About Us

The landscape of the healthcare industry started changing in the early 1960s, and by 1968, the Sisters of St. Francis were in dialogue with the medical staff of St. Joseph’s Hospital concerning the hospital’s future viability, if not survival. Discussions were being held within the community about the need to either remodel the old St. Joseph’s Hospital, located 11th St. and Big Horn, or build a new one.

In a letter dated March 17, 1968, St. Francis’ Mother M. Muriel wrote, “It seems important now to decide whether this community is going to build a new hospital or remodel the existing one. It is not possible for the Sisters to undertake the construction of a new building. We don’t have the two or three million dollars to expend … If the community of Alliance wants to build a new hospital we would be willing to continue to staff it…”

It was hoped that the Sisters would be able to participate in the funding of a new hospital, but it wasn’t to be. However, they still hoped to be able to be a part of the new hospital’s operations.

And so the ball started to roll on innumerable private gatherings, discussions and public meetings for a community-owned hospital. It was a bumpy ride, to say the least.

On Jan. 14, 1971, Sister M. Kathleen, Administrator of St. Joseph’s Hospital, announced that the Sisters of St. Francis had concluded that they would discontinue operations at St. Joseph’s Hospital in favor of building a new facility. She said the Sisters had come to the conclusion that it was not feasible to spend $1 million on remodeling the facility. Sister Kathleen said, “We trust the people of Alliance will move to meet the community’s need for a better health facility. In the meantime, the Sisters will continue to operate St. Joseph’s Hospital until the new hospital opens, but no later than July 1, 1973.”

In April of 1971, the Box Butte County Hospital Committee, chaired by Charles H. Brittan, announced that a meeting was to be held April 29 to hear the proposals presented by the community’s architectural firm, Leo A Daley Co. of Omaha. More study was needed to give the community additional options, and by May 11, the committee had four proposals on the table:

1. Remodel St. Joseph’s at the cost of $2,149,200, with $300,000 being raised via a fund drive.
2. Build a new building at a new site, with total cost $2,199,200, excluding land.
3. Build a new building at the existing location, with a total cost of $2,149,200.
4. A “get buy” option of purchasing St. Joseph’s Hospital and doing enough updating to “get buy” at an estimated cost of $600,000.

After asking for input from the community, the committee held a joint meeting on June 3, 1971, with the Alliance City Council, Village of Hemingford and Box Butte County Commissioners to announce its recommendation. The committee recommended the building of a new hospital, whereupon it was disbanded having completed its duties. The three governing bodies held an open meeting June 16 and agreed with the committee’s recommendation, with cost estimates increasing to $2,225,000. A steering committee was formed to move the plan forward. That committee, after meeting several times, determined that it was more feasible to build a new hospital as a county-owned facility, and that a special election be held to raise the necessary funds through taxation. A petition drive was announced to put the matter before the county voters via a special election.

The decision wasn’t without its detractors, which grew abundantly clear as the weeks progressed toward a special election in the fall of that year. The local newspaper had several “Rumblings,” letters-to-the-editor expressing dissatisfaction with the plan to build a new facility, with other letters in support. The concerns expressed about the cost of the hospital were heard, and the Hospital Committee announced on Sept. 30, 1971, that it had reduced the costs for the planned 50-bed acute care hospital $650,000, bringing total costs down to $1,575,000.

It was announced in October that the petition drive was successful, with 958 signatures garnered. The Box Butte County Commissioners set Nov. 23, 1971 as the date for the special election, asking the voters if “…the County of Box Butte in the State of Nebraska issue its negotiable bonds in the principal amount of not to exceed One Million Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($1,750,000) for the purpose of providing funds for the construction or acquisition of a County Community Hospital…”

Because of questions raised by the public over what would happen to St. Joseph’s Hospital if the vote denied the issuing of said bonds, the Sisters of St. Francis issued a statement that they would continue to operate St. Joseph’s if such was the case, due to the public’s concern, thus reversing their earlier decision to close by July of 1973.

What followed was a flurry of competing advertisements and letters-to-the-editor, with some urging voters to approve while others advocated the defeat of the bond issue. The divide was evident even at St. Joseph’s, with staff on different sides of the issue placing advertisements advocating their positions.

