ST. FRANCIS WANTS PARTS FROM OLD HOSPITAL

Officials at St. Francis Medical Center are interested in preserving bits of the old St. Francis Hospital as the old building is prepared for demolition.

Richard L. Essner Sr., director of environmental engineering at St. Francis Medical Center, said representatives from the hospital recently were allowed to tour the old building, which will be demolished to make way for an apartment complex, and were allowed to take out several pieces of old hospital equipment that had been stored there.

"We're not opening the building to just anyone," said Rick Pierce, acquisition specialist with the Phillips Development Corp. of Little Rock, Ark., which purchased the property in April of 1999 and plans to construct 48 multi-family rental apartments at the site. "But since it was the hospital, we felt they had a connection to the equipment that was inside."

Essner said several pieces of equipment, including an infant incubator and a respirator, were removed from the building at 801 Good Hope St., which housed the hospital from when the building was built in 1914 to when the hospital moved to its present location in 1976.

Essner said St. Francis has also asked about obtaining the arch and the name plate over the front doors of the old building.

Pierce said his company has agreed to talk to the demolition contractor about how much it would cost to preserve these architectural features as they tear down the building. Then it would be up to St. Francis Medical Center to cover those costs, he said.

The medical center was also interested in the cornerstone from the old hospital, Essner said. However, Pierce said his company has plans to use the cornerstone in a display outside or inside the apartments.

"Since the building has historical significance, we want to make a historical display, perhaps with pictures of the old hospital," Pierce said.

Phillips has agreed to give St. Francis Medical Center the contents of the cornerstone, if there is anything inside it, Pierce said.

Essner said St. Francis hopes to use the equipment and any other items they get from the old building in a display associated with a celebration of the hospital's 125th anniversary on Oct. 17.