Anniversary Celebrations Through the Years

25^th year: Staff, children and community members celebrated on the lawn of the hospital at 1710 Independence Avenue in June of 1922. Photos feature children in costumes that look like flowers, so they may have given a performance of some kind. A printed program recounted the wording on the hospital’s cornerstone: “In 1897 Dr. Alice Berry Graham founded the hospital for sick and crippled children to be forever non-sectarian, non-local and for those who cannot pay.” We also found a small silver anniversary placard in the archives, which may have been a part of the “Silver” anniversary.

50^th year: WDAF radio broadcasted from the hospital lobby on the morning of Sept. 28, 1947. The program featured a singer and the reading of the newspaper “funnies,” along with speeches by hospital staff and members of the community. Dr. Robert Schauffler, who was marking 43 years of his own service to the hospital, gave a speech called “The Quality of Mercy is not Strained.”

In listing the strengths of the hospital, he said: “The first is the spirit of the founders. How high their ideas, how great heir love … Second, the spirit of the management. With patience and enthusiasm, they are following patterns set by the founders. Next, the spirit of the workers. The devotion of many of the older graduates of the training school is a beautiful thing to see … Mercy hospital does things to people.”

The famous bronze plaque honoring the sisters was unveiled at this event.

A newspaper clipping about the anniversary proclaimed, “No other institution has a stronger hold on the civic affection of Kansas City than has Mercy hospital, which is now observing its fiftieth anniversary. Mercy hospital has been developed under circumstances which tend to establish a particularly close relationship between an institution and a community.”

75^th year:  On Oct. 1, 1972, the hospital celebrated the completion of a $1 million educational and research wing at the current location. 2,500 people toured the facility at an open house. The caption of the photo of the newspaper clipping from the Oct. 2, 1972 Kansas City Star reads, "Officials of Children’s Mercy Hospital visited yesterday with Shloe Barrick (right foreground), a research assistant in the virology department during an open house observing the hospital’s 75^th anniversary and the opening of the new laboratories, chapel, theater and library.  Touring the virology lab, one of six such departmental facilities, are Dr. Ned W. Smull (left), hospital director; Mrs. Charles Kimball, chairman of the anniversary celebration and member of the central governing board of the hospital; and Dr. Richard L. Dreher, executive director of the hospital. An estimated 2,500 persons toured the new facilities, which were provided by $1 million in donations."

100^th year: The Centennial Celebration included an evening gala in February 1997 and an afternoon event on October 5, 1997, when leaders dedicated multiple units, such as the Southerland Patient Tower, the Hall Family Outpatient Center and the Kraemer Family Resource Center. And they gave awards: The Centennial Award for international contributions to the health and welfare of children went to Robert J. Haggerty, MD, Professor of Pediatrics Emeritus at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry; The Alice Barry Graham Award was given to retired employee and volunteer Carol V. Belt, RN; and the Katharine Berry Richardson Award for contributions to the health and welfare in our community went to R. Don Blim, MD, Director of Medical Affairs at Saint Luke’s Hospital. 

Just before the centennial celebration, Child magazine named Children’s Mercy one of the top eight children’s hospitals in the country.

125^th year: We’re celebrating the 125^th anniversary in multiple ways, with a video to kick off the year, lots of story-telling opportunities, special Founders Day activities and more.