March 1883

Beginnings. In March, 1883, a group of settlers under the direction of Thomas Ricks arrived in the Upper Valley and began a settlement along the banks of the Teton River. The city of Rexburg, Idaho, was born.

Growth was rapid. Only five years after those initial settlements, the Ricks Academy (now Brigham Young University Idaho) was founded. Two years after that, Idaho became the nation’s 43rd state, with Rexburg as its second largest city.

Healthcare was an ongoing concern in the area, even in the community’s earliest days. There was a shortage of local doctors, resulting in a number of local midwives who not only delivered babies, but performed other medical functions, including preparing cadavers for burial.

March 1883
1899

Rexburg’s first hospital was built in 1899 by Dr. Joseph Walker, on the corner of Center Street and E. 1st South, where a branch of Beehive Credit Union currently stands. Dr. Walker’s hospital operated for 26 years. Tragically, the building burned to the ground on Christmas Eve, 1930.

1899
1918

In 1918, a second hospital was started in Rexburg, on the top floor of the Rexburg State Bank building, on the corner of Main Street and College Avenue. It was run by Dr. William Sutherland.

1918

Rexburg’s third hospital was established by Dr. Harlo Rigby and his wife Elsie four years later, in 1922. Averaging more than 400 cases per year, the new facility, known as the Rigby Hospital (in Rexburg), ran continuously for almost 30 years.

A number of other medical establishments flourished in the young community, including several maternity homes. Toward the end of World War II, however, local leaders determined that community needs weren’t being adequately met, and discussions began regarding the construction of a new local hospital to meet the areas ever-expanding needs. Local doctors agreed to close down their own facilities if and when the new, community-wide hospital would be built.

Support from the community. The local Lion’s Club championed the idea and circulated, with the blessing of the county commissioners, a petition, gathering 1,200 signatures. The voters supported a county-issued bond for $100,000, but it wasn’t enough. Another $75,000 was needed. Four prizes were raffled – a Chevrolet sedan, a combination radio/record player, a refrigerator, and a home laundry washing machine. Tickets for the raffle were sold at $10 apiece. The Lion’s Club was able to raise $40,000, a substantial amount of money at the time, but it still wasn’t quite enough.

September 14, 1948

On September 14, 1948, local voters went to the polls to decide on a tax levy, to provide the remaining funds needed for the new facility. By the end of the day, it was clear that the levy had passed, and construction began shortly thereafter, culminating in a new hospital almost two years later.

September 14, 1948
December 15, 1951

A new hospital is born. On Saturday, December 15, 1951, Madison Memorial Hospital, Rexburg’s fourth hospital, held a grand opening ceremony at its new location at the end of Main Street.

December 15, 1951
The following Monday, December 17, the hospital opened for business. In its first 24 hours of operations, Madison Memorial Hospital recorded the following events:
  • 1 birth
  • 1 death
  • 5 surgeries
In its first full month of operations (January, 1952), the hospital’s statistics were as follows:
  • Total number of patients: 32
  • Total number of beds: 29 (8 in private rooms)
  • Patient bathrooms: 4
  • Monthly revenues: $1,889.35
  • Cost of one day of care, per patient: $25
  • Total staff: 23 employees
  • Total payroll: $2,920
  • Length of a nurse’s shift: 48 hours
  • Groundskeepers’ wages: $200/month
  • Daily NICU charges: $1 per baby
Community support was substantial, including donations in the form of pickles, jellies and jams. A group called the North Rexburg Stake High Priests Quorum donated $600 to the cause.
1951

A recurring problem in the summer of 1951, during construction of the hospital, was that a flock of sheep would wander around on the hospital’s hill, eating the clover and devouring the landscaping. A request was made to the Rexburg police department, to keep watch over the hill and prevent any more harassment from the sheep. The following summer, the lawn had to be reseeded.

1951
1953

A second telephone was installed in February, 1953, and air conditioning was installed in May. In 1958, the county levy which had been supporting the hospital was discontinued. From that point onward, the hospital has, for the most part, been entirely self-sustaining.

1953
1959

In 1959, an LPN school was begun, inside the hospital. Each class had 11 or 12 students.

The county commissioners approved a $1.5 million levy for the hospital, to help fund ongoing expenses.

1959
1971

A series of discussions in 1971 led to a proposed alliance between the hospital, the university (Ricks College at the time), and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which each entity would contribute 1/3 of the cost of building a new hospital, on campus, to benefit Ricks students as well as the community at large. After considerable debate, the Board of Trustees ultimately decided not to adopt the proposal, instead committing to undertaking further studies of the long-term needs of the community.

Arising from this decision, the administrators and trustees began working toward a big-picture plan which would ultimately incorporate the construction of a new hospital building.

