Speers Hospital, later Speers Memorial Hospital, was named in honor of its benefactor Mrs. Elizabeth Speers. Very little is known about her or her husband Charles C. Speers. Sketchy information has it she was born in England and he in Pennsylvania. They had earlier lived in Texas and Cincinnati and it is surmised he made a lot of money in cotton. Her obituary took only one line, his but five. A cursory search failed to find copy for either obituary.
Mrs. Speers died on May 13, 1894 and in her will left $200,000 (a tidy amount back then) to build a non-profit hospital. A Board of Directors was formed in 1895 founding the hospital and a hospital was erected by April of 1897.
It was on September 1, 1973, that Speers Hospital closed its doors for good, a victim of mega-for profit institutions. Razed in 1979, low rent housing is now on the site.
