[1] Before Mercy Hospital, African-Americans relied on a small health care facility named the Good Samaritan.

[2] Mercy Hospital was created by the architect Henry Taylor who designed it and the contractor Edgar Weeks who built it.

[3] Most of the time, the Mercy Hospital was short staffed and did not have the necessary equipment to offer service to the black community.

In 1948, thanks to Dr. Timberlake's remarks about how pitiful the facility was, a 15,000-foot addition that cost about $212,742 was built for Mercy, which added more space for beds, now totaling fifty-five.

Despite Dr. Edward Cole's remarks of the hospital having no pharmacy, poor laboratories, inefficient x-ray equipment, no room for the recovery of patients, and no physical therapy service to a newspaper, the city council refuted the proposed $1.7 million addition to it in 1960.

[2] Primary doctors of the hospital included: Dr. James Ponder, Dr. Breaux Martin, Dr. Fred W. Alsup, Dr. Ralph M. Wimbish, Dr. Orion T. Ayer, Sr., Dr. Harry F. Taliaferro, and Dr. Eugene C. Rose.

They treated illnesses and accident victims, delivered babies, fixed broken bones, listened to the problems of their patients and gave them caring advice.

[2] He was a veteran from the Medical Corps World War I and Mrs. Ponder was a well-known civic leader and a social studies teacher at Gibbs High School.

The City of St. Petersburg (the battle, which lasted 4 years, gave blacks the right to enjoy city-owned beaches), and Wimbish and Alsup et al vs. Pinellas County Commissioners and Airco Golf Corporation (this battle gave blacks the right to participate in county-owned golf courses).

[2] He was also the first black physician to be a member of the Pinellas County Medical Society and the first to be selected as part of the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital.

He was also the founder of the most influential group in St. Petersburg during the beginning of the civil rights movement, called the Ambassadors Club.

[2] He founded the club in 1953 after getting inspired to "wake up and do something to help our community", as he was forced by the city to put his swimming pool in his front yard because otherwise it would have been near the north side of 15th Avenue South, which at the time was what divided blacks from whites residential areas.

[2] Members of the club included: Dr. Orion Ayer Sr., Dr. Robert J. Swain, Dr. Fred Alsup, Samuel Blossom, Sidney Campbell, George Grogan, John Hopkins, Ernest Ponder and Emanuel Stewart.

[2] Since then, the organization rapidly came to be a "civic and service club of distinction with the purpose of improving cultural, economic, educational and living conditions primarily in the African American community.

[2] In the same year, the organization honored Jennie L. Hall, a white woman who donated $25,000 for the construction of a swimming pool on 22nd Street, which is still used today by the community.

[2] Dr. Wimbish with the help and influence of the Ambassadors Club, integrated the swimming spot named Spa Beach and Howard Johnson's lunch counter on U.S Highway 19.

He was an associate trustee of Bethune-Cookman College and the recipient on the Mary McLeod Bethune Medallion for his outstanding accomplishments in 1961.

Some whites indeed helped Mercy Hospital and the community overall For instance, doctors would come over and treat black patients who were not permitted to enter their offices.

[2] Some of the most influential nurses included: Mary Brayboy Jones (1946-mid 1960s), Sadie Henry, Hanna Singleton, Yvonne Taylor, Annie Sue Martin Brinson and Dolores Gordon.

Many LPNs studied in the vocational program at the all-black Gibbs High School and then came to Mercy seeking firsthand experience.

As nurse Mary Brayboy Jones described, Friday and Saturday nights were always pretty stressing and busy at Mercy, as they would get cut and shot people due to the weekend partying going on.

[4] Due to the insufficient payments from patients as well as inadequate health insurance, Mercy Hospital had financial difficulties from the beginning.

[4] Mercy Hospital could not afford to keep a high staff or proper instruments to do daily tests for patients.

Prior to construction, medical care was provided to Mercy Hospital patients at Community Health Centers of Pinellas' facility located at 1310 22nd Street Avenue South.

[2] She's remembered today as a distinguished educator, civil rights activist, and the leader in the fight against sickle cell anemia.

The new health center, which began construction on February 1, 2003, was built alongside and connected to the Historic Mercy Hospital.