Madge Bellingham

With March being Women’s History Month, this seems like the perfect time to remember a woman whose work and life touched so many in Meeker County – Madge Bellingham.

Outside of the Litchfield Hospital, c. 1920; Madge Bellingham with Jim Robertson (center; son of Dr. AW Robertson) and unknown boy.

Madge Bellingham was born in Bellingham, Minnesota in 1886. And, yes, the town was named after her family. In 1914, she graduated from nursing school in Minneapolis, and just three years later, she and her nursing skills came to Litchfield.  

For more than four decades, Miss Bellingham was a nurse, teacher, administrator, and superintendent, at the Litchfield Hospital and later at the Meeker County Memorial Hospital.

Before her first year in Litchfield was complete, the infamous influenza epidemic of 1918 was impacting Meeker County. All of the nurses working for her became sick, and for almost six months, Madge worked from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. She even gave up her own bed to her sick nurses and would catch a few hours of sleep on the porch.

This was also the era of home visits by doctors and nurses, and Miss Bellingham would often accompany the doctor in his horse and buggy. She remembered one visit down a muddy road to the farmhouse where the doctor performed surgery in the parlor with only oil lamps and flashlights to illuminate the scalpels and sutures.

Before Miss Bellingham came to Litchfield, there had been a short-lived nursing program. Madge restarted the training course, and it soon became a great success. When some of her former nursing students found work in a California hospital, the hospital contacted Bellingham, asking if there were any other of her students interested in a job in their hospital.

Besides nursing and teaching, Bellingham was also in charge of the hospital’s finances. Under her guidance, the hospital was able to overcome its debt and grow through the years. When she started in 1917, the hospital only had twelve beds and would eventually expand to 48 beds. Madge also kept track of how many births there were during her tenure; 4,924 during her 35-year career at Litchfield Hospital.

When Meeker County Memorial Hospital opened in 1952, the old hospital, under Madge’s guidance, was able to contribute funds and equipment. In the new hospital, she worked as the operating room supervisor. She finally retired in 1960 at the age of 74, having literally worked herself to exhaustion. She retired on a Friday and found herself a patient the following Tuesday. Madge recovered and worked at Emmaus Home for a short time before retiring for good.

Miss Madge Bellingham died at the age of 84 in the Meeker County Memorial Hospital, leaving behind a legacy that touched countless Meeker County residents and beyond.