Soon after the Village of Robbinsdale became City on December 8, 1938, Dr. Samuel Samuelson undertook to build Victory Hospital on property that he already owned in Robbinsdale. The area was largely residential until the hospital was built. It was located at the complicated intersection of Victory Memorial Drive, West Broadway, and Lowry and Oakdale avenues north. The building was constructed at a cost of $125,000 in 1939.
At that time hospitals in the region had been located only in large downtown areas, in order to be close to physicians’ offices. Most doctors in Minneapolis practiced in the Physicians and Surgeons Building (built in 1910 at 9th and Nicollet; demolished in 1999 to make way for the downtown Target store). Minneapolis hospitals at the time included Abbott, General, Northwestern, and Veteran’s.
Dr. Samuelson started his hospital to better serve patients in the growing towns on the outskirts of Minneapolis. When Victory Hospital opened in January of 1940, the three story, marble-faced building had five operating rooms and a capacity for 70 beds.
World War II veteran Vance C. DeMong was hired as Victory Hospital director in 1954. Under his leadership, the hospital’s name was changed from Victory Hospital to North Memorial. Three years later, in 1957, North Memorial Hospital received accreditation by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.
DeMong directed several expansion projects during his twenty-five years as hospital director (1954-1979). In 1959 a seven-floor wing was added along Oakdale Avenue. In 1961, North Memorial began transporting patients to the hospital with two ambulances and six people trained in first aid. This established the first hospital-based medical transportation system in Minnesota.
Vance DeMong oversaw significant remodeling and new construction took place over subsequent years—but not without controversy. When Walter “Red” Sochaki, a beloved Robbinsdale High School football coach, became Mayor in 1960, he felt Robbinsdale should remain residential community, and he fiercely opposed North Memorial’s expansion plans.
Harvey L. Lange, campaigned for Mayor in 1976. His opponent reminded voters of a potential conflict of interest: While serving on the city council, Lange had sold his home to North Memorial for $70,000. The hospital removed the house to make way for a parking lot. Nevertheless, he was elected Mayor, and the hospital kept expanding.
What Dr. Samuelson started in 1940 as a 70-bed hospital grew five-fold over the years, eventually expanding to a 353-bed medical center that is certified as one of only a handful of Level I Trauma Centers in Minnesota.
A Brief History of Minnesota Hospitals, MplsStPaul Magazine, 8/3/2020
