The St. Louis Maternity Hospital was founded in May 1908 when Mrs. Elizabeth Samuel Garrison hosted a meeting of friends, physicians, and clergy to discuss the need for a maternity hospital where poor married women and "unfortunate" girls could be cared for before, during, and after their confinement. The non-sectarian hospital began in a six-room house at 3430 Lucas Avenue, then soon moved to larger quarters at 2621 Locust Street. In 1912, as demand for services continued to increase, the hospital moved into a former sanitarium at 4518 Washington Avenue. From its beginning, the institution's financial support came solely from the public through subscriptions and various fundraising efforts. By the 1920s, about 50% of the work at the hospital was without cost to the patients. In 1924, the Rockefeller General Education Board gave the hospital's research department a gift of $650,000, contingent upon the construction of a new and enlarged building. The Maternity Hospital, newly affiliated with Washington University, would use the money for research and teaching in obstetrics and diseases of newborns. Although affiliated with the university, the Maternity Hospital still relied on public support for building funds and operating expenses. An eight-story building was erected at 630 South Kingshighway in 1928, and the Maternity Hospital continued to operate at that site until the early 1970s, when it ceased to exist as an independent hospital. As of 1999, the Maternity Hospital houses medical offices as part of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Complex at the Washington University Medical Center Complex.