When Nov. 23 arrived, voting was heavy throughout the day. In the end, the proposal was defeated by 154 votes—1,666 for and 1,823 against.

This defeat didn’t make the need go away, with concerned citizens, the Sisters of St. Francis and others going back to the drawing board to try to come up with a feasible plan.

In June of 1972, the same Sister Kathleen announced that after nearly two years of study and deliberation,

“Our board of Directors proposes to build a new two-story In-Patient facility at the site of the present hospital,” as well as plans to upgrade parts of St. Joseph. She stated that this was the most economical and feasible alternative for Alliance’s hospital needs. The cost of the proposed project was $1.25-million, including $1-million for the new facility and $250,000 to improve parts of St. Joseph and improve ancillary services. Forty percent, or $500,000, was to come from a “Public Subscription” campaign.

By August of 1972, employees of St. Joseph began meetings to formulate plans for soliciting fellow employees to kick start the fund raising campaign, but it soon became apparent from several in the medical community of that time that the plans to add on to St. Joseph’s was not sufficient, in their view. Eight doctors of the area were in agreement that new hospital would be the only solution in meeting the present and future needs of the area.

By January of 1973, a “new hospital committee” was formed, with Alliance rancher Leonard Peterson named chairman, and banker Edward Knight named Co-chair. The newly formed committee was endorsed by the Box Butte County Commissioners later that month, and soon after the group chose the Leo A. Daly Co. of Omaha as architects for the new hospital. Daly, at that time, was one of the largest architectural firms in the world, having offices in six cities in the United States and one in Hong Kong.

By June of 1973, 62 petitions were being distributed in support of a new hospital, with petitioners hoping to garner at least 1,000 before an early July deadline. Ultimately, 997 county residents signed to have a special election held concerning a new hospital. Only 451 signatures were needed to make the petition drive valid. The commissioners approved holding a special election in August of that year to have county residents say yea or nay to a $1.9-bond issue. A bond issue was needed to help cover the costs for a 50-bed acute care hospital (furnishings not included). The rest of the money was to be raised through fund raising efforts.

Channeling Yogi Barra—it was déjà vu … all over again. Different factions of the county community were soon battling it out in the newspapers and on the radio, for or against, with arguments ranging from hardly any taxes being needed to arguments stating that there would be a tax burden that would bury everyone under a mountain of debt. But in the end, progress prevailed.

On Tuesday, Aug.14, 1973, 60% of the county voters approved the $1.9-million bond, by a vote of 2,135 to 1,385. Carrying the day were the four precincts located in Alliance and Lake Precinct (which almost surrounds Alliance). Some of those precincts ended up giving a nod to a new hospital by as much as 70 percent.

By the next month, the county had appointed the hospital’s first Board of Trustees: Leonard Peterson, John Cover, Dr. Robert Morgan, Mrs. Alan Curtiss and Dr. Robert Stout, with Mr. Peterson as chairman and Mr. Cover as vice-chairman.

Soon after, the Sisters of St. Francis reconfirmed their commitment to have St. Joseph Hospital provide acute medical care until the new hospital was built.

By December of 1973, the original estimate of $1.9-million proved to be too little due to inflation and increases in building material costs. An additional $600,000 (revised later to $700,000) was determined to be needed, and a fund drive was officially started in January of 1974. It was kicked off the next month by the announcement of a $50,000 donation from the Alliance Scottish Rites of Bodies, in memory of Dr. Charles E. Slagle. By October of 1974, $586,468.26 was raised through donations, with the shortfall easily made up with an additional $250,000 in Hill-Burton funds.

The groundbreaking ceremony for the new hospital was conducted on Friday, Nov. 8, 1974. Contractor for the project was Rhoads Construction Company of Goodland, KS, which was awarded the contract to building the hospital after posting a bid of $2.99-million. Total funds on hand when the bid was approved were: $1,902,493 from the sale of bonds, $180,000 from interest income, and $529,921 from the fund drive (later revised to the figure mentioned in the previous paragraph). The hospital opened its doors for business on October 1, 1976.

