>From the Tomahawk Leader July 2, 1986 History Sacred Heart Hospital Tomahawk Just two years after the incorporation of the City of Tomahawk, in 1891, a start was made toward establishing a sister's hospital here. It was because of the urgent pleading of the Reverend Charles Hoogstoel, pastor of St. Mary's Church, that the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother agreed to start a hospital here in the 1890s. Fr. Hoogstoel had become aquatinted with them at their Kneipp Institution, St. Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield, Wisconsin, and also with the Reverend Joseph Joch, chaplain and advisor of the sisters. As soon as permission had been obtained from Bishop Messmer of Green Bay, in which the diocese of Tomahawk was at the time, and from Mother Frances Streitel, foundress of the Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother, Fr. Joch assisted the sisters in getting established in Tomahawk. When a hospital was established in those years, it did not mean that patients and nurses were housed immediately in a brand new well equipped building. Whatever temporary shelter was available sufficed for the beginning. Such was the case when the sisters arrived in Tomahawk Oct. 19, 1893. They were Sisters M. Anna Niegel, the Superior, M. Alexia Baurer, cook, M. Gabriel Ortleib, portress, and M. Clementia Raes, and later M. Dionysia Griebel, nurses. Their first hospital was a small two story building located, according to some early settlers, at Fourth Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The place proved to be to poorly suited for the purpose, however, and after a few months of cold and privation the sisters accepted the opportunity to rent Mrs. E. J. Theiler's residence at 127 Spirit Avenue and Sixth Street. On a cold winter day, the sisters two patients were transferred by means of bobsled to this second hospital. The early records of the hospital show that nine patients were admitted between Dec. 2, 1893 and Jan. 12, 1894. During the winter of 1893-1894, Fr. Joch drew up the plans for a new hospital. After a conference with William Bradley, a prominent Tomahawk businessman who owned much of the land in and around town, it was agreed that the site for the hospital should occupy a plot of ground directly north of the newly erected church and parsonage. The site was donated by Bradley. Work was begun as soon as weather permitted. It is said that the early settlers came with their teams to excavate the ground, each one digging for a day or two as a donation. The building, a two story frame construction, was erected by Anton Weingart and an assistant under the supervision of Fr. Joch. Later the building was brick veneered. On the day of the dedication, July 20, 1894, a high mass was offered in the parish church. The first seven years were difficult for Sacred Heart Hospital. The income was insufficient and consequentially the sisters had to use every means to enable them to keep the institution open. They begged for worn out sheets and pillow slips so they could pull the threads apart and use the lint instead of purchasing cotton batting, which was somewhat expensive and difficult to obtain. From the woods directly in back of the hospital, the sisters gathered fire wood and so reduced their fuel expense. For a short time they were even forced to beg alms and travel from one logging camp to another to sell hospital tickets to lumbermen. After 1900, several good ticket agents employed by the sisters helped bring in more patients and more income. The ticket agents were assigned a certain territory where they went from camp to camp selling tickets at $5.00 and later $7.50. The ticket entitled the holder to admission and to medical and surgical treatment in the hospital at any time during one year from the date of the ticket, for such a length of time within the year as the attending physician judged necessary for the patient suffering from injury or sickness. According to E. M. MacDonald, who succeeded his father as a ticket agent for the hospital, the Tomahawk territory included 72 camps besides sawmills. As an agent he received 15% of the sales from the hospital directly. After selling the tickets he submitted the result of his work to the foreman of the camp and the foreman then sent an order for the amount to the company. In the spring when the company paid the lumberjacks it deducted the hospital's share from the amount due the respective camp. The deduction was then sent directly to the hospital. Tickets were bought chiefly by lumberjacks who had no home or family in the vicinity. In time of illness their home was the hospital. In the memoirs of Sister M. Dionysia, now deceased, it is related that one such lumberjack bought a ticket every year. Whether he was sick or not, he always came to the hospital and said, "I must visit my home at least once a year." The early sisters testified that the lumberjacks, men of many nations, Russians, Poles, Swedes, Germans, Irish, French, were good men, respectful and obliging to the sisters. At the hospital, the men would help along with the work when they were able, sawing and splitting wood, painting around the house and helping in the barn and garden. During the first 14 years of its history, Sacred Heart Hospital prospered and accomplished much good. In 1908 an addition increased the length of the building by 60 feet and raised the capacity to 32 beds. Dedication took place Nov. 18, 1908 with the Reverend John B. Scheyer, the parish priest, officiating. For this addition, the Bradley Company offered a donation of $6000.00. The same amount was borrowed from the company without interest and when repaid, it was returned to the sisters as a donation toward future maternity care and an isolation unit. It was decided to build the isolation unit, but the work was not done till 1910. The two story building was dedicated Jan. 30, 1911. It served its purpose for many years but later was used as a nurses' and maids' quarters. Improvements and further additions were mad to Sacred heart Hospital in the following years. 1928 added a third story. Less than a decade later a three-story addition extending west on Washington Avenue was begun in April 1937 providing 18 additional beds. Nov. 25, 1943 Golden Jubilee. New Hospital ground breaking, Dec. 5, 1960.