1971
1975

Curtailment of plans in the face of disaster. In 1975, after almost 25 years of continual service to the community, Madison Memorial Hospital was destined to undergo a major expansion, including construction of the brand-new facility which had been envisioned since the late 1960s. Under the direction of Keith Steiner, the hospital administrator, a new design for a 50-bed facility was approved by the public, by a 77% margin.

1975
June 5, 1976.

Groundbreaking for the new, $2.4 million building was slated to begin on June 14, 1976.

As fate would have it, only nine days before that date, the city of Rexburg was struck by the single most impactful calamity in its history. At 11:57 am on that fateful day, the Teton Dam was breached, resulting in a devastating flood which unleashed 80 billion gallons of water.

June 5, 1976.

Eleven people were killed, along with about 16,000 livestock. About 80% of the structures in the greater Rexburg area were damaged or destroyed.

Many of the hospital’s employees became instantly homeless, camping out in the building’s basement (the hospital had been built on slightly higher ground), unable to determine the status of their own homes until days after the flood had taken place.

Needless to say, the 1976 expansion project was put on hold.

Devastated citizens were no longer in a position to financially support the approved expansion, so the hospital ultimately borrowed $500,000 from the FmHA (Farmers Home Administration) to fund its own growth needs.

October 24, 1978

A brand-new facility. Construction was undertaken the following year, and a grand opening ceremony was held on October 24, 1978, with the move into the new 50-bed facility taking place a week later, on November 1. The old building continued to be utilized for county and hospital needs.

October 24, 1978
1990s

Additional expansion projects took place throughout the 1990s, affecting every aspect of the hospital. A bond election in 1994 provided funding for ongoing remodel projects.

1990s
2000s

New clinics. The 2000s represented an era of growth-through-acquisitions for the hospital.

2000s
2005

In 2005, two staff members at BYU-Idaho created a new logo for the hospital – an update of the ubiquitous blue “M,” which became widely recognized and respected throughout the region.

2005
September 2006
Finally, in September, 2006, the old hospital building, no longer fit for habitation or occupancy, was demolished.
September 2006
2009

Major overhaul and remodel. In 2009, a $55 million remodel on the new building was completed, in which 85,000 square feet of existing space was modernized. An additional 76,000 square feet of space was added, as well.

2009
2009

In 2009, Teton Radiology, of which Madison Memorial is a part owner, opened its doors for business. In that same year, the hospital partnered with North Fork Surgery Center, later to be renamed Madison Surgery Center.

2009
2012

Three years after that, in 2012, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for Carriage Cove, a short-stay rehabilitation center, also partly owned by the hospital.

2012
2014
In 2014, Madison Memorial purchased Seasons Medical, Rexburg’s premier healthcare clinic, with its four internal clinics – the Women’s Center, Adult & Family Care, Pediatrics, and Family Medicine. Then, the following year, the hospital acquired Rexburg Medical Center, later renamed Rexburg Medical Clinic.
2014
2020

The pandemic. In 2020, community members began to get tested at the hospital for the COVID-19 virus. When the number of patients with the virus reached a critical mass, a specially designated COVID unit was set aside, with temporary plastic containment walls.
At the peak of the outbreak, many hospital services, including non-critical surgeries, were temporarily put on hold. Employees were required to wear masks and receive COVID vaccinations as they became available.

2020
August 2020
In August, 2020, amid the ongoing pandemic, Madison Memorial held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce the new, 12-bed Behavioral Health Unit, under the direction of two newly-hired psychiatrists. This was a powerful response to a long-standing need for more mental healthcare options in the community. The Behavioral Health Unit has run close to capacity since the day it opened, confirming the need for the services it offers.
August 2020
December 14, 2020
In fact, the very first dose of COVID vaccine administered in the state of Idaho was given to Dr. Russell McUne, ER physician, at Madison Memorial, on December 14, 2020.
December 14, 2020

For some years, leaders at Madison Memorial had been considering various ways of helping the public understand that the organization had grown to the point of no longer being accurately represented as merely a hospital. By 2022, the Madison Memorial system was comprised of multiple clinics at half a dozen locations, together with more than 750 employees, 200+ providers with hospital privileges, and a network of affiliate business, suppliers and partner organizations.

After many hours of discussion and contemplation, the decision was made to change the name of the organization to something that would better describe it. And just like that, Madisonhealth was born

Looking to the future

Madisonhealth is ideally poised for continued growth and success. Under the direction of an extremely capable administrative team, headed by the widely respected Dr. Rachel Gonzales, Madisonhealth looks forward to many years of serving residents and visitors in the Upper Valley by providing expert care and an ever-increasing array of services.