MERCY HOSPITAL 
Viewing the Mercy Hospital as it stands on Pride and 
Stevenson streets, a beacon of light, as it were, to the sick and 
suffering, it is difficult to picture it as ever being located in a 
rural district, in the midst of fields and trees. Yet, this was a 
reality, when in 1847 this noble work was begun by the 
Sisters of Mercy. The labor was begun in temporary quar- 
ters, for the sisters, realizing the need of a hospital in the city 
felt that they could not wait for the new building which was 
being erected. Scarcely were they established in 1848 in 
their present site, when an epidemic of typhus broke out in 
the city. Many of the victims were cared for by the sisters, 
and we have statements showing that eight of the sisters suc- 
cumbed to the disease. 
The original Mercy Hospital building, which was opened 
in 1848 involved a cost of $15,000. It rose three stories and 
had a capacity of sixty patients. 
In 1849, smallpox became prevalent in the city. It seem- 
ed providential that this institution should have been found- 
ed just in time to meet the needs of the people. Once more 
the sisters were called upon to give relief, and as before, they 
were not found wanting. At this time, Pittsburgh had no 
municipal hospital, but the sisters met the situation and 
handled it with admirable dexterity. 
When in 1854, cholera visited the city, they had profited 
by their former experience and were prepared. For weeks the 
sisters toiled for the sufferers taking rest only when nature de- 
manded it. Only one male attendant remained to bury the 
dead, the rest having fled, panic stricken. At this period, it 
is true that advances were being made by science, but to no 
effect, for in 1872 came another epidemic of smallpox. 
During the Civil War, the sisters took charge of the work 
in the West Penn as well as in the Mercy. A detachment of 
sisters from Pittsburgh also took charge of Stanton Military 
Hospital, Washington, D. C., from 1862-65. Sister Made- 
leine is the sole surviving member of that group. 
In 1882 with the assistance of many generous friends, 
plans were made for enlarging the Mercy Hospital. It in- 
creased its capacity to 150, having added 4 general wards, 15