Ruth van Arsdale Henry Health Center and Hospital of the Good Shephard
Opened: August 1972
Dedication: October 20, 1972
Architects: King and King of Syracuse
Contractor: Samuel Kosoff and Sons of Syracuse
Cost: $1.3 million
Location: 111 Waverly Ave.
Space: 24,042 sq. ft.
Notes:
King & King Architects of Syracuse designed the two story building of structural steel with 12-inch square brick facings. It was built on the site of the old infirmary on Waverly Avenue and was connected with the existing health service facilities at 804 University Ave. It has space for 28 beds, a small kitchen, a dining room, an examining room, outpatient facilities, records, a small lounge-library-chapel and a reception area. Doctors' offices, X-ray equipment and laboratories will remain at 804 University Ave.
The infirmary is named after the first wife of the late Rev. Leland B. Henry, a 1918 graduate of the University and an Episcopal clergyman. His wife, who died in 1947, was a 1919 graduate. Henry gave securities valued at about $350,000 toward construction of the building. He and a close friend of his first wife, Beatrice M. Kutzleb, were married in 1950. It was at the suggestion of the second Mrs. Henry that he asked the University to name the infirmary for his first wife. Henry died Aug. 31, 1968.
The infirmary also perpetuates the name of the Hospital of the Good Shepherd, founded in 1874 by Frederic D. Huntington, Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Central New York. The hospital became part of Syracuse University during World War I. A stained glass window and plaques from the hospital were installed in the new health center.
Major contributors other than Henry included the Syracuse Medical Alumni Association, $50,000; the Good Shepherd Alumnae Association of Nurses, $45,000; the Baird Foundation, $50,000; Marine Midland Bank-Central $69,000; and other banks, business firms, individuals and small foundations. The Syracuse University Parents Association, including more than 6,000 parents, contributed in excess of $600,000.
The rest of the cost was financed by the University through an annual interest grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
See also (Excerpt from News from Syracuse University) dated October 12, 1972, available in the University Archives.
