12 Feb The Twig — Announcements
The Thrift Shop is now closed for the summer.
We will start accepting donations on Saturday, August 16, our annual Donation Drop Off Day, and we will be open for business as usual on Wednesday, September 3.
Mark your calendars!
Mark your calendars! The 83rd Annual Twig Tour of Homes will be held on September 27, 2025.
Details to follow…
Alexandria Hospital: Women Mobilize the Community
Alexandria Hospital, Duke Street 1918.
This 2023-24 exhibition marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Alexandria Infirmary — today’s Inova Alexandria Hospital. Women established and sustained the hospital by fostering community support, making it one of Alexandria’s most community-based enterprises.
Healthcare in Alexandria took a big step forward when a group of Alexandria women led by Julia Johns met to organize the Infirmary in December 1872. Through their efforts, townspeople were no longer required to go to Richmond or Washington, D.C. to receive hospital care.
Alexandria, VA, December 12th, 1872
At a meeting of ladies called by Miss Julia Johns to meet in the lecture room of St. Paul’s P.E. Church in this City, with a view to the formation of a Society, to establish and control a Hospital for the sick among the respectable laboring classes. There were present, the following named persons:
| Miss Julia Johns | Mrs. John Stuart |
| Miss Lucy Dorsey | Mrs. G.Y. Worthington |
| Miss M.V. Smith | Mrs. D.F. Sprigg |
| Rev. Dr. Norton | George R. Hill |
— Minutes Book, Alexandria Infirmary
Julia Johns’ group became the Board of Managers, also called the Board of Lady Managers. From the institution’s beginning and throughout its history to the present, women have played a key role in the hospital’s administration, patient care, and support.
Landmark Groundbreaking Ceremony
On September thirtieth, a group of more than seventy people composed of Inova Hospital leadership, architects, builders, elected leaders from the community, Foundation members, and other philanthropic groups including the Twig and the Board of Lady Managers, met underneath a white tent to celebrate the beginning of our new hospital. In spite of the gloomy day, our spirits were high and the speeches celebratory. The Twig and the Board of Lady Managers were acknowledged for their years of dedication and support for our community hospital since its inception. The street in front of the hospital will bear the name of Julia Johns, a nod to the role of the ladies of Alexandria in the founding and support of the early hospital. The Twig was well represented by President Rachel Bishop; Hospital Liaison Mary Schoen; and Past Presidents Jennifer Kilmer, Kathy Hirsch, Seema Nawaz, and Janet Hawkins, all members of the Foundation Board. President Barbara Wells represented the Board of Lady Managers.
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