Abbott Hospital

Dr. Amos W. Abbott was born in 1844 in India, the son of missionary parents from New Hampshire. He moved to Minneapolis in 1877, where his sister lived. He maintained a private practice, and in 1887, he started renting houses where he could treat patients. He was never able to treat more than eight patients at a time, though. He practiced at Saint Barnabas Hospital, Saint Mary's Hospital, and Northwestern Hospital, but never was able to provide boarding for those patients. In 1902, he founded Abbott's Hospital for Women in a large house in the Stevens Square neighborhood. In 1910, he was able to establish his own hospital building with the backing of William Dunwoody, a wealthy businessman. Dunwoody's wife Kate had been one of Abbott's patients. ==Construction history==

The building was constructed in five sections, each of which reflects the health care practices of the times in which they were built. Dunwoody The original section of the hospital was named after William Hood Dunwoody. It was designed by architect William Channing Whitney and built in 1910. As originally built, the main entrance was a two-story brick and stone portico, with the doors on the porch on the second story. The main entrance was later relocated and the stairway was later removed. Janney Pavilion Addition Magney and Tusler returned to design the Janney Pavilion Addition in 1954. The corridor between Dunwoody and the Janney Children's Pavilion was expanded, and an addition was completed on the south side of the Dunwoody building. Stevens Addition In 1957, the final hospital addition was completed. This was designed by Magney, Tusler and Setter, which had gained an additional partner. The section was built on the east end of the Wyman building and named for Stevens Avenue South, which borders the east side of the property. ==Later history==

In 1964, the Westminster Presbyterian Church voted to transfer the ownership of the hospital to a new corporation, known as Abbott Hospital Incorporated. The church made this decision to prevent the church from loss of its assets or property in case of a disaster at the hospital. In 1970, Abbott Hospital merged with Northwestern Hospital, but did not consolidate their facilities until 1980. The plan resulted from an analysis that the separate campuses needed improvements. By consolidating facilities, the combined corporation could gain greater operating efficiency. The construction costs were projected at $24 million, and other costs were projected at $14 million. The Abbott campus was too small to continue supporting its level of services effectively, and a fairly large expansion would have been necessary. The Ebenezer Society agreed in 1978 to buy the main Abbott building and operate it as a nursing home, as well as providing other programs for the elderly. Those programs ceased in 2004 after which the building sat abandoned. After a failed attempt to renovate the building into a condominium tower, work began in 2012 to renovate the original building into apartments. Now called the Historic Abbott Apartments, residents began moving in 2014. ==References==