Monticello Big Lake Hospital

History

History
MonticelloBig Lake Community Hospital District was formed in 1961 as the result of many years of work by community members who were concerned about the future of health care in the Monticello area MonticelloBig Lake Community Hospital District is one of 13 hospital districts in the State of Minnesota and is governed by an eightmember Board of Directors who are elected to represent the Districts cities and townships

In 1929 Dr William E Hart and his family moved to Monticello Dr Hart and his wife Mildred a registered nurse saw patients at their Monticello office In 1936 the Harts practice was licensed by the State of Minnesota as a five bed hospital after two young men were confined to Dr Harts care following a car accident Dr Hart began providing care at the Hart Hospital in Monticello because it was not always practical to transport sick patients to hospitals in St Cloud or the Twin Cities As the years passed the Hart Hospitals services continued to grow to meet the communitys health care needs In 1941 the Hart Hospital was expanded to 15 licensed beds

The Hart Hospital was privately owned and according to state law once Dr Hart discontinued his practice the hospital could not be relicensed as private hospitals were no longer permitted in Minnesota

In 1960 with Dr Harts retirement on the horizon a committee of area residents organized to investigate the formation of a hospital district to ensure the future of health care in the Monticello area

Hospital District
The Hospital District was formed in 1961 and included the Villages of Monticello and Big Lake and the Townships of Becker Big Lake Monticello and Silver Creek The Township of Otsego was officially annexed into the district in 1962 To become a member of the district each village or township board had to pass a resolution proclaiming their intent to join the district and then hold a special election if so petitioned by their constituents

Elected board members began meeting in 1961 to make plans to build a hospital that would serve the areas health needs when the time came for Dr Hart to retire and subsequently the Hart Hospital to close By the flip of a coin MonticelloBig Lake Community Hospital District became the organizations official name

A new hospital
In order to fund the construction and equipping of a new hospital building MonticelloBig Lake Community Hospital District asked voters to approve a general obligation bond that would be used to acquire hospital facilities and provide adequate working capital Construction of the new hospital building began in March of 1964 and the new hospital was opened for patient care on July 1 1965

For more than 40 years MonticelloBig Lake Community Hospital District has provided patientcentered care that improves the health and wellbeing of our community