Carney Hospital history

St Mary’s continues the legacy first established by the Daughters of Charity at St Ann’s Ward in 1870, welcoming pregnant and parenting teen girls and their infants, and providing them with shelter, comfort, and care.

St Mary’s Center’s rich history dates back to 1874, when an abandoned baby left on the doorstep of a Boston church eventually led to the creation of St Mary’s Infant Asylum at the agency’s current Dorchester location.

The first abdominal surgery in USA was carried out in the hospital by John Homans in 1882.

The first Catholic nursing school in New England was opened in 1892.

1894: Following an outpouring of compassion and generosity from the community, St Mary’s purchases the Green estate on Jones Hill in Dorchester and moves operations to St Mary’s current location near Uphams Corner.

In 1920 the hospital introduced its Residency training programs.

1929: As the demand for services becomes greater, St Mary’s expands into a general hospital, incorporating itself as St Margaret’s Hospital.

1943: As the hospital continues to expand, the facility can no longer accommodate the hundreds of orphaned children at St Mary’s Infant Asylum.

In 1950 the first plastic hip operation in the United States was performed by Doctor W.R. MacAusland at Carney Hospital.

In 1953, the hospital moved from South Boston to its present location in Dorchester.

Classes were held on the campus of Carney Hospital in South Boston until 1954 when Catherine Labouré School of Nursing moved to the site of the new Carney Hospital in Dorchester.

In 1971, Catherine Labouré School of Nursing became officially Catherine Labouré Junior College.

The hospital became one of the first in USA to establish community health centers in 1973.

In 1984, Catherine Labouré Junior College changed its name to Catherine Labouré College.

The hospital celebrated 125 years of service in 1988.

For more than a century, St Margaret’s Hospital for Women shared the Dorchester campus with St Mary’s until 1993 when the hospital closed and the current-day St Mary’s Center for Women and Children was established.

In 1997, the Daughters of Charity transferred control of both Carney Hospital and Labouré College to Caritas Christi, the network of Catholic healthcare providers sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston.

The College accepted its first BSN class in January, 2009.

Independent for the first time, Labouré purchased its current campus at 303 Adams Street in Milton in 2013.

In 2021, the College changed its name to Labouré College of Healthcare - a name that clarifies this mission and communicates that healthcare is not one of many programs offered at Labouré - it is our sole focus, our specialty, our history, and our future.