First Hospital on the High Plains of Texas - St. Anthony's Hospital

First Hospital on the High Plains of Texas - St. Anthony's Hospital. Founded 1901. , This marks site of Potter County's first hospital organized by Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word on invitation of Father David H. Dunne, Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Clarendon, Texas, and David Fly, M.D., Amarillo. Land was donated by Wm. H. Bush., Four sisters opened hospital as St. Anthony's Sanitarium. Original building (demolished in 1955 to make room for present School of Nursing) was a 14 room red-brick structure without gas, electricity or telephone service., A 2-story addition in 1909 provided thirty beds and an operating room. Despite hard times, a School of Nursing was also opened that year. In 1922, a third story was added to 1909 building, presently used by the Sisters as a convent. , In 1927-28, another addition enlarged facilities to 100-bed capacity and provided a laboratory, delivery rooms, X-ray rooms, and more surgical suites. A third addition in 1949 brought total capacity to 150 beds., A $2,000,000 addition in 1960 making St. Anthony's a 250-bed general hospital was made possible by funds raised by the Amarillo Area Foundation.