Children's Hospital of Michigan history

The new hospital, which included a training school for nursemaids, opened at St Antoine and Farnsworth Streets in 1896.

Doctor David Cowie was appointed in 1905 as the University of Michigan’s first professor of pediatrics.

By 1915, a training school for nurses, departments of social services and physical therapy, and a dental clinic were established at the facility.

While Doctor Cowie was committed to pediatric patient care, education and research, the Medical School in 1916 had only twenty hospital beds dedicated for general pediatric patients.

Doctor Cowie rose through the academic ranks within Internal Medicine and was appointed Professor and Chairman of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases when the specialty was recognized as a separate department at UM in 1921.

As a result of the merger, the Children’s Hospital of Michigan was established in 1922.

The growth of Children’s Hospital led to innovations in medical care for children, including the establishment of the Children’s Fund of Michigan in 1925.

In 1926 Doctor Cowie wrote a report on the State of the Department for the UM Alumni Association.

Construction began immediately and a new hospital in Farmington was completed in 1927.

Mechanical ventilation devices were first trialed in children with acute polio 1928, at Children’s Hospital in Boston.

Charles McKhann was recruited to Michigan in 1941, after the death of Doctor Cowie that same year.

While Doctor McKhann began that effort he remained as Chairman for only three years, and in 1944 he was succeeded by Doctor Wilson.

The nation’s third polio respirator center, funded by the March of Dimes, opened at University of Michigan in 1951.

In 1957, Children’s Hospital of Michigan became affiliated with the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

As an example, the first board certified subspecialization in pediatrics was in cardiology beginning in 1961.

A major focus of this foundation was to improve children’s health; the Mott Foundation donated over $6.5 million to the University of Michigan for the construction of the children’s hospital in 1964.

The State of Michigan began universal neonatal screening for PKU in 1965, and Doctor Allen collaborated with the Department of Public Health to initiate treatment for all infants identified with PKU.

Doctor Robert Kelsch was appointed to the faculty in 1966, and was considered a pioneer in the development of the subspecialty of pediatric nephrology.

With the retirement of Doctor Wilson in 1967, Doctor William J. Oliver was appointed Chairman of the Department.

When the American Board of Medical Subspecialists approved pediatric nephrology as a subspecialty in the early 1970’s, he was among the first cohort of successful examinees for certification, and went on to lead the development of this program.

The Holden Fund established biochemical laboratories within the new Mott Holden Unit, creating the James and Lynelle Holden Perinatal Research Laboratories, which were completed in 1972.

The new hospital was attached to the existing Henry Ford medical center which opened in 1975.

In 1981, Doctor Robert P. Kelch was appointed Chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases.

Again, the C.S. Mott Foundation supported components of these capital renovations with a $2 million grant to the University in 1984.

In 1992, Henry Ford Health System acquired a 600,000-square-foot building formerly owned by Unisys Corporation and located about six blocks southeast of the hospital.

In 1993, Doctor Kelch was recruited to be Dean of the College of Medicine at the University of Iowa.

In 1996, Doctor Jean Robillard (Pediatric Nephrology) Associate Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Iowa was recruited to be the chairman of the Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases at Michigan.

In 1998 Josephine Ford donated $10 million to Henry Ford's Cancer Center, which was renamed in her honor.

It won the 2004 Foster G. McGaw Award for excellence in community service.

2006, the hospital had performed 2,230 robotic prostatectomy procedures and counting - more than any other hospital in the world.)

Most significant, however was the planning, approval and construction of a new C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voightlander Women’s Hospitals that was completed in 2011.