One would think if a woman had 10 children to care for, she would have enough to keep her busy. But Mary Catherine Hart also took on the job of matron at Coconino County Hospital in Flagstaff along with running her own household, getting children bathed, fed, and out the door to school.
Mary Catherine Hunt was born in Decatur, Illinois, on July 20, 1874. By the time she was 15, she was living in Flagstaff and on Sept. 9, 1889, she married John Fletcher Fairchild, who was over 20 years her senior.
John Fairchild already had led a colorful life by the time he and Mary married. But he was now a widower with two children and probably needed someone to care for his youngsters. He and Mary soon had five children of their own.
John, or Fletcher as he was more familiarly known, had been in law enforcement a good portion of his life. He was part of the posse that participated in the Pleasant Valley War about 1887.
Fletcher also ran a sheep ranch and owned a saloon in Flagstaff.
In 1898, Fletcher was elected sheriff of Coconino County but never really served, as by then he was suffering from severe headaches, which were probably the result of a fight years earlier.
In November 1898, he went to Los Angeles to have surgery. He returned to Flagstaff that December to begin his duties as sheriff in January. That August he was declared insane.
Family stories suggest the surgery was unsuccessful, leaving Fletcher in severe pain, which caused his insanity. He was sent to an asylum in Phoenix where he died in October 1899.
Mary was left a widow with seven children to raise on her own.
How Mary managed during the ensuing years is uncertain as she does not appear in any known records until 1912 when she married William Chesely Hart, better known as Billy Hart, who was running the Coconino County Hospital for the Indigent.
In fact, their wedding was held on the hospital grounds.
It is possible that Mary was working at the hospital and that may be how the couple met.
Coconino County Hospital was a big improvement over the previous medical facility in Flagstaff. Originally it was located in the back rooms of a hotel, where a lone surgeon performed operations under unhealthy and unsanitary conditions.
Coconino County Hospital was built in 1908 to care for the people of Flagstaff who could not afford to go elsewhere for health care. It would also take in prisoners and those who eventually were turned over to the insane asylum in Phoenix once they were declared incompetent by the probate court.
The two-story stone structure was built on 160 acres out on what is now Fort Valley Road, and the surrounding land was farmed by people who gave a portion of their crops to the hospital to be used for patients’ meals. Some of the healthier patients also farmed the land.
Because the grounds were tended by indigent individuals, the hospital became known as the “Poor Farm.”
Patients were housed on the first floor with most of the staff living on the second floor of the hospital.
Only four rooms were allotted for women patients, who were rarely admitted. The rest were for men who had been injured in logging accidents, those who jumped from trains going through town, or were injured in gun and knife fights.
Frozen limbs were also prevalent along with debilitating illnesses such as mountain fever, influenza, diphtheria and tuberculosis.
The 1920s saw big advancements in the care patients received at hospitals. Penicillin came into use and those entering a hospital no longer feared being carried out feet first but could hope they might receive decent treatment and even cures for their ills.
Through the years, additional buildings were added to the county hospital, including a sleeping porch, barn, and a sewer system.
Billy Hart handled the administration of the hospital, while Mary served as matron from 1920 until the hospital closed in 1938.
As matron, she was the senior nurse responsible for all the nurses (at that time all female) as well as the domestic staff. She made sure the procedures schedule was up to date along with ordering food for patients and overseeing their care. She might even dispense medical treatment if a doctor was not available.
Mary had three more children with Billy Hart, bringing the total number of children under her care to 10. All but one child survived infancy.
Mary and Billy divorced in 1923 although there is no record indicating why they separated. At that time in Arizona, divorces were only granted if one could prove adultery, abuse, desertion, physical incompetence, or if one’s spouse was a “habitual drunkard.”
After their divorce, Mary and Billy continued to work together at the hospital until its closure in 1938 when state and federal governments began overseeing health care for the indigent, along with the addition of welfare programs.
The building became a boardinghouse.
Billy Hart died in 1945. Mary remained an active member of the Flagstaff community until she broke her hip in 1949. Because the Coconino County Hospital no longer existed, she was taken to the Flagstaff Hospital, founded in 1936. Mary died at the hospital on Dec. 18, 1949, at the age of 75. She is buried in the Citizens Cemetery.
In 1963 the old hospital/boardinghouse was taken over by the Arizona Historical Society and today operates as the Pioneer Museum. Strolling through the rooms, one will find artifacts such as an iron lung along with surgical equipment once used in the hospital. There is also a timeworn but pristine nurse’s uniform on display. Maybe Mary once wore one of similar style during her days caring for the indigent of Flagstaff.
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