The first Maternity Hospital in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Part 1

The 10 May 2025 Minnesota Star Tribune has an interesting article titled “Minneapolis’ first maternity hospital in 1886 was a savior for unmarried mothers and unwanted babies.” The subtitle says “Founder Martha Ripley was not only an obstetrician but also a mother figure to the women and infants at the facility.”

The article by long-time writer for the newspaper, James Lileks, is full of information about her, the hospital, and its evolution into related care.

“Mothers of the early- to mid-19th century had a wide choice of places to give birth — the bedroom, the living room, the spare room, the kitchen. Births, after all, happened at home. But what if one had no home? Where could the poor or unmarried expectant mothers go? Options were few until a maverick doctor created Minneapolis’ first maternity hospital.”

The specific phrase “unwanted babies” is somewhat erroneous. My belief is that some of those babies were definitely wanted by the mothers of all ages. Family and societal pressures plus financial and housing issues were some reasons that some birth mothers were forced to give their child up for adoption. I have attended lectures on the general subject and the reasons are numerous for giving up the babies. Martha Ripley helped the birth mothers in many way, more than only delivering babies.

My interest in history and genealogy immediately sent me to ArchiveGrid to locate possible manuscript collections related to Dr. Ripley and the hospital.