Paso del Norte Health Foundation

Providence Hospital was founded by Dr. Michael P. Schuster and a team of doctors, serving patients for more than a century. Dr. Schuster, an Austrian immigrant, moved to El Paso with his family in 1892 to launch and manage a clinic for American Smelting and Refining Company (ASARCO) employees. Eugenia Schuster, his wife, bought the hospital in 1906, and they ran it until she died in 1945. The Texas Corporate Charter issued in 1945 paved the way for Providence Memorial Hospital, taking advantage of reforms in financing. In 1952, the new Providence Memorial Hospital opened after a successful capital campaign raised $1.8 million and secured $1.6 million in federal funding for expansion. The community board opened the new health facility in January 1952 (Paso del Norte Health Foundation). Administration changes were proposed as the hospital expanded and thrived over the years until the 1990s, when shifts in health care regulation necessitated restructuring this historic institution.