Miners Hospital

            The Miner’s Hospital is a very important building. To start out with, it was built in 1887. Eleven years after the town began, it was finally able to open a hospital.   It was used to take care of the miners when they got injured in the mines. The Miner’s Hospital was run by the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters of Mercy really cared about the miners. In 1893 the Silver Panic happened and the Sisters of Mercy thought they would have to close down.  Tom Walsh, the wealthy owner of the Camp Bird Mine, came and paid the mortgage as long as the sisters promised to stay and run the hospital.  Dr. Bates bought it in 1920. After he bought it Tom Walsh’s wife released the Sisters of Mercy from running the hospital. He also owned the Radium Hot Springs nearby so patients could benefit from the hot water. Many people that live in Ouray today, like Sheriff Mattivi, were born in the hospital.  The hospital shut down in 1964.   A hospital in Montrose opened which hurt the hospital business here.  It opened as a Museum in 1971.  Today, it is full of old things that attract people and teach them about Ouray.