MISSION - St. Luke's Hospital

The relationship between St. George’s Society and St. Luke’s Hospital (now St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital, since 1979) dates back to the mid-19th century when doctors visited the wealthy in their homes and the poor who were sick had few options.

In 1846, distressed by the fact that only the upper socioeconomic groups appeared in Episcopal congregations, The Rev. William A. Muhlenberg (1796-1877) a noted Anglican divine, organized the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City, where both rich and poor could worship. Later he launched a drive to fund a charity hospital, St. Luke’s.

The new Anglo-American Free Church of St. George the Martyr offered its property on Fifth Avenue at 54th Street in exchange for the right to nominate 20 patients for free care and two delegates to the board. The church never found a congregation and St. George’s Society, which sought the rights for its beneficiaries, took control of the vestry to preserve the valuable rights.

In 1895, the society, the church and the hospital concluded an agreement whereby the hospital agreed to transfer the church’s rights to the Society. The church was wound up, and the hospital sold the land on 5th Avenue and moved uptown to its present location.

Inspecting the plaque commemorating the association of St. George's Society with St. Luke's Hospital are, left to right: Peter J.C. Mosse, Melissa M. Gibbs (Committee Chairman), Ellsworth Stanton III MBE, John Harvey, Rodney Johnson MBE, Carol Chetrick, Stanley Heisler and Cyril Sanger MD