In the late 1990s, the healthcare industry was changing in dramatic ways, especially in the areas of inpatient and outpatient care. Box Butte General Hospital and its Board of Trustees recognized the fact that more and more services were going to be provided through outpatient services. As a result, in 2000 the hospital approved a 19,000-square-foot expansion project to provide room for outpatient services and to provide room for other departments, as well. The $3.5-million project was helped by a generous $200,000 donation from benefactor Mike Essay, Sr. The Michael F. Essay, Sr. Outpatient Center Multi-Specialty Clinic was completed in 2001.

The Multi-Specialty Clinic provided patients the convenience of seeing specialists in Alliance, eliminating the need to travel long distances.

How the BBGH campus looked up until the 2013 building project.

The expansion project also provided much-needed room for a new Rehabilitation Department, a new Emergency Department, and a new Outpatient Surgery Preparation and Recovery area. Pharmacy, Business Office and Administrative Departments were other branches located into the newly expanded building. The project allowed the hospital to renovate 13,000 square feet of existing building as well, including its corridors, Radiology Department, Laboratory, Surgical locker-rooms and lounge, as well as the Dialysis Unit. The expansion and renovation project was dedicated during a ceremony held on Sept. 29, 2001.

The next large building project for the hospital was one that allowed all clinics in Alliance to relocate under one roof within a new facility attached to the hospital.

The Medical Arts Plaza plan was approved in 2006 by the Box Butte General Hospital Board of Trustees, with groundbreaking occurring in November of that year. Members of the Board of Trustees when the plan was approved included D.N. Taylor, Jr., DDS, David Briggs, Arnie Kuhn, Ted Bohlen and Dr. Bruce Forney.

Funding sources included a PREMA/USDA Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant, which provided $740,000 in the form of a loan and $300,000 in the form of a grant, with the grant staying in the community as a revolving loan fund benefiting other local economic development projects.

Funding also came from First National Bank North Platte, as well as self-financing from Box Butte General Hospital.

The Medical Arts Plaza dedication was held on Oct. 28, 2007.

Utilizing the Medical Arts Plaza are the private practice of Alliance Family Medicine and the BBGH operated Greater Nebraska Medical & Surgical Services clinics, including Family Medicine; Orthopedic Surgery & Sports Medicine; Orthopedic Spine Surgery; Pain Medicine; Orthopedic Foot/Ankle Surgery; Urology; and ENT & Facial Plastic Surgery.

BBGH embarked on its biggest construction project since it was built in 1976 with the decision to build a new addition and renovate other parts of the hospital in 2012.

On Oct. 1, 2013, Box Butte General Hospital broke ground on a new two-story addition, with the upper floor introducing a new 25-bed patient care unit and the lower floor housing new space in support of the ancillary medical services dedicated to the care of area residents.

The $40-million construction project was funded by a $28.75-million loan from the USDA, $8 million in General Obligation Bonds and $3.3 to 3.4 million from BBGH cash reserves. The 93,000-square-foot addition would eventually house the aforementioned 25-bed patient care unit (including two ICU rooms on the first floor), two trauma rooms with five additional treatment spaces, three surgical rooms, expanded pre-operative and post-operative rooms, comprehensive diagnostic imaging department, comprehensive laboratory department, segregated labor and delivery rooms and postpartum rooms, and gift shop. The main contractor for the new addition was Beckenhauer Construction of Norfolk, NE.

Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015, was an amazing day with over 300 people attending the Grand Opening ceremony for the hospital’s new addition. More than 700 area residents self-toured the addition during the four hour Open House.

The historic opening of the new Emergency Department and Patient Care Unit occurred Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2016 when they successfully moved into the new 93,000-square-foot addition.

There were 12 inpatients involved in the momentous move.

The expansion of the new Michael F. Essay, Sr. Specialty Clinic was completed in August of 2016. The Rehab & Wellness Center, funded by an ongoing Box Butte Health Foundation Capital Campaign, saw the hospital’s Rehabilitation Department move into its 17,000 sq. ft. facility in October of 2016 and the Wellness Center (fitness gym) completed by February of 2017. The hospital continues to renovate sections of the old facility, which is now home to most of the hospital’s business and personnel offices, remodeling rooms and hallways to match the décor of the new addition.