Baptist Memorial Hospital was finally ready to open its doors. Hailed as a “push-button marvel,” the hospital featured the latest medical technologies. An opening-day brochure called it “the ultimate in comfort and convenience for patient and worker alike. Nothing has been spared to ensure the finest service and most complete care for all who enter.”

With a final price tag of $4.6 million, the new Baptist Memorial Hospital opened its doors to the public on Easter Sunday, March 19, 1959. Citizens flocked to see the first hospital to open in Oklahoma City since 1930.

What they found atop the hill was a seven-story building with an attached service building and connecting tunnel built in red brick, black granite and cream concrete. Six floors were occupied by patient rooms, nurses’ stations, waiting rooms, laboratory facilities and surgical suites.

On April 9, 206 employees began their work at the new hospital, and the first patient was admitted five days later. On April 19, the first baby was born at the hospital, delivered by a tuxedo-clad Dr. Robert Anspaugh, whose formal dress was due to being called to the hospital from a dinner-dance he was attending with his wife.

In its earliest days, Baptist Memorial Hospital was managed by a governing board that reported to the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma’s board of directors. The nine member governing board was chaired by R.H. Nicholson.

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