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St. Luke’s celebrates 60 years

Care center for elderly began as an idea of Dr. Lewis Hanson of Frost

By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer | Jun 11, 2023

St. Luke’s Lutheran Care Center, located at 1219 South Ramsey Street in Blue Earth, will be celebrating their 60th anniversary this summer on June 20. An open house will be held that day from 2-4 p.m. People will be able to take a tour of the facility and refreshments will be served.

Though the care facility opened on April 15, 1963, the dream for a retirement home in the Blue Earth area actually began eight years earlier, in 1955, when Dr. Lewis Hanson, and a few other men from Frost, began the hard work of promoting and sharing their ideas.

The group of men was able to raise $60,000 which enabled them to borrow enough money to construct a 60-bed home.

The ground breaking ceremony for the new facility was held on Sunday, Dec. 31, 1961, with Elmer Knudsen, who was chairman of the Blue Earth Business and Corporations Gifts Committee, and Blue Earth mayor Rector H. Putnam taking part in the ceremony.

During the ground breaking ceremony, Putnam noted that it was fitting that the home be named for St. Luke, since he had been a physician.

The projected cost of the 1963 building was $486,000 and the contractor was Luebbert Construction Company of New Ulm.

One year and three and a half months after the ground breaking, the first resident would be admitted.

According to an article written by the late Dr. George Drexler in 1988, prior to his arrival in Blue Earth in 1946, the city did not have a nursing or retirement home.

Drexler explained the existing hospital at that time was located at 206 West Sixth Street and was a wood-framed building known as Dr. Wilson Hospital.

When the Hill-Burton Hospital was completed in Blue Earth in 1950, the Dr. Wilson Hospital subsequently became Blue Earth’s first rest home.

Drexler explained, “By present day standards, it was quite a primitive operation which provided only food and lodging. It was operated for a number of years by a Ms. Dutton.”

Drexler, who would go on to serve St. Luke’s as its medical director, commented there was also another home on 10th Street which was operated by Ms. Dutton.

“Both homes closed when St. Luke’s opened,” he said.

The original St. Luke’s structure was designed to be a 60-bed facility and the interest in the facility led to over 3,000 people attending an Open House observance on March 31, 1963.

On April 17, 1963, assistant nurse, Minnie Fenske, admitted 64 year old Hilda Estebo of Rake, Iowa, as the first resident. After the first month of operation, a total of 25 residents had been admitted.

The original Board of Directors was comprised of members from 12 congregations of the American Lutheran Chuch and one from a Lutheran Church in America congregation. The board was responsible for formulating the policies of St. Luke’s.

By 1969 there was a need to add another 36 rooms to meet the needs of 62 additional residents. At that time, four congregations from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod joined the St. Luke’s corporation board. Six years later another addition was made to the main building providing room for 58 more residents.

The 1969 addition had a projected cost of $1,094,700 while the addition built in 1975 had a projected cost of $1,115,000

At present, St. Luke’s has two independent living complexes (Southview Estates and New Life Manor) and a 28-unit assisted living building (Friendship Court). Memory Lane opened in December of 1987.

In November of 1966, the first Reflector was printed. It was a newspaper with information on the happenings and the people involved with the facility. It was named by resident Sina Hacklander, who spent many hours translating her Bible into different languages.

There were many “firsts” during the early years of St. Luke’s. One of the most talked about occurred in 1968, when residents Alice Hahn and Melvin Hovland, who first met at the facility, were married in the Chapel of Trinity Lutheran Church in Blue Earth.

Another memorable event happened in 1975 when a deer jumped through the window of Albert Drusch’s room.

A new addition in 1970 was a combination Beauty Parlor and Barber Shop. Hubert Tuttle assumed the duties as the first barber and would come in on Saturdays to cut the men’s hair.

In the early 1970s, many foreign exchange students going to school locally spent a great deal of time with some of the St. Luke’s residents.

An article in the Reflector from the winter of 1973 tells that many of the relationships between the residents and the foreign exchange students became lasting ones and that correspondence continued after the students had returned to their home countries.

St. Luke’s has had countless residents over the years. Since being founded in 1963, the St. Luke’s community has expanded to include market rate housing, subsidized housing, assisted living and adult day care services.

St. Luke’s offers a wide variety of services that include physical/occupational and speech therapy, social services and therapeutic recreation. Also part of the St. Luke’s team is a dietary department that works to meet the unique, individual dietary needs and preferences of each resident.

A part-time, on-site chaplain, in coordination with local clergy, provides spiritual and end-of-life care for residents, family and staff.

While St. Luke’s has seen many changes in its 60 years of existence, they continue to be staffed by employees who are dedicated to providing a “ministry of gentle service.”

“I started working here as a Registered Nurse, then became a social worker before I became the administrator,” Margaret Brandt says. “I have been here 30 years. It is a wonderful place to work and the board is very supportive. We are a five-star facility and we look forward to being able to continue to provide quality services for our residents.”