In 1910, a committee of physicians, headed by Dr. R. J. Conroy and Dr. R. W. Clancy (names recalled by all who passed this way during the first quarter of the twentieth century), petitioned Mother Mary of Nazareth, Provincial Superior of the Sisters of Charity of Providence in Portland, to found a hospital in the "growing town of Medford."
    The Rogue River Valley was then flush with the opulence of the fruit boom. Eastern money was rolling in to prime the spending pump, and the influences of a New England culture were arousing memories of civilities almost forgotten in the struggle to develop a community.
    Appreciation of the protection and advancement of health, which in the 1960s has brought recognition to this area as a medical center, was stirring in the lay as well as the medical mind.
    The reply of the Sisters of Providence to the petition and the personal insistence of the promoters was favorable. In May 1911, Sister Praxedes of Providence, builder and first Superior of the Order, arrived in Medford and took over the John Cox home at the corner of South Central and 11th Street, where a sign already read "Southern Oregon Hospital." With 14 patients, a registered nurse was managing the facility located where the D'Anjou Office Building now stands. So began a story of service to humanity which enters a new chapter this weekend with dedication of Providence Hospital, Medford.
    The Superior was equal to the challenge of the community. She had experienced many such demands and followed several difficult building projects to success before coming to Southern Oregon. Her vision stimulated immediate plans for a hospital which would care for from 80 to 100 patients, according to chronicles of the Sisters.
    A modern, brick structure was visualized and Sacred Heart Hospital on Siskiyou Heights, then known as Nob Hill, was constructed. Feb. 18, 1912, the hospital was dedicated. Crowds approved the location with "its magnificent view of valley fruit orchards, the surrounding mountains and the expanding Medford " At night, the ever-increasing number of lights below assured the founding Sisters they had made the right decision in coming to Jackson County.
    Dr. E. B. Pickel, early Southern Oregon physician and health officer, was quoted in reports of the dedication as declaring: "Heaven smiles on dedication ceremonies of this new hospital. Though not the largest, it is the most up-to-date hospital west of Chicago.
    "Through untiring energy and master effort, this noble order, Sisters of Providence, have placed at our disposal a building of magnificent proportions, satisfying our most critical demands in minutest detail," the doctor continued.
    As Providence Hospital opens its doors to the public, Sacred Heart Hospital is scheduled to close. But the achievements of the intervening years will not be forgotten. Fortunately many of them are recorded in the chronicles of the Sisters.
    There were problems in the early days, one of the major ones being a staggering debt to be met. Even more frustrating were the difficulties encountered in securing and keeping professional helpers. Portland was 300 miles to the north and San Francisco 350 miles to the south. Valley distances, too, in 1912 and 1915, still the horse and buggy days to many Southern Oregonians, were at times almost insurmountable in the search for competent help.
    Mother Praxedes detected in this challenge the need for a school of nursing to provide professionally trained young women with their roots in the Rogue River Valley.
    A training school was opened in May 1912, less than five months after dedication of the hospital. There were three applicants from the immediate vicinity.
    The first graduation was held June 8, 1915, with three young women receiving diplomas. For the second graduation in 1916 there were four. Success seemed certain, but the hospital's future was not to be determined during the preceding years by local conditions alone. World War I was soon to halt Medford's growth on an unpredicted plateau. [Medford's population began its decline in 1912, not with the beginning of World War I.] Young men and women were drawn from the community into the services. No camp was established in the valley during that conflict. The school of nursing, along with all other projects in Medford, felt the stigma [sic] of war. The sponsors did not lose faith, however, and in 1920 a new group of students was recruited.
    Through 1933 the enrollment increased satisfactorily. Then the whole system was changed by new laws which directed the nursing schools into larger hospitals. The 15 students comprising the Sacred Heart Hospital School were transferred to St. Vincent's Hospital, Portland.
    Of the 40 graduates of the school, a number have remained in the Southern Oregon and Northern California areas to make important contributions to the health of the region served by Medford's medical program. Sister Mary Rosaria became a laboratory and x-ray technician at Sacred Heart Hospital; Hazel Swayne, Florence VanDyke Fish, Hilda Singler Clifford, Mayne Thorbus Lytle, Marion King Newberry--all are names well known to patients who have during some hour of the day or night placed their destinies in the soothing hands of a trained nurse.
    Mildred Ann Willetts, who did outstanding front line service evacuating wounded soldiers in World War II, was also a graduate of Sacred Heart Hospital School of Nursing.
    Many other notable achievements were recorded through the years by the hospital on the hill which assure it a place in medical history. The first brain surgery, using hypothermia, was successfully completed there in 1959; the only tumor clinic in Jackson County was first maintained at Sacred Heart Hospital. The weekly chest x-ray clinic of the Jackson County Tuberculosis and Health Association was held at Sacred Heart Hospital until moving plans were recently announced.
    More important perhaps to many, many citizens, however, are the little things which were done at Sacred Heart Hospital to assure it a place in the hearts of men. These are too numerous to be named and too varied to be described.
Medford Mail Tribune, March 18, 1966, page B2

    Greeted by orchids from the D. J. Boltons and hot coffee from the Providence Guild, patients from Sacred Heart Hospital became patients of Providence Hospital, Medford, today.
    The moving was continuing at 11 o'clock with 30 patients already snug in their beds at the new 89-bed hospital on Crater Lake Avenue and McAndrews Road. Nine more were to be moved in time for lunch.
    The first patient to check in at Providence Hospital, Medford, not as a member of the move, was Mrs. Bessie Riley, who came in the ambulance entrance at 11 a.m. and was given Room 317.
    As the staff of Providence Hospital accepted the 39 patients from Sacred Heart, the doors of Sacred Heart were locked. But the hospital on Siskiyou Heights moved into history with its traditional service continuing to the very minute of its closure. Two new patients were admitted this morning. They later joined the move to Providence Hospital, where all signs have been unveiled to indicate the hospital is now in operation.
    Standing by in case any problems developed were representatives of the elevator company, the electrical [company] and mechanical equipment companies as the moving progressed smoothly in time for preparation of lunch.
    The more critical patients were retained at Sacred Heart Hospital until the last, Sister Carmelina, FCSP, administrator of the hospital, explained.
    The very last items to be moved will be the furnishings of the convent where the Sisters of Providence will reside. They expect to be in their new quarters, too, tonight.
    Sister Carmelina, the switchboard operator and nurses aides, all participants in the moving activities, voiced praise of the splendid support and cooperation given the hospital by the public this morning.
Medford Mail Tribune, April 14, 1966, page 1