King's Daughters' Health history

The King's Daughters opened their first clinic at 304 Charlotte Street in 1901.

In 1906 the What-So-Ever Circle purchased a two-story, nine-room frame house at East Winchester Avenue.

By 1913, the Boyd County Medical Association was drawing up a proposal for a Boyd County General Hospital.

On May 9, 1916, construction began on the new facility, which was to be two stories and have 50 beds.

In November 1917, the hospital staff began the move into the new facility.

The visiting nurses got their first car in 1919, after a prominent Norfolk businessman showed his wife $500 he'd won playing cards.

Starting in the 1920's, The King's Daughters joined forces with many local groups including the Kiwanis Club, The Norfolk Ledger-Dispatch (predecessor of The Virginian-Pilot), the Lions Club, the Anti-Tuberculosis League, the Norfolk Health Department, and the Red Cross.

The group raised almost $1 million and broke ground for Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in 1959.

The hospital was dedicated on April 23, 1961 and on May 5, staff admitted the first children to the new, 88-bed hospital.

The King's Daughters and hospital administrator William Selvey soon led the facility to its first major milestone: its 1962 accreditation by the Joint Commission.

To keep children from falling behind in their schoolwork, the hospital school program was created in 1969, with one fulltime teacher provided by the Virginia Department of Education.

In 1972, when premature infants had a very low survival rate, Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters opened the region’s first neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) to help premature and ill babies grow and thrive.

1978: Rinda F. Rains Wing completed.

In 1979, CHKD opened two additional floors.

Our pediatric transport program expanded its services through a second transport van and an in-house chaplaincy program began in 1981; until then those services had been provided by volunteer chaplains.

In 1984, CHKD’s forward-thinking leadership established Children's Health System as the region’s only pediatric health-care system.

1986: Versailles Medical Building opened.

In 1987, CHKD pediatric surgeon Donald Nuss began working on a new surgical procedure to correct the most common chest wall deformity in children.

1992: KDH Rehabilitation Center opened on Madison's hilltop.

1994: KDH Cancer Center opened.

In 1996, five primary care pediatric practices joined Children’s Health System, the beginning of the CHKD Medical Group which now consists of approximately 100 pediatricians in 18 practices from Elizabeth City to Williamsburg.

Ten years later in 1997, Doctor Nuss presented the new Nuss Procedure at an international surgery conference, officially launching his widespread adoption of the minimally-invasive procedure developed at CHKD.

In 1999, CHKD assumed operational and funding responsibilities for the region’s newly established child abuse program, now known as the Child Advocacy Center, which coordinates the efforts of medical, legal and law enforcement agencies on behalf of abused children throughout the region.

Reach Out and Read, a program that fosters literacy, also started at CHKD’s primary care practices in 2001.

In 2003, CHKD established the sports medicine program for young athletes in Hampton Roads.

In 2004, the Auxiliary opened a gift shop in the lobby.

The year 2008 also saw the opening of the 62,000-square-foot CHKD Health and Surgery Center at Concert Drive.

2010: Groundbreaking for the new hilltop campus.

2013: New hospital and hilltop campus opened.

In 2014, CHKD established The King’s Daughters Milk Bank – the first of its kind in Virginia – and began processing donated mothers’ milk for medically fragile infants.

2015: New Cancer Treatment Center opened on main campus.