HOSPITALS
60
THURLOW COLLECTION
Much of the structure of the original hospital was preserved when additions
enveloped it.
Watt & Sinclair of Palm Beach was the contractor for the
hospital, while local contractor Sam Matthews built the
nurses home. Construction began in August 1938.
From the beginning, another philanthropic family was
involved. The William H. Shepard family of Cleveland, Ohio,
whose name is perpetuated in Stuart’s Shepard Park, provided
landscaping for the new hospital. Anne Shepard, the daughterin
law of William H. Shepard, who was trained as a nurse,
arranged for her friend and classmate Mary Nelson to move
from Ohio to become the hospital’s first director of nursing.
Martin County Hospital was dedicated on March 8, 1939.
During World War II, when there was an extreme shortage
of registered nurses, Anne Shepard trained local women >>
MARTIN HEALTH SYSTEM
Original Martin County Hospital Board of Directors Edwin A. Menninger,
Joseph V. Reed, Dennis S. Hudson Sr., Major C. D. S. Clarkson, Judge E. J.
Smith Jr., P. Paul De Moya, Senator Abram Otto Kanner. First Medical Staff:
Drs. Van W. Burns, Julian D. Parker, and Floyd B. Eurit.
MARTIN HEALTH SYSTEM
Treasure Coast Medical Report