[4] The hospital building was totally destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871 and temporary accommodations were set up quickly to deal with the aftermath.

Thompson's objective was to serve widows and orphans of Civil War soldiers who had died in battle.

These doctors provided Thompson and her institution with the stamp of medical approval required because of a widespread prejudice against women physicians.

[6] With the rapid inflow of patients and Thompson's desire to expand women's roles in the medical field, the hospital underwent some changes.

By July 1869 the facility was not large enough for the amount of incoming patients, so the hospital moved to new quarters with sixteen beds and a larger dispensary.

[7] Thompson and a fellow doctor, William H. Byford, founded Woman's Hospital Medical College and classes began in 1870.

The hospital reopened immediately for burned and sick patients in a private home on Adams Street in Chicago.

In 1873, the Relief Aid Society of Chicago donated $25,000 for a new building and the hospital reopened that same year along with the dispensary.

A building on the grounds became the medical college and offered Thompson the opportunity to provide training for female nurses.

It continued to provide otherwise unavailable clinical opportunities for medical women until 1972, when men were integrated into the staff.

Mary Thompson's administrators did not foresee these financial problems in 1972 when they spent $3.7 million on additions to the building, that brought the hospital up to its current capacity.

Donny Boy stood over a fountain at the front entrance to the hospital's lobby, greeting those walking in.

All women from the Chicago area, and elsewhere, were allowed to attend lectures and, for practical instruction, to spend a certain number of morning hours in the wards daily.

[10] The school grew with the hospital and Thompson taught mass quantities of women who graduated as nurses.

The nursing school allowed Mary Thompson to set standards, and supervise the educational process, but it also gave training to women in another professional area of medicine.

She found employment working with women and children who lost their husbands and fathers in the Civil War.

It wasn't long before she decided to raise money for a hospital to tend to the overwhelming numbers of women and children seeking medical help.

She specialized in pelvic and abdominal surgery and also sought to improve current surgical instruments by inventing her own.