St. Mary Louise Hospital

St. Mary Louise Hospital. 55 North R Street, Virginia City, NV. The grounds were formally known as Van Bokkelen’s Beer Garden. General Jacob Van Bokkelen was commander of the Virginia City National guard, was killed in a dynamite explosion in his hardware store on Taylor St,. west of C Street in March 1873 that took his life and that of several others. This five acre site was later purchased by Mrs. John (Mary Louise) Mackay, wife of Bonanza King John Mackay. Mrs. Mackay then donated the land to Father (later Bishop) Patrick Manogue of the Catholic Church for the building of the hospital. Construction took place in 1875 at a cost of about $45,000. The four story 14,000 sq. ft. brick building contained 36 rooms with five wards and 12 private rooms. Up to 70 patients could be accommodated. It was partially funded by miners and milling men, who paid $1.00 per month to support it., The hospital opened and received its first patients on March 6, 1876. The daily operations of the facility were presided over by Catholic Nuns known as: “Daughters of Charity.” The hospital was in operation for 21 years, but with Virginia City’s dwindling population, it closed in September 1897, when the last two “Daughter of Charity” left the Comstock. It later served as Storey County’s Hospital until the 1940’s when a fire on the top floor forced it to close. In 1964, after much renovation the old Hospital once again opened its doors, but to a different clientele, when it became St. Mary’s Art Center.