Rex Hospital, Raleigh, N.C.
This week on Flashback Friday we showcase a postcard image every Raleigh native will recognize — the venerable Rex Hospital. Although the building no longer functions as such, and has been repurposed as an office facility by the State of North Carolina, the building still reigns proudly overlooking St. Mary’s St.
This week’s card was postmarked on March 9, 1950.
Ral. N.C.
3-9-50Hi Sis
Just a line to say I’m O.K. Hope you are too. Don’t let this news go home but I traded cars again. I have a new oo [?] Mercury. It’s straight. I’m not kidding. I know you will like it. I will tell you more when I have time. How’s [illegible]? You all hurry up and come down here real soon.
Ralph
Despite his admonition, I wonder if Ralph’s sister maybe did spill the beans to their parents about his trade-up to the Mercury.
As was typical of postcard correspondents of this era, the sender rarely mentioned the image on the card itself; perhaps Ralph sent it to his sister because she worked in a hospital.
This postcard aerial view of a 1940s Rex Hospital shows how large the campus complex was.
Rex Hospital — Healing Raleigh Since 1894
Rex Hospital’s foundation reaches all the way back to 1839 when a Raleigh tanner, John Rex, left a substantial endowment designated for the establishment of a facility “for the sick and afflicted poor belonging to the City of Raleigh.”
Progress was made on realizing the hospital, but, as with many such projects of that era, the economic turmoil of Civil War intervened.
Finally, in 1893, the Rex trustees were able to purchase the antebellum residence of former Gov. Charles Manly, which then stood on South St. at the foot of Salisbury St. Rex Hospital opened in the mansion in 1894. Among other medical advances, the hospital became known for its pioneering use of X-rays and its school of nursing,
Fifteen years later, however, the trustees realized the aging structure was inadequate to accommodate the needs of a modern hospital. Raleigh architect Charles W. Barrett was hired to design a new facility tailored to health care in the 20th century.
This modern Rex Hospital facility on South St. replaced the aging Manly mansion in 1909.Â
As Raleigh grew over the next two decades, so did the needs of Rex Hospital. Again, the trustees made the decision to build anew. This time, however, a site for a new and larger building was chosen outside downtown in favor of one in the suburbs. The location selected was on a hill overlooking St. Mary’s St., just north of the Methodist Orphanage.
H. Colvin Linthicum was selected as the architect, and the imposing, Art Deco inspired Rex Hospital opened in 1937.
The photo above shows the new Rex Hospital soon after it opened in 1937; below is the cornerstone laying in 1935.Â
Rex Hospital became a familiar landmark at the St. Mary’s St. location for more than 40 years.
The 1937Â photo above shows Rex Hospital overlooking St. Mary’s St. as seen from the campus of the Methodist Orphanage. Wade Ave. had not yet been cut through.
But, as we all know, time marches on, and Rex eventually outgrew its St. Mary’s St. facility. The hospital relocated to its current site on Blue Ridge Rd. in 1980.
Today Rex Hospital continues to serve the health care needs of the citizens of Raleigh. Nowadays the hospital complex includes the Rex Cancer Center, Cardiac Catherization Laboratory, Wellness Center, Rex Family Birth Center, and Rex Convalescent Care Center.
I gotta say, if you get sick or injured, ya gotta go to Rex!
Our Flashback Friday ‘white border linen’ postcard this week was published locally by the Raleigh News Agency. It was printed by Tichnor Brothers of Boston, under the trade name ‘Tichnor Quality Views.’
Tichnor Brothers, Inc.  (1912-1987) Boston and Cambridge, MA
A major publisher and printer of a wide variety of postcards types. Their view-cards were produced on a national level. Their photochomes went under the trade name Lusterchrome. They also produced an early Tichnor Gloss series in offset lithography that was so heavily retouched they floated somewhere between being artist drawn and being a photograph. The company was sold in 1987 to Paper Majic.
“Flashback Friday†is a weekly feature of Goodnight, Raleigh! in which we showcase vintage postcards depicting our historic capital city. We hope you enjoy this week end treat!
12/20/2014
I may be one of the last who can say this: My mother and I, when I was a toddler, would walk two or more miles each way, to the old Rex Hospital at South and Salisbury Streets, for the administering of vaccines deemed necessary at the time for children. Dr. William Ward darted the needles at my tiny arms.
Robert Bryant, Sr.
Clayton, NC
12/22/2014
My wife and I had an old friend named Jeddy Blake who was a nurse and worked at the South St. Rex and the Rex on St. Marys. She was head nurse on night shift on St. Marys St. when Mr. Barnes was the CEO.
12/22/2014
Great pic of Rex Hospital. I was born in that building and went by it several times a day for more than 20 years.
I also remember when Wade Avenue was cut through to Downtown (now Capital) Boulevard and even when the Downtown Boulevard was built along the path of the unpaved road that connected the bottom end of Fairview Road with Peace Street Just East of Devereaux Meadow.
12/26/2014
According to the maps in the UNC North Carolina Maps collection, prior to the construction of Downtown Boulevard the unpaved road was an extension of Dawson Street. That was in the 1940s and 50s. The 1920s and 30s maps of Raleigh show that unpaved stretch as Fairview Road. It connected with the part that still has that name.
http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/ncmaps/id/1717/rec/31
12/29/2014
i was born in Rex Hospital in 1947 – Dr. Pugh was my peditrican 😊 I also had my tonsils taken out there.
12/30/2014
Nice to find out the Old Rex Hospital as I knew it was opened in 1937, the year my mother was born, although she was born at home in Falcon NC, she had me there in Rex in 1969 and I worked in the Methodist building for a few years and my husband and I bought our first house near Wade Avenue Cameron Village area in 1997. Funny, I never knew there was an even older Rex so you learn something everyday.
12/31/2014
I was born at Rex in 1955 and had various “repairs” done there while in childhood. I went back there many times over the years to visit friends and family who were in the hospital. It is interesting to see the large central entrance area in the picture because all the times I went there I never entered the hospital that way. We always went in at the emergency entrance. I guess those were the days before visitors’ passes – or security guards. Thanks for the memories.
01/13/2015
I was born at Rex in 1950. Had my tonsils removed there in 1955, and made at least three trips to the emergency room as a kid. My wife and I often comment about ghosts in the old building when we drive by at night. Surely there are some.
11/08/2018
I was born at Rex on St. Mary’s St., 9/6/1956. My parents told me about the original location, and my grandfather (mother’s father) would point out the location of the original Rex when he drove us to school, driving up W. South St to get to Person St. at Hugh Morson Jr. High. I graduated from Broughton High School, with a job at the Employment Security Commission at 200 W. Jones St, in 1974. In 1984, ESC moved to 700 Wade Avenue – my birthplace, and I have been working here ever since. I may retire when they sell this place. I feel right at home.
01/30/2019
Where was that location on Salisbury and South St.? There is the Convention Center, Marriott, Green area of the NC Theatre and the Residence Inn. Which corner? Just curious. I read that originally it was the “Manley Mansion” which was used, then torn down and rebuilt with a brick building at that same site.