Mother Mary Isidore O'Connor
The journey of Mother Mary Isidore O’Connor, who would later in life separate Mercy Hospital from the University of Iowa, began in Ireland.
Born Letitia Magdalen O’Connor in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1826, O’Connor was educated in a convent and later entered the Sisters of Mercy in Chicago in 1858. She was given the religious name Sister Mary Isidore.
Isidore’s career took her from Chicago to DeWitt, Independence and Cedar Rapids before coming to Iowa City in 1880 as the Superior and Administrator, according to “From Obscurity to Distinction, The Story of Mercy Hospital, Iowa City, 1873-1993.”
Isidore eventually became administrator of Mercy Hospital, which at the time was providing the State University of Iowa Medical School with a clinical practice facility. Isidore had a reputation as an excellent administrator and was skilled in fiscal management. However, Isidore’s tenure often was fraught with conflict with the Iowa state Board of Regents over “ambiguous lines of authority and fiscal management between the State, the University the Medical Faculty and the Sisters,” according to the book.
In 1885, Isidore began to make plans to move Mercy Hospital to a facility that would be owned and operated by the Sisters of Mercy. In April of that year, Isidore purchased a large carriage house and land located on the corner of Bloomington and Van Buren streets and in December, filed Articles of Incorporation of the Sisters of Mercy, Iowa City, Iowa, with the Board of Directors to be limited to Sisters of Mercy. The hospital was ready for occupancy in 1886.
However, while the sisters owned and operated “New Mercy,” the university was still in charge. This relationship continued until 1897 when the university built its own hospital where “Old Mercy” once stood.
Isidore died in 1899.
Editor’s note: A photo of Mother Mary Isidore could not be located. The photo above is an early photo of Mercy Hospital.