By admin 
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Long before Tucson’s large hospitals, a three-room maternity ward on North Court Avenue helped deliver generations of families. It was called The Stork’s Nest, and a brother and sister who were born there recently visited the historic building and reflected on what it meant to their family.
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Eighty-seven years after she was born at The Stork’s Nest, Jean Kennah said she saw the building for the first time — at least the first time she can remember.
“I don’t know, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it. I’ve never seen it before,” Kennah said.
Kennah said she was born there, but only knows the story through her mother.
“My mother told me that I was born at the Storks Nest and then when I would tell my friends, they of course thought I was teasing and they said ‘oh no you weren’t born in a stork’s nest. That’s a bird!’ So I had to explain it to them,” she said.
The Stork’s Nest was Tucson’s first maternity ward. Helen Jacobs opened the birthing center in 1922 to expand maternity care and ease the burden on the city’s hospital. It closed in 1946, shortly before Jacobs’ death.
Kennah’s older brother, Lou Kisch, was also born at The Stork’s Nest. Kisch said he toured the building after moving back to Tucson in 1992 and saw the rooms where his mother labored and delivered him.
“I moved back from Phoenix to Tucson in 1992 and I was able to take a tour of this place and they showed me where my mom was in labor and where she delivered me. So that was interesting to come back. I was born here 90 years ago,” Kisch said.
Today, the building looks different, but a plaque outside describes its history and the three rooms available to Tucson mothers. The plaque notes that a typical stay at the time was 10 to 14 days.
The plaque also describes the pink, blue and yellow rooms, and says mothers paid between $25 and $35 for meals, care and doctor’s fees.
“You don’t realize what these women went through back then. That must’ve been hard,” Kennah said.
Visitors can also see artifacts from The Stork’s Nest at the Tucson Wagon and History Museum, where a birthing chair and a window from the original ward are on display. Kisch said he signed the window.
“People get an opportunity to learn a little bit about it which I think is amazing,” Kisch said.
Kennah and Kisch, now 87 and 90, said they are honored to help keep their stories alive and pass down their family’s history to the next generation.
“I tried to write down things for my kids, nice things that I went through and experienced. I just did it on notebook paper. He has a nice book of it. I think it’s important for your kids to know about what happened back then,” Kennah said.
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