Historian Mark Simonson Solves “Fox Nurses Home” Riddle!

Whenever I need to get an answer about something locally I always go to my listeners. You folks are a wealth of knowledge about the goings on in the past in our area, and I thank you all for your input.

Another great source is always my friend Mark Simonson.  Mark is the City of Oneonta Historian and he saw the article I posted about "what and where was the Fox Hospital Nurses Home?"  The real puzzler for me was the phrase "Nurses Home."  Was it an early nursing home? A residence for your nurses?  A retirement home for aged nurses?  Well, who knew it would house a nursing school!

Here is what Mark has to add to this riddle:

The first patients, six in all, were admitted to Aurelia Osborn Fox Memorial Hospital on Wednesday, June 26, 1901. At 4 p.m., surgery was performed on Anne Van Dusen of Morris by Drs. Arthur W. Cutler, Marshall Latcher, Julian Smith and G.I. Olin. These and other doctors needed competent nurses to assist, so Miss Laura Slingerland was appointed the first hospital nurse and became the superintendent of a nursing school. The school opened the first week of June 1901 with Miss Susie Smith as the first student nurse. There were five young women in the first class. The training school offered a three-year period of instruction and practical work of nursing. At the conclusion of the program a certificate of graduation was given that would place the holder on a par with graduates of any nursing school in the country.