Provident Hospital, Chicago, was instituted in January, 1891, by a few gentlemen of that city, who saw the need of an opening for colored physicians, as well as for colored women. At that time there was not a hospital in the United States that admitted colored men as resident physicians or internes. There was no place, in fact, that a colored man could get a good practical experience so necessary for the proper equipment of the young men in the practice of medicine and surgery; as well to colored women, there were no institutions where they could be admitted into the higher scientific work of nursing. There may have been one or two exceptions in which persons of very light color, who could not possibly be detected, were admitted into one or two of the Eastern institutions for the higher education of women as nurses.
Each year, Provident Hospital has graduated a class of ladies who have scattered themselves throughout the United States; and in every instance they are succeeding and doing commendable work, demonstrating at once the necessity of opening a field of usefulness to colored women who are debarred from every avenue of employment on account of color.
Provident Hospital, since its inception, has been blessed in having as its supporters sincere and honest helpers, white and colored, in Chicago. It has done, already, a good work, and is on the road to prosperity. In March, 1896, ground was broken for the erection of a new building, the like of which will not be seen anywhere in the West. Fifty thousand dollars has been donated by a philanthropic gentleman, in Chicago, for the erection of the building, his only request being that his name be not mentioned. This building is to be erected in the southern part of the city, and with all the modern improvements. Another gentleman, Mr. H. H. Kohlsaat, one of the persistent and faithful friends of the colored people in this country, gave the ground on which the building is to be erected. Mr. George H. Webster, the partner of Mr. Armour, of Chicago, and a member of the Board of Trustees, is a sincere and sympathetic friend of the colored people in their efforts to upbuild and maintain Provident Hospital. The gentlemen composing the Board of Trustees, a mixed board of Chicago's prominent citizens, are untiring in their endeavors to promote the interests of the institution.