As Kettering Health Dayton celebrates its 100th anniversary, one of the hospital’s most recognizable landmarks serves as a visible connection between generations of caregivers who have served the community.
The cross atop Kettering Health Dayton originally stood on Franciscan Medical Center, formerly St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. Founded in 1878 by the Franciscan Sisters and considered Dayton’s first community hospital, St. Elizabeth served generations of patients before becoming Franciscan Medical Center. Located on Hopeland Street near downtown Dayton, the hospital cared for the community for more than 120 years before closing in 2000.
When Franciscan Medical Center closed, Roy Chew was serving as president of Grandview Medical Center, now Kettering Health Dayton, following the hospital’s merger with Kettering Health in 1999. Chew, who joined Kettering Health as a respiratory therapist in 1976, later became the first president of the former Grandview hospital under Kettering Health leadership.
Chew remembers recognizing what the cross meant to the Dayton community.
“For decades, they would light that cross up during the Christmas holiday season,” Chew said. “It had tremendous visibility and significance for the city of Dayton.”
After Franciscan’s closure, Kettering Health continued operating the Hopeland Clinic on the former Franciscan campus. Through those connections, Chew worked with those overseeing the property’s transition and asked whether the cross could be relocated rather than removed.
After receiving approval, plant engineering team members removed the cross from the former Franciscan hospital and relocated it to the hospital on West Grand Avenue, where it remains today atop Kettering Health Dayton.
“Our plant engineering folks went over to the hospital and removed that cross and then brought it over,” Chew said. “That was meaningful not just to Grandview and Kettering Health, but it was very meaningful to the people of Dayton, who had watched that cross be lit for so many years.”
Chew said Kettering Health leadership supported the effort from the beginning.
“It had been an iconic beacon for so many years,” he said. “Just to keep it lit for the city of Dayton was important.”
The move also meant a great deal to former Franciscan employees, many of whom joined Kettering Health facilities following the closure.
“We had brought on many of the Franciscan staff to work at Grandview and other hospitals within Kettering Health,” Chew said. “So, it was very meaningful to them as well to see the cross restored.”
More than two decades later, the cross continues to overlook Kettering Health Dayton, connecting the hospital’s present-day mission with generations of caregivers who have served the community. As the hospital marks its centennial year, the cross stands as a symbol of continuity, service and compassion.
Today, the cross remains a familiar sight atop Kettering Health Dayton. For Chaplain Garth Adams, it serves as a reminder of hope for patients, families and team members.
“It is a designation of hope. It’s a designation of encouragement,” Adams said. “It’s a designation that whoever is ill or sick is not alone.”
Adams said the cross reflects the faith-based mission that continues to guide Kettering Health while offering comfort to those facing difficult circumstances.
“It kind of ties in with our chapel,” Adams said. “Not just saying that we’re faith-based, but again, to recognize what that symbol, what the cross means to those who are of faith.”
He also sees the transfer of the cross from Franciscan to Kettering Health Dayton as a symbol of continuity in community health care.
“Passing that cross along just says, you know, here is not only the next generation of doctors, but here’s the next generation of those who care about the health and the well-being of this Dayton community,” Adams said.
As Kettering Health Dayton begins its second century of service, the cross remains a visible reminder of the hospital’s connection to Dayton’s health care history and its ongoing commitment to caring for the community.