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6
SHINE
Winter 2015–2016
Methodist Hospital of Dallas
chooses the site of its
second hospital, and a $5 million public campaign,
headed by James Aston and the former Dallas
mayor and Texas Instruments founder, J. Erik
Jonsson, begins. Jonsson and his wife, Margaret,
donate a sizable gift to the public fund subscription
drive. Jack Edwards and Bill Carter donate 30 acres
of land to bring the total building-site acreage
to 47.5 acres. The facility is named for Jonsson’s
daughter, Margaret Jonsson Charlton, who later
remarried and became Margaret Jonsson Rogers.
The
emergency
department
(ED)
is relocated
and expanded.
ED visits had
increased from
7,378 in 1977 to
14,516 in 1981.
During the
groundbreaking
ceremony
for Charlton
Methodist Hospital
on Oct. 23, Margaret
Jonsson Charlton
pushes a giant 20-foot
syringe into the
earth to symbolize
the “transfusion”
of medical skills,
knowledge, and talent
from the parent to the
branch hospital.
Charlton Methodist Hospital
celebrates its grand
opening on Dec. 7 and sees its first patient two
days later. The 84-bed community hospital is the
first “branch” health care facility in Dallas as part of
the Methodist Hospitals of Dallas family. The total
construction cost is $11 million.
Twelve women from Duncanville — the hospital’s
first volunteers
— stand shoulder to shoulder with the
staff, helping wherever needed.
1972
1975
1973
1983
Flash back
4 DECADES
OF METHODIST
CHARLTON
Four decades
after opening,
METHODIST
CHARLTON
continues to grow
In 1975,
people were listening to the sounds of the Captain & Tennille, and the most
popular television show was
All in the Family
. The Dallas Cowboys were well on their way
to Super Bowl X, and Methodist Hospitals of Dallas had just added the 84-bed Charlton
Methodist Hospital to its family.
Margaret Jonsson Charlton, the hospital’s namesake, was present for the Dec. 7 ribbon-
cutting, where a giant scalpel was used to cut the red, white, and blue ribbon. Two days later,
CELEBRATING THE BIG