The Bethesda Swedish Lutheran Church built Northwestern Hospital in 1907 between 9th and 10th Streets North and 7th and 8th Avenues North. The hospital fronted on 10th St. In 1920, a group of Franciscan nuns from Little Falls, MN bought Northwestern and renamed it St. Ansgar’s. It served until 1957 when the new St. Ansgar’s was built to the east on 11th St N. The old building was retained as housing for the sisters until sometime in the 1970s after 10th St N was vacated. The hospital closed in the late 1980s.
In 1992, Clay County purchased the former St. Ansgar Hospital building and converted it into the Family Service Center of Clay County (FSCCC) in an effort to improve the efficiency in the delivery of Health and Human Services by collocating various agencies under 1 roof. The building includes approximately 95,000 square feet of net rentable space.