In the early years, there were no quarantine units within the Hospital. The isolation rooms were located in two old houses northeast of what is now Seashore Hall. Miss Marcella McInnery, a 1919 graduate of the School of Nursing, recalled her most difficult assignment as a student. She was given the responsibility of caring for nine babies with chicken pox and was unable to leave the ward for several weeks. She was almost relieved when a University of Iowa student also got chicken pox and joined her in the house, because she then had someone to talk to! When the infants recovered, Miss McInnery had to make up all of the classes she had missed.

The Isolation Hospital opened in 1918 on Jefferson Street next to the main hospital. It provided much-needed space for adults and children being treated for contagious diseases.

29. Isolation Hospital in Iowa City, c. 1920, courtesy of the University of Iowa Photographic Service