Beginnings

We've got deep roots in Southeast Michigan. Nearly 100 years ago, two Ann Arbor men, Dr. Cyrenus G. Darling, and Reverend E.D. Kelly, pastor of St. Thomas Church, recognized the need for community health care. They called on the Sisters of Mercy, a Catholic religious group in Dubuque, Iowa, to send some of their members to work with them in establishing a hospital.

From its modest beginnings in a donated home with just 17 beds, the St. Joseph Sanitarium soon grew to become a new 110-bed facility in Ann Arbor. In the early 1920s, the hospital was renamed St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

Around the same time, a temporary hospital, Mercywood Sanitarium, opened on Jackson Road to serve those with mental health needs. By 1925, a 40-bed facility, now called Mercywood Hospital, was built to serve this community.

Soon, other small hospitals were established in the area. The 18-bed McPherson Memorial Hospital opened its doors in 1928, operating in a house donated by the McPherson family. Nurse Cora Dickson began a house-hospital in Saline that same year. And by 1935, a private home in Saline was transformed into a 14-bed hospital.

Changing needs

A growing population needs more health care facilities, so in 1949 Saline Community General Hospital opened, followed by the new 75-bed McPherson Community Health Center in Howell. Shortly after, the 26-bed Saline Community Hospital was ready to accept its first patients.

In 1977 the new 558-bed St. Joseph Mercy Hospital opened on East Huron River Drive, on a large area of land to allow for expansion. Within two years, Mercywood Hospital and St. Joseph Mercy Hospital consolidated to form the Catherine McAuley Health Center, and Maple Medical Center opened to serve Ann Arbor's west side.

In the 1980s our health system experienced still more change and growth. The McPherson Community Health Center was renamed McPherson Hospital, while we added two facilities on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital - the Ambulatory Surgery Facility and the Huron Oaks Building. In the mid ‘80s, we opened Alpha House in Ann Arbor, the Reichert Health Building, on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, and Arbor Health Building in Plymouth.

By 1986, our system increased capacity again - with the 130-bed Mercywood Health Building on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. Today it's called the Towsley Senior Health Building. Population increases in the northern reaches were responsible for additional growth: the McAuley-McPherson Building in Brighton, and the McAuley Health Building in Canton.

McPherson Hospital joined forces with the Catherine McAuley Health Center in the early 1990s, and then changed its name to Catherine McAuley Health System to reflect its expanded service area. The Saline Community Hospital, an 82-bed facility, also joined Catherine McAuley Health System.

Modern milestones

We opened the Michigan Heart & Vascular Institute in 1994 on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

Catherine McAuley Health System entered a two-year association with Providence to become Mission Health in 1995.

At the end of the two-year association, Catherine McAuley Health System became Saint Joseph Mercy Health System in 1997.

A new health center in Canton, called St. Joseph Mercy Canton Health Center, opened in 1998.

Today. . .

2000 Mercy Health Services, the parent organization of Saint Joseph Mercy Health System, and Holy Cross Health System together become Trinity Health.

2001 St. Joseph Mercy Woodland Health Center opens in Brighton.

2001 The Village at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital and The Village at Woodland Health Center open to provide independent and assisted living services to seniors.

2002 Saline Community Hospital becomes St. Joseph Mercy Saline Hospital and McPherson Hospital becomes St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital. The Ellen Thompson Women's Health Center opens on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital.

2004 Imaging Center/Family Birth Center at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital opens offering more direct access to interventional services (endoscopy, cardiac imaging, MRI, CT Scan and other radiology) and obstetric services.

2004 The Center for Digestive Care on the campus of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor

2006 Cancer Center at St. Joseph Mercy Woodland Health Center, Brighton

2006 Surgery Pavilion at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor

2007 CyberKnife(r), a revolutionary way to treat cancer throughout the body began operating at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor.

2007 First of two new patient towers to open at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor

. . .and Tomorrow

2010 Second patient tower to be completed at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor

2011 New Patient Towers, a new entryway and chapel complete at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor in time for it's centennial celebration