking ceremony for the hospital, on the southern shore of the Manatee River in downtown Bradenton. The ceremony also honored the more than 85 generous citizens who donated $1,000 or more. In 2017 dollars, that figure surpasses $10,000 per contribution. The contractors, the Larsen Brothers and John Rasmusseum, worked night, day and holidays to speed up construction on the welded steel-frame and concrete-block project, 268 feet long and 44 feet wide. A steam-engine pile driver hammered 478 piles into the earth to support the footings.

Manatee Veterans Memorial Hospital – “one of the county’s greatest assets,” one headline hailed – officially opened to the public on Feb. 23, 1953. (65 years ago), During the three-day open house held two weeks earlier, more than 2,500 people flooded the hallways and rooms to satisfy their curiosity and celebrate their investment.

In May 1954 Manatee Veterans Memorial Hospital earned the highest honor for hospitals in the United States and Canada – winning full accreditation by the Board of Commissioners of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals after a thorough evaluation. This remarkable achievement was rare for young hospitals, which are usually accorded only provisional status.

Kevin DiLallo, CEO of Manatee Healthcare System, has been a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives for over 25 years and has a passion for providing health care to his community. Email him at Kevin.DiLallo@uhsinc.com.

This story was originally published May 10, 2018 at 10:30 AM with the headline "A history of Manatee Memorial Hospital, from concept to community asset."