Swedish American: The Hospital That Began With One Dollar
Generations of Rockford residents have been born at SwedishAmerican Hospital, worked there, recovered there, and said goodbye to loved ones there. Its history is inseparable from the history of the city itself.
But SwedishAmerican began with something considerably smaller than a hospital: a single dollar enclosed in a letter to a Swedish-language newspaper.
The Hospital That Began With One Dollar
On March 23, 1911, a Rockford mathematician named O. F. Nilson wrote a letter to Carl Hjalmar Lundquist, editor of the Swedish-language newspaper Svenska Posten.
Nilson believed Rockford needed a hospital established by its Swedish community. He proposed that every Swedish resident contribute one dollar a year toward the project. To demonstrate his commitment, he enclosed a dollar of his own.
Lundquist deposited the money at the Swedish-American National Bank and called a meeting of Swedish ministers to discuss the proposal.
From that single dollar, a hospital began to take shape.
On June 6, 1911, the Swedish-American Hospital Association received its charter from the State of Illinois.
Fundraising became a community undertaking. Letters circulated in Swedish and English, and residents organized picnics, bazaars, and concerts. By May 1912, the association had collected more than $4,000 in cash and secured another $8,000 in pledges.
A three-acre site on Charles Street was purchased for $11,500.
July 18, 1918: The First Patient
After seven years of organizing, fundraising, and construction, SwedishAmerican Hospital was completed on July 17, 1918.
The original building cost approximately $175,000 and contained 55 beds.
The following day, July 18, the hospital admitted its first patient, Mrs. J. G. Prowd. She underwent surgery and remained hospitalized for 11 days. Her bill came to $40.
On August 29, 1918, Clarence Pearson became the first baby born at SwedishAmerican.
Healthcare looked considerably different in those days. Antibiotics were not yet available. Pneumonia and other infectious diseases remained major threats. Private rooms with a bath cost approximately six dollars a day, and nurses at the top of the salary scale earned about $60 a month.
Within weeks of opening, the hospital would face an extraordinary test.
The Influenza Epidemic of 1918
In September 1918, the influenza pandemic struck Camp Grant, the enormous military training installation south of Rockford.
The outbreak spread rapidly through the camp and the surrounding community. Midway Village Museum's historical timeline records 323 civilian influenza deaths in Rockford.
SwedishAmerican had been open for only two months.
Its physicians and nurses were confronting a public health emergency at a time when effective treatments for many serious infections were extremely limited.
The epidemic demonstrated just how important additional hospital facilities had become to Rockford.
A School for Nurses and a Growing Hospital
SwedishAmerican established its nursing school in 1919, just one year after opening. Its first students graduated in 1922.
The school helped train generations of nurses who would serve Rockford and the surrounding region.
By the late 1930s, SwedishAmerican had become an established part of Rockford's medical and civic life.
In July 1938, the hospital celebrated its twentieth anniversary with a visit from Prince Bertil of Sweden, the son of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf.
Approximately 6,000 people gathered on the hospital lawn for the occasion.
For Rockford's Swedish-American community, the celebration marked how far the institution had come since Nilson mailed his dollar to the local newspaper.
Pehr August Peterson and the Hospital's Swedish Roots
One of the important figures in the hospital's early development was Pehr August Peterson, a Swedish immigrant who became a prominent Rockford furniture manufacturer and civic leader.
Peterson served as chairman of the hospital's board of trustees when the institution opened in 1918.
His former residence, the Lake–Peterson House, remains an architectural reminder of the city's Swedish-American history.
Originally constructed in 1873, the house was purchased by Peterson in 1918 and donated to the hospital in 1919. It later served as a residence for students in the hospital's School of Medical Technology.
Expansion, Heart Surgery, and a Changing Neighborhood
As Rockford grew, SwedishAmerican grew with it.
A west-wing addition completed in 1942 increased capacity to approximately 125 beds. Construction began on a five-story east wing in 1947, followed by a ten-story addition in 1963.
The hospital also expanded its medical capabilities. Open-heart surgery was introduced in 1971, and a regional cancer center followed in 1974. A modern emergency facility opened in 1979.
During the 1990s, SwedishAmerican began planning a major modernization of its campus. The project included rerouting Charles Street, which ran through the hospital complex.
The city agreed to the changes on the condition that SwedishAmerican help revitalize the neighborhood south of the hospital.
The hospital acquired 31 properties in a six-block area and committed $2 million to neighborhood improvements. Working with the city and Habitat for Humanity, it helped bring new housing to the area.
In June 2006, SwedishAmerican opened a $44 million, 94-bed heart hospital, further expanding its cardiovascular services.
From SwedishAmerican to UW Health
In 2015, SwedishAmerican joined UW Health, the academic health system based in Madison, Wisconsin.
The partnership connected Rockford patients with a broader network of medical specialists and services while retaining the hospital's presence in northern Illinois.
In September 2021, SwedishAmerican Health System announced that it would adopt the UW Health brand.
The original Rockford hospital retained its historic identity in its new name: UW Health SwedishAmerican Hospital.
The hospital remains at 1401 East State Street, continuing to serve patients throughout northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.
The Dollar That Became a Hospital
It is difficult to imagine that a hospital of this size began with a single dollar enclosed in a letter to a Swedish-language newspaper.
But that is precisely how SwedishAmerican's story began.
The institution has changed enormously since 1918. Buildings have been added, medical treatments have advanced, and the hospital has become part of a much larger healthcare organization.
Yet the story of its founding remains distinctly Rockford: a community recognized a need, organized its resources, and built something intended to serve generations beyond its own.
O. F. Nilson's dollar did not build a hospital by itself.
It persuaded other people to contribute theirs.
And on February 7, 1969, one of the babies born at SwedishAmerican Hospital was me.
— Thomas L. Vaultonburg
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