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The Julia Rackley Perry Memorial Hospital (also referred to as Perry Memorial Hospital) is a city-owned, not-for-profit hospital located in Princeton, Illinois. Perry Memorial Hospital is a 25-bed, critical access hospital focusing on outpatient services. Perry Memorial Hospital and its outpatient clinics serve over 53,000 residents of Bureau, Marshall, and Putnam counties. Perry Memorial Hospital employs more than 300 administrative staff, nurses, providers, and facilities personnel, in addition to routinely hosting specialty physicians from other hospitals.

Perry Memorial Hospital first opened in 1920 after Julia Rackley Perry left more than $50,000 in her will for the construction and endowment of a public-supported hospital in Princeton. Using expensive, up-to-date equipment, Perry Memorial Hospital attracted patients from all across the country for treatment. Over each subsequent decade, Perry Memorial Hospital had to expand to handle the influx of patients.

In addition to its location in Princeton, Perry Memorial Hospital also operates family clinics in Walnut, Illinois, and in Henry, Illinois , as well as a prompt care location also in Princeton.

Before Perry Memorial Hospital
Princeton, Illinois, was settled in the 1830s, and was incorporated as a city in 1884. Most settlers arrived as a result of completing the Erie Canal and from religious affiliation to the Congregational Church. People came from as far away as England, Scotland, and Ireland.

During the 1800's, frontier medicine dominated central Illinois. Illnesses were treated by means of home remedies and traveling medicine men with magic potions that "guaranteed" good health. After the first settlers arrived in the mid-nineteenth century, qualified physicians began migrating to Princeton and the surrounding areas. The influx of doctors led to the Bureau County Medical Society being chartered in 1893. It started with 40 physicians as members.

Although physicians treated many patients in their offices, they were known to travel great distances to treat patients in their homes. Occasionally, a physician would convert rooms in their own home to house acutely ill patients. Otherwise, patients lacked opportunity for quality nursing care, closer medical treatment, or supervised care.

In 1903, two brothers, Dr.’s L.D. Hickman and H.V. Hickman, purchased a home on Park Avenue East in Princeton to use as a hospital. They were both osteopathic physicians and used the Princeton Hospital and Sanitarium to perform x-rays and surgeries. The hospital included separate men and women's general wards, as well as private patient rooms, an x-ray lab, a surgical operating room, and a sterilizing room. Patients were charged $8 per week to stay in the hospital and receive "ordinary nursing" care in the general wards. Other charges included:
 * Electrical treatment - $1.00 per treatment
 * Osteopathic treatment - $2.00 per treatment
 * X-Ray treatment - $2.00 per treatment
 * X-Ray examinations - $2.00 to $10.00
 * Administration of Anesthetic - $5.00

The services included a disclaimer that "No contagious or infectious diseases will be admitted." They purchased updated, expensive equipment. However, due to personal illness, financial problems and lack of support, the brothers closed the hospital after just one year of operation.

In 1905, Dr. Blackburn purchased the hospital and privately for three years. In 1908, Dr. Blackburn sold the Princeton Hospital and Sanitarium to Miss Cox. She ran the hospital privately for another two years. In 1910, a smallpox epidemic broke out and caused the death of two patients. The facility was unable to sustain the care needed during the epidemic, and closed yet again.

Julia Rackley Perry
Julia Rackley Perry was born on June 7, 1858, in Malden, Illinois. Her parents, George and Calesta Rackley,

In October of 1877, Julia married Jesse A. Perry. Together, they had one child, George Nathan, who died at the age of nine.

After several years of illness and two surgeries, Julia died peacefully on December 29, 1913. On January 9, 1914, it became publicly-known that Princeton residents might get another chance for a local hospital.