| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
2023 (description only): The one-story Thurner Hospital has a rectangular plan and was constructed in 1859. It has a side-gable, asphalt-shingle roof and a limestone block and stack construction. The front (east) facade features a full-width porch with wood supports. The main entrance door has paired glass windows over wood panels with pilasters and a curved pediment. The windows are four-over-four, double-hung, wood sash with wood shutters. The side (north) elevation has four-over-four, double-hung windows in the gable end, and a fixed storm window. The rear (west) elevation has a doorway entrance similar to the main entrance. The remaining windows are one-over-one, double-hung sash. Alterations include replacement windows, replacement doors and door trim, porch modifications, and a brick addition on the rear of the building. A modern planter with a sign is located between the back of the sidewalk and a hedge that spans the length of the porch.
History: Built in 1859 as a residence for the Meiers, this stone building remained a dwelling until 1917, when Margaret Thurner turned it into Sauk City’s first hospital. Until the early 1900s, residents of small towns typically remained at home when sick, under the care of female family members and, perhaps, a doctor. For surgical procedures, a doctor attended to patients in his office or referred them to big-city hospitals.
But during the first decades of the twentieth century, a new movement in small-community health care brought about the establishment of small private hospitals. In Sauk City, Margaret Stoeffels Thurner, a widow, decided to open her own hospital and earn her living by nursing the sick--one of the relatively few employment opportunities then available to a woman of 53. Thurner converted her house into a ten-bed facility, which she operated under a doctor’s supervision. The vernacular side-gabled building needed few alterations to serve its new purpose. With tall narrow windows and an off-center classical entry embellished by a broken pediment, the facility appeared functional yet homey. Thurner made several improvements: a full-length veranda (originally screened), supported by sturdy square posts, and, inside, hot and cold running water, a kitchen and bathroom, and an oil-burning furnace. Thurner ran the hospital until 1932, when her daughter and a registered nurse assumed responsibility, but the hospital fell victim to the Great Depression.
Built by Swiss stone masons Casper Steuber, Peter Kindschi, and John Peter Felix. |
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