Colonial Hospital

I was looking at a Baltimore History Facebook group recently, and someone mentioned they’d found a photograph of a group of people in front of a place called Colonial Hospital in Baltimore. It was dated May 24, 1924 and mentioned the “pioneer class.”

I’d never come across Colonial Hospital in my searches, so was intrigued, especially as some of the founders were members of the Faculty. Drs. Emil Novak and Dr. J.M.H. Rowland were two of the leaders in this effort.

The hospital would be located at 1100 N. Mount Street, the site of the former homeopathic hospital, and the Morrow Hospital, a government hospital for the treatment of ex-servicemen.

The current hospital buildings would be converted to serve 100 beds and was planned to open June 1, 1923. Dr. Rowland said that there was a shortage of hospitals in the area, and Colonial Hospital would “aid materially in reducing congestion in local hospitals.” He also mentioned that there were waiting lists at all of the local hospitals.

An article in the Baltimore Sun mentioned that all of the hospital beds at Colonial Hospital would be moderately priced, or even free and that it would be a general hospital, and specialists would act as advisors. 

Founder Dr. H.G. Rytina (or A.G. Rytina, depending on the source) said that many hospitals only wanted to serve their small group of specialist physicians, while patients wanted to have their family physician care for them, even when they were in the hospital. They were having difficulty in getting their patients into hospitals unless they “turned them over” to a member of the hospital staff.

He argues that most general practitioners don't want to go beyond their depth. They don't want to do major surgery or handle complicated maternity cases. But there was no desire on the hospitals' part to open to all physicians with no regulation. Hospitals at that time, were either "closed" or "open" to outside physicians. 

Dr. Rytina argued that it was often the young and progressive physicians who were losing out because they were not being given the benefits of hospital practice, particularly for their own patients. Visiting physicians were usually caring for the hospitals' charity patients.

The hospital's name came from one of the larger buildings, which was in an imposing Colonial style of architecture. It was one of the three buildings on the campus.

In May of 1928, Dr. Rytina announced that he would be closing the hospital because “he was going out of the hospital business and intended to take up private practice.” He added that his decision was influenced by a tentative trip to Europe that he’d been planning.

The three hospital buildings would be closed and they and their equipment would be sold. Admissions had been stopped and those who were still at the hospital would be transferred to other local hospitals.