The “Then” photo (#0291) of Mercy Memorial Hospital, 904 Scioto St., Urbana, was taken on Dec. 6, 1950. A meeting at the Urbana Country Club on Nov. 29, 1944, marked the beginning of the Mercy Memorial Hospital Association. At this meeting local business and civic leaders discussed the need for a hospital. Monsignor R. Marcellus Wagner, superintendent of the Catholic hospitals in the Cincinnati Diocese, also attended.

After a successful fundraising campaign, a 73-acre parcel of land at the east end of Scioto Street was purchased. Wartime shortages of building materials delayed construction. An initial open house was held September 1951. The hospital began with 50 inpatient beds; another 50 inpatient beds were added in 1959.

Related photos in CCHS archives are A338, A1669, A2088 (#9), a 1971 aerial photo. Information source: 2001 Supplement to the Urbana Daily Citizen.

The “Now” photo, taken from the same perspective, highlights the new $800,000 front entrance of Mercy Health – Urbana Hospital. The new entrance was completed December 2019. Mercy also invested $3 million in building renovations and service expansion in 2017.

Then – This 1950 photo of Mercy Memorial Hospital was taken about a year before the facility’s open house.

https://www.urbanacitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/02/web1_ThenMercy.jpgThen – This 1950 photo of Mercy Memorial Hospital was taken about a year before the facility’s open house. Submitted photos

Now – This photo, taken two months ago, shows the new entrance to the same structure, now called Mercy Health-Urbana Hospital.

https://www.urbanacitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/02/web1_NowMercy.jpgNow – This photo, taken two months ago, shows the new entrance to the same structure, now called Mercy Health-Urbana Hospital. Submitted photos