Architect William L.

Steele of Sioux City designed the building.

The project became a physical expression of Susan’s entire career.

She had spent years moving from patient to patient.

Now she was creating a place where medicine could be centralized.

Construction took place in 1912 and 1913.

The hospital opened in Walthill in January 1913.

Historical sources often describe it as the first modern hospital on an American Indian reservation built without federal government funding.

The wording matters.

There had been medical facilities associated with reservations and federal services before.