The old building housed the St. Mary's Schools of Nursing, Radiography and Respiratory Therapy until 2009,
when those programs were moved to the St. Mary's Center for Education at 5th Avenue and 29th Street.

When the hospital's School of Nursing began in 1926, students lived and studied in the hospital.
But as the number of students and the hospital's need for patient beds grew, that proved
impractical. Soon, the nursing students were housed in a little white cottage on 1st Avenue.

When World War II came, the need for nurses vastly increased, and the hospital bought two other
nearby houses and a small apartment building to house the growing number of nursing students.

By 1945, the number of student nurses had grown so dramatically that the hospital was hard-pressed to accommodate them.

The decision was made to construct a new modern building where the students could be educated and housed
 under one roof. The new building, opened on Oct. 14, 1947, included living quarters, classrooms,
a 3,000-volume library, student health clinic, gymnasium and offices.

With the opening of the St. Mary's Center for Education, the old School of Nursing building was no longer needed.
Due to its age, it was deemed too difficult and costly to remodel for a new use and so was demolished.