09/04/2026
As part of our “A to Z: Discovering Kent County” series, we are happy to highlight the Union Benevolent Association for the letter U!
The Union Benevolent Association began as a small group of Grand Rapids women who wanted to help their neighbors. Over time, their work grew into something much larger: the foundation for two of Grand Rapids’ major health care systems, Blodgett Hospital (now a part of Corewell Health) and Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital.
The story begins on December 16, 1846, when the group gathered at the Prospect Hill schoolhouse near what is now Pearl and Ottawa streets. at the Prospect Hill schoolhouse near what is now Pearl and Ottawa streets. The organization divided the city into districts so members could visit families in need, care for the sick, provide clothing for children and distribute assistance to people experiencing poverty.
During the 1850s, the women expanded their mission to include caring for orphaned children. They established a home near LaGrave Avenue and Oakes Street, where the matron, Lucia Johnson, helped oversee the children’s care. When the Civil War began, the organization shifted its attention to Union troops, sewing clothing and helping care for sick and wounded soldiers.
After the war, the women returned to caring for the sick and poor, and the organization officially became the Union Benevolent Association in 1873. With its new charter, the UBA could operate a home and hospital for people who were aged, infirm, sick or in need. The organization purchased the former Cuming homestead on Bostwick Street, turning the home of its founding president into a place of care.
By the 1880s, the facility had become too small for the community’s needs, so they raised money for a new building at Lyon Street and College Avenue, which opened in 1886. That same year, the UBA established a nursing school. Marion Louise Withey, who served as the organization’s vice president for 20 years, traveled to England with physician Frances Hillyer to study Florence Nightingale’s approach to nursing education. Together, they helped establish a nursing program that would train generations of nurses in Grand Rapids.
In 1891, women connected with the UBA Hospital launched a fundraising effort to provide a free hospital bed for someone who could not afford medical care. Their idea? Ask women named Mary (the most popular womens name at the time) to donate a dime - in honor of themselves or another Mary. The campaign created the first “Mary Free Bed" and twenty years later, the effort became the Mary Free Bed Guild and ultimately helped inspire the nationally recognized rehabilitation hospital known as Mary Free Bed.
In 1914, John Wood Blodgett Sr. and his wife, Minnie Cumnock Blodgett, donated land and money for a new hospital, knowing the UBA needed more space. Named Blodgett Memorial Hospital in honor of John’s mother, Jane Wood Blodgett, the facility grew directly from the UBA’s work, creating the foundation for one of Grand Rapids’ most important medical institutions.
Today, the legacy of the Union Benevolent Association can still be seen in the names Blodgett and Mary Free Bed, as well as in the nursing traditions and charitable work that continue throughout Kent County.
They did not set out to create a medical legacy. They just worked on a simple idea: neighbors should care for one another.
