EYEWITNESS NEWS (WBRE/WYOU) — Thursday marks the 50th anniversary of Hurricane Agnes sweeping through Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania. The floodwaters forced many from their homes and changed countless lives.
But 50 years later some are celebrating milestone birthdays. In June 1972, expectant mothers at Nesbitt Hospital in Kingston had to be evacuated to a makeshift hospital set up at what was then called College Misericordia.
There were 52 babies born in the basement of Alumnae Hall which was transformed into a fully functional hospital. Babies born at Misericordia University became known as ‘Agnes Babies.’
“We had quite a few people born on campus during that time. For their 16 birthday, we hosted a sweet 16 party for them in 1988 and a number of them did come back, it was a big event, a play happening, all sorts of things happened on that day,” said Maureen Cech, University Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Misericordia University.
Our media partner Times Leader tells the story of the first baby born at the university during the flood. You can read it on their website.
