Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare history

1900 The hospital establishes a formal education system that eventually allows patients to receive an education while hospitalized and earn their high school diplomas.

Originally, it was situated in a ward inside City and County Hospital of St Paul, but in 1911 it outgrew that limited space and moved into its own facilities in Phalen Park.

1915 The hospital performs its first spine surgery.

1921 Elizabeth McGregor, the hospital’s superintendent, creates a postgraduate course for nurses.

The Minnesota Humanities Center’s current location near Lake Phalen in St Paul was built in 1924 as part of the original Gillette Children’s Hospital campus.

1947 John Moe, MD, starts a scoliosis program at the hospital.

Two years after the Gillette Children’s Hospital moved to downtown St Paul in 1977, the entire 13-acre campus was razed except the west wing.

1979 The pediatric brain injury program begins.

1985 Gillette establishes the Mobile Outreach Clinic—initially as a service to repair wheelchairs.

1987 Gait and Motion Analysis services open, under the direction of Steven Koop, MD, and supported by the expertise of James Gage, MD. The facility is one of the first in the nation to use computers to assess walking and movement patterns in children who have complex conditions.

1988 Gillette becomes a self-supporting, nonprofit organization that accepts payments from insurance providers and receives no assistance from the state.

1989 Gillette begins performing selective dorsal rhizotomy surgeries.

1991 Gillette begins offering a new pediatric limb lengthening surgery with the expertise of Mark Dahl, MD.

1992 Gillette becomes the first pediatric facility in the state to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF).

1995 The Gillette Pediatric Intensive Care Unit opens to better serve children recovering from surgery, those who have serious illnesses, and trauma patients who arrive at Regions Hospital.

In 1996 the Humanities Center opened and now houses a full-service meeting and event center, 15 administrative offices, and 15 overnight guest rooms.

1997 Gillette begins implanting intrathecal baclofen pumps to treat spasticity in children who have cerebral palsy.

1998 Demand grows after Gillette begins offering orthopedic services in the western Twin Cities one day a week.

1999 The Gillette Duluth Clinic opens, bringing specialized health care closer to home for children who have disabilities and live in northern Minnesota.

2000 Gillette becomes the first hospital in the country to receive Food and Drug Administration approval for a skull orthosis that treats misshapen heads in infants: the Gillette CranioCap® orthosis.

2001 Gillette opens a specialty clinic to provide services for older teens and adults whose medical conditions began in childhood.

2002 Gillette installs telemedicine equipment to expand access for patients in greater Minnesota.

2003 James Gage, MD, medical director of the Gillette Center for Cerebral Palsy, edits and publishes The Treatment of Gait Problems in Cerebral Palsy: the definitive textbook on methods of improving gait.

2004 Gillette opens a new clinic in Burnsville, our second-largest outpatient clinic and therapy center.

2008 Gillette opens an outpatient clinic in Maple Grove, Minnesota, and establishes a permanent outreach site in Willmar, Minnesota.

2010 Gillette opens a 52,000 square foot patient care building to house expanded spaces for Rehabilitation Therapies and our James R. Gage Center for Gait and Motion Analysis.