New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-03-20
The Hopkins Hospital.


The following Is Tie lette. u llr John
Hopkins, Of Baltimore. to the Trustees cf til
Johns Hopkins Hospital in tina: city, seiiin
forth his grand designs for the relief Of the in
digent sick and orphans:
BALTIMORE, March 10, 1873
! 10 [Jaaris 4. AiHg, Prssi,!eRf, and ne Tr-,!se
+ efAs "Jolas Hopkins Hosplts' :"
/ GENTLEMEN: l have given you. In YOU
| capacity Of trustees, thirteen acres Of land
situated in the city Of Baltimore and boundet
by Wolfe, Monument, Broadway, aud Jefter
sou streets, upon which desire you 10 cree
: an hospital. II will be necessary to devote
the present year TO the grading Of its surface
to its proper drainage, to the having out o
the grounds, and TO the most careful and de
hoerate choice Of a plan for the erection anC
arrangement Of the new hospital buildings
IL i my wish that the plan thus chosen shall
be one which will permit symmetrical add
tons to the buildings which will be first con.
structed, IN order that you NAV ultimately be
able TO receive 400 patients, and that il shall
provide for an hospital which shall. in con.
stfuction and Arrangement, compare favor.
ably with any other Institution Of Ike char.
acter in this country or in Europe. 1t will,
therefore, be your duty to obtain the advice
and assistance of those at home or abroad
who have achieved the greatest success ia
'he construction and management OF hospt.
ais.
cannot press this Injunction too strongly
upon you, because TIE usefulness Of thi,
charity will greatly depend upon the plan
which you may adopt for the construction
and arrangement of the buildings. It is NV
desire that you should complete this portion
OF your labor during the current year, aud be
IN readiness to commence the building of the
hospital in the spring of 1874. 1t will be
your duty hereafter to provide for the GREG
ton, upon other ground, of suitable buildings
Tor the reception, maintenance, and eiuca-
ton OF orphan colored children. | direct YOU
to provide accommodation for three or four
hundred children Of this class and YOU are
also authorized to receive into this ASYLUM,
at your discretion, as belonging to such class,
colored children who have lost one parent
only, and in exceptional cases to receive COL
ored children who are not orphans, but may
he IN such circumstances as to require the aid
OF the charity. 1 desire that you shall apply
the yearly sum Of twenty thousand dollars,
or SO much thereof as may be necessary, of
the revenue OF the property which you will
hereafter receive, to the maintenance of the
orphans home, intended for such children.
In order to enable you to carry my wishes
INTO full effect, will now, and in each sue
ceeding year during my life, until the hos
p!tal buildings are fully completed and iu
readiness to receive patients, place at your
disposal the sum Of 100000.
In addition to the gift already made to YOU
OF the thirteen acres Of land in the city of
Baltimore, upon which the hospital will be
built, have dedicated to its support and to
the payment OF the annual sum provided to
De paid for the support of tho Orphans
Home, property which you may safely esti-
mate as worth, to-day, 81, 900 900; and from
which your corporation will certainly receive
yearly revenue Of sl2O, 600, and which time
and Your diligent care will make more largely
productive.
II the hospital and Orphans Home are not
built at my death, it will be your duty to APP
ply the income arising from this property to
their completion. When they are built the
income from the property will suffice for their
The INDECENT sick of this city aud its enyi-
rons, without regard to sex, age. or color.
who require surgical OR medical treatment.
ana VINO can be received into the hospital
without peril to the other inmates, and the
poor OF the city and State, Of all races, who
are stricken down by any casualty, shall be
received into the hospital without charge. for
such periods OF time and under such regula-
lions as you may prescribe. It will be your
duty to make such division of the sexes and
patients among the several wards Of the hos
pltal as VIII best promote the actual useful
ness Of the charity.
GU Will also provide for the reception Of
a limited number Of patients who are able to
MAKE compensation tor the room and atten-
ton they may require. The money received
from such persons will enable you to appro-
pirate larger sum for the relief of the suf-
terings OF that class which direct you to adj
NIT tree OF charge and you will thus be en-.
apled TO afford to strangers, and to those of
our own people, who have no friends or rela-
tlves to care for them In sickness, and who
are not objects of charity, the advantage Of
careful and skillful treatment.
1t will be your especial duty to secure for
the service Of the hospital surgeons and phy-
slcians OF the highest character and of the
greatest skill. desire you to establish, in
connection with the hospital, training
school for female nurses. This provision will
secure the services Of women competent to
care for the sick in tho hospital wards, and
will enable you to benefit the whole commu-
nifty by supplying 1t with a class Of trained
and experienced nurses.
wish the large ground, surrounding the
hospital buildings to be properly enclosed by
iron ratings, and to be so laid out and planted
with trees and flowers, as to afford solace to
the sick, and be an ornament to tito section
OF the city in which the grounds are located.
desire that you should in due season pro-
vide for site and buildings of such descrip-
ton, and at such distance from the city as
your Judgment shall approve, for the recep-
ton OF conyalescent patients. You will be
able in this way to hasten the recovery of
the sick, and to have always room in the
main hospital buildings for other sick persons
requiring immediate medical OF surgical treat
ment.
1t Is my special request that the Influences
OF religion should be felt ia and impressed
upon the whole management of the hospital :;
but desire, nevertheless, that the admins
tration Of the charity shall be undisturbed
by sectarian influences, discipline, or con-
troll.
In all your arrangements In relation TO this
hospital, you will bear constantly in mind
that it Is nay wish and purpose that the insti-
tuition should ultimately form a part of the
medical school Of that university, for which
l have made ample provision by my will.
have felt 1t to be my duty to bring these sub
jects to your particular attention, knowing
that you will conform to the wishes which /
definitely express. In other particulars
leave your board to the exercise of its dis