Arthur D. Cooley and Cooley Memorial Hospital

Ken Bott
Dec 1
2 min read

Arthur D Cooley was born in 1885 in Brighton, Utah. He lived part of his early life on a farm in Cache Valley and eventually attended Brigham Young College in Logan. Afterwards, he attended and graduated in pre-med from the University of Utah and went on to graduate from Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in 1911.

After becoming a doctor, he relocated to Paris, ID to begin his practice. Within a few years, he and a colleague built a hospital in Montpelier, ID.

In 1916, Dr. Cooley and his young family moved to Brigham City. According to Sarah Yates, Dr. Cooley opened a hospital for a short time in an adobe house at the corner of 200 S. and 200 E. He eventually opened up practice with Dr. R. A. Pearse and, in 1920, the two of them converted the old home of Abraham Hunsaker, on the corner of 400 S. and Main, into the Pearse-Cooley Hospital. After a few years, Dr. Cooley ran the hospital alone as Dr. Pearse opened up another hospital in town.

Dr. Cooley’s son, Russell Cooley, was a Box Elder High School graduate and an honor student. While attending the University of Utah Medical School, Russell contracted an infection that developed into septicemia causing his death in 1932. Dr. Cooley decided to build the first modern hospital in Brigham City in Russell’s honor. Until that time, various hospitals had been started in homes and commercial buildings. An article from https://brighamcityhistory.org/1900-1950/arthur-d-cooley/ notes, “During the depression years of 1934-35, Dr. Cooley asked that persons work off their medical bills by donating labor toward the erection of a hospital dedicated to the memory of his son Russell.” In May 1935, Cooley Memorial Hospital was opened. It was a 3-story, 50 bed facility with state-of-the-art medical technology.

Dr. Cooley decided to return to school and specialize in eye, ear, nose and throat in 1937, at the age of 52. He studied at LSU Medical School and eventually graduated, passed the California medical boards, and moved to Palos Verde, CA in 1942 to continue his career.

Cooley Memorial Hospital was purchased by William Vosco and Mamie Peters Call in 1945. The hospital was open at the same time as Bushnell Hospital and while William Vosco and Mamie were also running the Capitol Theater. The Calls allowed wounded soldiers to watch the movies for free and noted that the theater was filled- often with a dozen or so soldiers in wheelchairs. By 1962, the hospital was busy enough that an addition was needed and built to the south. The hospital served the citizens of Brigham City until the Brigham City Community Hospital was built in 1976. The old hospital eventually became apartments and now houses businesses.

Dr. Arthur Cooley died in 1971 in Fullerton, CA.

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