It began as a small home and grew into a pillar of the community.

"Mother Augustine Giesen and her fellow companions left St. Louis to come minister to the health care needs to Maryville and the surrounding area," said hospital Chaplain Joshua Allee.

From the beginning, what was once called St. Joseph Hospital was considered too small to meet the needs of the community.

"When the sisters came to town and they realized that there was a basic health care need not being met, and so they opened what was then just a 12 room dwelling," said Rita Miller with St. Francis' public relations.

However, the foundation was laid and now St. Francis Hospital in Maryville is celebrating 115 years of quality health care.

"We have grown from those five sisters that first founded the hospital into a community of health care professionals of over 500 today," said Miller.

"The people in our community don't have to travel outside of our community to meet many of their health care needs," said Maryville Mayor Chad Jackson, who is also a physical therapist at the hospital.

St. Francis Hospital has grown in size with each passing year, the facility and its personnel, and many people say the community is to thank.

"We come to work and we treat every one as it was our mom or our dad or our relative," said obstetrics nurse Bren Swinford, RN.

"Really, the community is a big part of the reason I am here," said Mayor Jackson.

Allee believes, "You will find a great deal of satisfaction [with St. Francis] within the community."

While it doesn't have the resources for every medical situation, patients know that St. Francis will care for them.

"We know our capabilities are limited at this size of facility, but what we do, we do very well," Miller said.

For many patients, St. Francis is still that small home it once was - caring for patients as if they were family.

"I was born in the hospital, I doctor here and my family does, and now I work here. It's like friends treating friends," said Allee.