established in 1918

Wheatley-Provident Hospital is the sole surviving hospital building in Kansas City that was established for and run by the African-American community during the period of 1902 to 1972. Located at 1826 Forest, it is  one of the first hospitals in the nation entirely staffed by African-American doctors, nurses, and administrators. It is also one  of the few hospitals  training African American doctors and nurses in the early 1900s, and the first model children’s ward in the nation. The impact of the work of this institution continues to spread across the globe. 

In 1902 Dr. J. Edward Perry founded a small hospital and training school for nurses, by 1910 it evolved into the Perry Sanitarium and Nurse Training Association. Located at 1214 Vine it provided medical facilities to doctors and patients.  

As the community continued to grow through the Pendergast era, Dr. Perry worked with civic associations to move to the former St. Joseph's Parochial School, a limestone building built in 1902. In 1918 this building became the original wing of the training association and was then renamed Wheatley-Provident Hospital.

 In 1925 a collaboration with Dr. Katherine Berry Richardson, a co-founder of Children's Mercy Hospital, bore a new national model for a pediatric ward or "Mercy Ward". The ward was housed in a 2 story addition on the north side of the building. This 2nd wing of the hospital was designed by the well-known Kansas City architecture firm of Hoit, Price, and Barnes.

 One of the last historic buildings in this part of Kansas City Wheatley-Provident Hospital retains a strong historical association with the 18th and Vine neighborhood just a few blocks to the east, which was the heart of Kansas City's African-American community during the years of segregation. Wheatley-Provident Hospital is listed in the Kansas City Register of Historic Places and is on the path to National Historic Registery designation.