Happy birthday, Royal Inland Hospital.

Retired RIH nurses served birthday cake and the century-old citizen was photographed for posterity Friday to mark the date in 1912, when a ceremony was held to mark the newly opened Columbia Street hospital.

There were 80 beds in 1912. Today there are 224.

While the hospital marks 100 years on Columbia Street, it first opened at Lorne Street and Third Avenue in 1891.

Three of the 913 graduates of the RIH School of Nursing - dressed in period uniforms - said buildings, equipment and people may have changed, but the tradition of health care in Kamloops remains alive.

Ethel Busch graduated in the 1950s as valedictorian of her class. She, Jeanette Cassell and Bev Day attended the former school of nursing, located on what is today a parking lot.

The three said their choice of education and a career boiled down to two choices: teaching or nursing.

Student nurses worked in the hospital from day one of a three-year training program. Physicians at RIH taught many of the classes.

On Friday evening, Interior Health organized staff and volunteers to light up the building with flash bulbs and other artificial light while members of the Kamloops Photo Arts Club recorded images.

While the nurses talked about the past, there was also chat about the future and a planned $80-million upgrade to the building, including parking and clinical space.

"I think it's wonderful," Busch said. "We have to increase with the population increasing. We need a lot more beds."

For her part, Cassell couldn't help but compare RIH to the Okanagan, where the Interior Health Authority is headquartered and it has chosen to upgrade various facilities before Kamloops.

"We have to beat Kelowna, right? Cassell laughed.