Hamot Hospital

Hamot Hospital was founded as the Hamot Hospital Association on February 7, 1881. The hospital was named after Pierre Simon Vincent Hamot, a successful French businessman who had settled in Erie in the early 19th century and became an active member of the community. Following his death in 1846, his children and grandchildren donated the Hamot Homestead for use as a general hospital. Hamot’s heirs, on the ninth day of April, 1881, conveyed to the association a large building on a lot of land that measured 216 x 165 x 106 feet along State, Front and Second street. The valuation of the property at that time was placed at $12,000. Quickly organized and managed by the first nurse hired by the hospital, Irene Sutleff, the hospital opened its doors to the public on July 1, 1881, and Dr. David Hayes Strickland treated its first patient, who was admitted on July 10, 1881. That same year, Hamot begun providing medical treatment to the area’s sailors through the Marine Hospital Service, a system in which the state reimbursed the hospital for their care, the system continued throughout the 1910s. The Hamot Homestead facility quickly outgrew its 25 patient capacity, and the first of many expansions were begun in 1888.

To ensure that everyone received the services of the hospital, without barriers, in the spring of 1894, George Selden, bequeathed $20,000 to the Hamot Hospital Association upon conditions that the hospital should be made entirely non-sectarian, and the hospital was reorganized upon that basis.

The hospital’s namesake, Pierre Simon Vincent Hamot, was a son of Marie Simon Hamot and Cecilia (Vandeperre) Hamot of Paris, France. Hamot came to America, with his father, in 1802, as a private secretary to the French consul at Philadelphia. The first years of his residence in the United States were spent in eastern cities, including Philadelphia, New York and Newport, Rhode Island. Upon his father’s death he set out for Canada, where he made a small fortune in the mercantile business. The salt trade and other mercantile activities brought him to Erie in 1805, which he had first visited while en route to Detroit, Michigan.

One of Erie’s most enterprising citizens, when Erie was a remote settlement in the wilderness, Hamot made it an outpost of opportunity for himself. As Hamot grew to become one of the area’s most successful merchants, he became a partner with Rufus Reed in the Bank of Erie, the community’s first banking institution. He was one of the founders and principal stockholders in of Erie’s early newspapers, the Erie Weekly Observer. He was a leader in the community, holding the offices of Canal Commissioner of Pennsylvania and Superintendent of the United States Public Works of Erie — On April 11, 1825, the Pennsylvania legislature established the Board of Canal Commissioners to oversee the construction and maintenance of the State of Pennsylvania’s canal system, which the Erie Extension Canal ran, north to south, near the western edge of the state, through Crawford and Erie counties.

Slavery was an acceptable practice among the early settlers of Erie. Settlers engaged in the practice were Rufus Reed, John Grubb, the Kelso family, and Pierre Simon Vincent Hamot, to name a few. The first step toward abolishing slavery in Pennsylvania came with the passage of the Gradual Abolition Act of 1780. Slaves born before March 1 of that year remained slaves for life; those born after March 1 would be freed at the age of 28. Slaves freed under gradual abolition became indentured servants until their terms expired. Though the citizenry commonly referred to these individuals as indentured servants, they were in fact considered the property of those who held them.

Tax records, from 1820, showed Hamot to be the third largest property owner in the Borough of Erie. Among Hamot’s holdings included at least one indentured servant — a nineteen-year-old black boy bound to serve until the age of 28. When Hamot first came to Erie he lived in a two-story brick home on German Street. His store was located on French Street, two doors away from a black man named Robert Vosburgh who owned a barber shop at his residence. Vosburgh played an important role on the Underground Railroad. It is likely that Vosburgh had a hand in the escape of Hamot’s Negro Boy Servant.

Seeking the return of his property, Hamot, at the time, ran an advertisement for the return of his property, a negro slave, as follows: "No mark but the mark of Cain — six cents for the return of a negro servant, 19 years of age. He is a very bad subject and is capable of every bad deed."

In 1827, Hamot’s German Street home was destroyed by fire and he hired Peter Grawotz, the city’s first recorded brick mason, to construct a new residence on the southwest corner of French and Third Streets. Hamot died in 1846, leaving the house and property to his daughter Mary, who later married George W. Starr, a founder of Hamot Hospital. The Starrs moved to East Sixth Street, maintaining the French Street resident as rental property.

Hamot House, located at 302 French Street, has been restored and now houses the offices of the Hamot Second Century Foundation.

Timeline of Buildings and Grounds Projects at Hamot:

Hamot's First Major Addition (1888)
Seldon-Scott Memorial Sections (1895)
Hamot Hospital School of Nursing (1913)
Private Pavilion (1914)
Ward Wing - "Connecting Link" (1933)
South Wing (1944)
West Wing (1954)
Main Wing (1960)
North Complex (1960)
Mental Health Center (1972)
Professional Condominium (1974)
South Complex (1977)
Hamot House (renovated 1990-1991)
Surgery Center (2001)
Heart Institute (2003)
Hamot Women's Hospital (2011)

Hamot Hospital (1900s)

Hamot Hospital (1920)

Hamot Hospital (1929)

Hamot Hospital (1933)

Hamot Hospital (1940s)

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The Marine Hospital

In the late 1860s the ownership of the peninsula changed hands. From the time Erie became incorporated in 1805 the peninsula had been jointly owned by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City of Erie. The City assumed the right to regulate the use of the peninsula, and forbade the logging of trees and the harvesting of wild cranberries, with the intent to make the peninsula a nature preserve.

In 1867 the Pennsylvania Legislature granted the Marine Hospital of Pennsylvania a very large piece of land on Presque Isle known as the Garrison Tract, and appropriated funds for the construction of a hospital on the site. In 1869, taking it a step further, the legislature granted the Marine Hospital complete control and supervision of the entire peninsula. The State claimed that the Town Council of Erie had neglected management and supervision of Presque Isle by limiting the generation of revenue from the land. The city fathers and citizens of Erie were outraged about this. However, there was little they could immediately do to rectify the situation.

In the following two years, with the park under the control of the Marine Hospital, many strange and damaging actions began to take place. One of the strangest was when the commander of the Marine Hospital sent 12 men into the woods of the peninsula with the sole purpose of harvesting 100% of the Red Cedar trees growing on Presque Isle. It has been reported that over 1,200 trees were cut down during a single summer. They were turned into cedar fence posts and shipped to Philadelphia. The records of the Marine Hospital show it never received any income from this misadventure. Today the park has just 12 to 15 Red Cedar trees still growing there. This misguided program nearly cleared the park of what could have been a wonderful natural resource, and would have provided great habitat for the park’s animals.

During the two years that the peninsula was controlled by the Marine Hospital, it became a central issue in Erie politics, resulting in the election of W.L. Scott, who advocated local control, as Mayor of Erie in 1871. Shortly after the mayoral election in Erie, the Pennsylvania legislature repealed the 1869 act, and conveyed all that had been granted to the Marine Hospital to the United States Federal Government, to promote national defense and protection of the harbor. The Federal government though did not acknowledge or accept official ownership until August 5, 1886, some fifteen years later.