Boston City Hospital

Boston City Hospital, Harrison Avenue, Boston, 19th c. (photo by John B. Heywood)

The Boston City Hospital (1864-1996) in Boston, Massachusetts, was "intended for the use and comfort of poor patients, to whom medical care will be provided at the expense of the city, and ... to provide accommodations and medical treatment to others, who do not wish to be regarded as dependent on public charity." In 1996 it merged with the Boston University Medical Center Hospital to form the Boston Medical Center.

History

In the mid-19th century "the hospital was suggested ... by Elisha Goodnow, who, by his will, dated July 12, 1849, gave property to the city valued at $25,000, for establishment of a free city hospital in Wards Eleven or Twelve." Architect Gridley James Fox Bryant designed the first hospital, built 1861-1864 on Harrison Avenue in the South End. It was renovated in 1875, and again in 1891-1892.

Boston City Hospital "relief station," ca.1905

As of 1905, the hospital consisted of "[1] the hospital proper, on the area bounded by Harrison Avenue, East Concord Street, Albany Street and Massachusetts Avenue, containing 430,968 square feet, or 9.9 acres; [2] the South Department, 745 Massachusetts Avenue, containing 125,736 square feet, or 2.9 acres; [3] the ambulance station, boiler and dynamo house, coal-pocket and wharf, Albany street, containing 69,785 square feet, or 1.6 acres; [4] the convalescent home, Dorchester Avenue, Dorchester, containing 610,500 square feet, or 14 acres; and [5] the relief station, Haymarket Square, 8,507 square feet, or 0.2 acres."

See also

• Boston Medical Center

Further reading

• Boston City Hospital. Medical and surgical reports. v.3 (1882); v.16 (1913)
• A History of the Boston City Hospital from its foundation until 1904. Boston: Municipal Printing Office, 1906. Google books