Anna Caroline Maxwell (March 14, 1851 - January 2, 1929), was a nurse who came to be known by the nickname "the American Florence Nightingale". Her pioneering activities were crucial to the growth of professional nursing in the U.S.

Early Career

With no formal training, Maxwell first entered the nursing field as a matron at New England Hospital in 1874. She left in 1876 and spent two years in England before enrolling at Boston City Hospital Training School for Nurses. In 1880 she was hired to start a training school at Montreal General Hospital. In 1881, she was offered the superintendency of the Training School for Nurses at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. In 1889, she moved to New York to be director of nursing at St. Luke's Hospital, and from there became superintendent of nursing at the Presbyterian Hospital of New York from 1892-1921. Maxwell was also the first director of the Presbyterian Hospital's nursing school, founded in 1892, which later became the Columbia University School of Nursing. Eleanor Lee writes in the "History of the School of Nursing of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, 1892-1942", that Maxwell, born in New York but of Scottish descent, was recruited for the position by Mr. John Stewart Kennedy, a wealthy Scottish financier who was then serving as the Presbyterian Hospital's President of the Board of Trustees. In the school's early years, Mr. Kennedy donated $1 million for construction of a dormitory for the nurses.

Wartime Activities

In the Spanish-American War she organized nurses for the military. Through her actions, the Army Nurse Corps was established and nurses were later given the rank of officer. She helped design the uniform for US army nurses. During World War I, France awarded her the Medaille de l'Hygiene Publique (Medal of honor for Public Health).

In addition to her work in education and with the military, she co-wrote a textbook with Amy E. Pope entitled Practical Nursing. The first building to open at the new Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in 1928 was the home for the university's nursing school. It was named the "Anna C. Maxwell Hall" in her honor.

Maxwell Hall was razed in 1984 to make room for a new hospital building, and the university established an endowed professorship at the nursing school in Maxwell's name. Maxwell was one of the first women buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Columbia University awarded her an honorary Master of Arts degree.