Mostly Spooky: Episode 4 - St Ignatius Nursing School

Establishment & Early Classes: Founded in 1908 by the Sisters of Charity of Providence (the Sisters of Providence), turning the rural regional hospital into a critical inland medical training facility. Its inaugural class graduated in 1911. Campus Integration & Quarters: In its early decades, nursing students and Catholic sisters resided on the upper fifth floor of the main brick hospital building, a designated residential floor off-limits to patients. As enrollment and patient loads expanded throughout the 1920s and 1930s, a dedicated on-site nursing dormitory was completed in 1936 to house students and staff. Statewide Milestone: In 1941, the St. Ignatius School of Nursing made Washington State history by graduating the state's first two registered male nurses, Philip Kromm and Archie McClintic. Role in Palouse Healthcare: Operating during an era when inland communities faced acute healthcare shortages and geographic isolation, the school supplied trained medical staff throughout Whitman County, regional logging camps, and agricultural communities across the Palouse until modern regional consolidation shifted medical programs to larger metropolitan centers.