Robert Koch Hospital, Koch, Missouri

Named after the German bacteriologist who isolated the microorganisms responsible for diseases like tuberculosis and cholera, the Robert Koch Hospital  for Contagious Disease is a lost hospital in a lost city.

Located in the former city of Koch (what is now Interstate 255 east of Route 231), the hospital was officially opened in 1875, with its land being purchased by the city of St. Louis in 1854. The location was strategically isolated so the hospital could treat patients with leprosy, yellow fever, typhoid, cholera, smallpox and diphtheria. Patients that did not survive were buried on the property’s cemetery.

The hospital eventually focused on tuberculosis patients, a disease which killed 10% of the residents in St. Louis in the early 20th Century. By 1939, the hospital property consisted of 19 buildings on 105 acres of farmland. There was a post office, a railroad stop, housing, and recreational facilities. The hospital also published its own newsletter from 1925-1947.  Financing through bonds helped the hospital grow to almost 500 beds, and that still could not keep up with the needs of the community.

In the 1950s, as public health started to win the battle against tuberculosis, the city tried to sell the property. In 1961 the City tried to refocus the hospital on the indigent elderly. Eventually, the hospital closed in November 1983.