'There's a time for everything:' Capsule looks back at the history of Lorain's St. Joseph Hospital

LORAIN — Soon, St. Joseph Hospital in Lorain will be a cherished memory, and items from time capsules opened Tuesday morning will showcase the hospital's longstanding legacy. City and hospital officials opened a 32-year-old time capsule buried when the hospital merged to form what is now Mercy Health Lorain. From hospital paperwork and pins to an introduction to radiation therapy guide, the items in the capsule from 1988 showcased day-to-day life at the community medical center. Officials also opened a capsule from the mid-1970s Tuesday morning, but water damage left them with little more than molded, mushy paper and a single surviving ornament. Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley said he remembers when his mother brought him to the hospital in 1955 after his father had been in an industrial accident at Lorain Slag Co. that cost him his right arm. Bradley and his sister weren't allowed in the hospital, so his dad stood in one of the windows at the front of the building and waved to his family, Bradley said. "And I'll never forget that moment knowing that my dad was well and he was going to be able to take care of us …," he said. "It's seared into my brain." Mercy Health Lorain President Ed Oley started his career with the health care provider at St. Joseph's Hospital in 1978 as a pharmacist. He never dreamed he'd be standing in front of it, shuttered for years, reminiscing. But the closure of the hospital is a reflection of the health care advances in the area, he said, as patients don't stay in hospitals very long. For Sister Carole Anne Griswold, of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary, Tuesday marked a new time for the area — but brought a ton of memories of her time with the organization. Griswold started at St. Joseph as a nurse in 1967. She left in 1980, then returned from 2001 to 2013. "Scripture says there's a time for everything — there's a time for building and there's a time for tearing down and I think we've come to that point here," she said. "… People have been born here, people have come here to be renewed and healed and people have died here. My own dad died here even though he was from far away. And so we all know those experiences, we have the memories and we cherish them but we all know that is life, there's a time for everything." The original St. Joseph Hospital opened out of a house in 1892, serving children in the city who needed immediate surgery. The main section on Broadway was completed in 1916, with an additional building in 1950. The hospital merged with Lorain Community Hospital in the mid-1990s before closing in 1997. Renamed the St. Joseph Community Center, it later housed political offices, the Veterans Affairs clinic and others until it closed completely in 2015. After years on the market, the property sold to a Massachusetts-based developer in March, with intent to raze the property. Back taxes and utility delinquencies are still owed on the property, according to the Lorain County Auditor's website. Photographer Bruce Bishop contributed to this report. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.