Inside Belvidere’s Abandoned St. Joseph’s Hospital

Do you remember when OSF St. Joseph's Hospital was open in Belvidere, Illinois? You might be shocked to see what it looks like today.

History of St. Joseph Hospital in Belvidere, IL

I've lived in the Rockford area my entire life, and I am ashamed to admit that I thought SwedishAmerican Medical Center/Belvidere was the only hospital servicing the city.

The truth is, St. Joseph's Hospital provided emergency care for patients in Belvidere from 1900 until 1999 when declining patient numbers and revenue forced it to close.

After St. Joseph closed, Highland Hospital remained open for medical needs, but when SwedishAmerican Medical Center/Belvidere opened in April 2009, it filled an 8-year gap of having no emergency care in the city.

It's safe to say that a lot of long-term Belvidere residents have many fond memories of St. Joseph's Hospital, and seeing what it looks like today may be very disturbing for them.

Pictures From the Abandoned St. Joseph's Hospital in Belvidere

If you ever spend time looking through photos on a social media page featuring abandoned properties, there is one thing you will learn very quickly: posting exact locations of featured properties is a huge no-no.

Firstly, going inside an abandoned property is very dangerous. Secondly, it's trespassing and against the law. If you love looking at photos from inside abandoned buildings, just live vicariously through the pics other people, like Decayingmidwest, take.

As I was looking through pics on Decayingmidwest's Facebook recently, I came across this post from Belvidere:

Now that we know that this hospital has been closed since 1999 I can't help but wonder: why is this old building still standing?

Here's a possible answer from the What's Happening in Belvidere, IL Facebook group:

Someone said it's full of asbestos and it would be very expensive to decontaminate.

Asbestos is something no one should mess around with, so PLEASE don't try to go in and explore the building for yourself, or possibly getting arrested for trespassing will be the least of your worries.