Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital, also known as Walthill Hospital or Dr. Susan Picotte Memorial Hospital, is a former

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

building at 505 Matthewson Street in

Walthill, Nebraska Walthill is a village in Thurston County, Nebraska, Thurston County, Nebraska, United States, within the Omaha Reservation. The population was 780 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Walthill was platted in 1906 when the Chicago ...

, on the

Omaha Indian Reservation The Omaha Reservation ( oma, Umoⁿhoⁿ tóⁿde ukʰéthiⁿ) of the federally recognized Omaha tribe is located mostly in Thurston County, Nebraska, with sections in neighboring Cuming and Burt counties, in addition to Monona County in Iowa. A ...

. The hospital was developed by Dr.

Susan LaFlesche Picotte Susan La Flesche Picotte (June 17, 1865 – September 18, 1915, Omaha) was a Native American doctor and reformer in the late 19th century. She is widely acknowledged as one of the first Indigenous peoples, and the first Indigenous woman, to ea ...

(1865–1915), the first female Native American

medical doctor A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. Built with money raised by Picotte from various sources, it was the first hospital for any Indian reservation not funded by government money. It served the community as a hospital until the 1940s, and has had a variety of other uses since. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1993.

Description and history

The Picotte Hospital building is located on the western fringe of Walthill, on the north side of Matthewson Street near its junction with Sawyer Street. The building was designed by architect

William L. Steele William LaBarthe Steele (May 2, 1875 – March 4, 1949) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois. He is considered a principal member of the Prairie School Architectural Movement during the early 20th century. Career After graduating f ...

in 1912 and built in 1912–1913. Set on a concrete foundation on a hill overlooking Walthill, the one-and-one-half-story hospital was built in the

American Craftsman American Craftsman is an American domestic architectural style, inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, which included interior design, landscape design, applied arts, and decorative arts, beginning in the last years of the 19th century. Its ...

style of architecture. Typical of Craftsman style, it features a low-pitched, shingled (originally wood-shingled) roof, wide eaves with large braces beneath, exposed roof rafter tails, and a centered gabled dormer. A prominent

screened porch A screened porch, also known as a screen room, is a type of porch or similar structure on or near the exterior of a house that has been covered by window screens in order to hinder insects, debris, and other undesirable objects from entering the ...

runs the entire length of the front (east side) of the structure, bounded by columns that support the roof. Susan LaFlesche Picotte was born into the

Omaha tribe The Omaha ( Omaha-Ponca: ''Umoⁿhoⁿ'') are a federally recognized Midwestern Native American tribe who reside on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, United States. There were 5,427 enrolled members as of 2012. The ...

in 1865. Her father,

Joseph LaFlesche Joseph LaFlesche, also known as ''E-sta-mah-za'' or Iron Eye (1822–1888), was the last recognized head chief of the Omaha tribe of Native Americans who was selected according to the traditional tribal rituals. The head chief Big Elk had adopte ...

, was the tribe's last recognized chief, and saw to it that his children were well educated and could integrate into white society. Trained in medicine at the

Women's Medical College of Pennsylvania A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

, she returned to the reservation, where she eventually became its primary medical provider. The hospital was built through her fundraising efforts, which yielded the $8,000 needed from a variety of private philanthropic sources. The building was a working hospital until the late 1940s, after which it served a variety of functions since, including a museum. As of 2013, it housed Mi'Jhu'Wi Ministries, a nonprofit providing services to the people of the Omaha Reservation.

References

External links

Picotte Memorial Hospital
from a National American Indian Heritage Month feature at the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propertie ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dr. Susan Laflesche Picotte Memorial Hospital Hospital buildings completed in 1912 National Historic Landmarks in Nebraska Buildings and structures in Thurston County, Nebraska Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska William L. Steele buildings La Flesche family 1912 establishments in Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Thurston County, Nebraska Native American health

Description and history

See also

References

External links