Maine Memory Network

Queen's Hospital entrance, Portland, ca. 1930

Contributed by: Northern Light Mercy Hospital Date: circa 1930 Location: Portland Media: Black and White 35mm Slide

Plot plan for the new Mercy Hospital, Portland, 1941

Contributed by: Northern Light Mercy Hospital Date: 1941 Location: Portland Media: Ink on paper

56-70 Danforth Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Children's Hospital Use: Hospital

91 Danforth Street, Portland, 1924

Owner in 1924: Children's Hospital Use: Connecting Corridor

Osteopathic Hospital, Portland, 1956

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1956 Location: Portland Client: Portland Osteopathic Hospital Architect: Stevens and Saunders Architects

Hospital Addition, Bath, 1917

Contributed by: Maine Historical Society Date: 1917 Location: Bath; Bath Client: Bath Memorial Hospital Architect: Alonzo J. Harriman

Maine Medical Center, Bramhall Campus

Maine Medical Center, founded as Maine General Hospital, has dominated Portland’s West End since its construction in 1871 on Bramhall Hill. As the medical field grew in both technological and social practice, the facility of the hospital also changed. This exhibit tracks the expansion and additions to that original building as the hospital adapted to its patients’ needs.

Rebecca Usher: 'To Succor the Suffering Soldiers'

Rebecca Usher of Hollis was 41 and single when she joined the Union nursing service at the U.S. General Hospital at Chester, Pennsylvania. Her time there and later at City Point, Virginia, were defining experiences of her life.

Mercy Hospital - 100 Years of Mercy Hospital

"Queen's Hospital administration building, Portland, ca. 1930Northern Light Mercy Hospital The Story of Mercy Hospital began in the fall of 1918…"

Mercy Hospital - Portland Hospitals Before Mercy

"Modern hospital care as its understood in the 21st century, is a recent development in medical history."

Nursing at Mercy Hospital during WWII
by Roberta Loring

Education and nursing at Mercy Hospital during World War II.

Supporting the Mercy Hospital mission for 30+ years
by David Small

David Small described his time on the Mercy Hospital Board, The Sisters of Mercy, and expansion.

Primary Sources: Healthcare History in Maine

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12 Content Area: Social Studies
This lesson plan will give students the opportunity to read and analyze letters, literature, and other primary documents and articles of material culture from the MHS collections relating to how people in Maine have given and received healthcare throughout history. Students will discuss the giving and receiving of medicines and treatments from the 18th-21st centuries, the evolving role of hospitals since the 19th century, and how the nursing profession has changed since the Civil War. Students will also look at how people and healthcare facilities in Maine have addressed epidemics in the past, such as influenza and tuberculosis, and what we can learn today from studying the history of healthcare and medicine.