Northern Maine Medical Center history

In 1951, Maine General Hospital, the Maine Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Children’s Hospital merge to become Maine Medical Center.

On September 21, 1952, Peoples Benevolent Hospital opened its doors.

Then, in 1975, Peoples Benevolent Hospital became a public community hospital and changed its name to Northern Maine Medical Center.

Completion of the L.L. Bean Building in 1985 provides expansion space for the Hatch Pavilion, a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, operating suites, and specialty departments.

In 1991, the Maine Medical Center Research Institute is established to support the bench research that has been conducted at Maine Medical Center for decades.

The Gibson pavilion for cancer patients and the inpatient unit of The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital are added to the Bean Building in 1998.

In 1999 Northern Cumberland Memorial Hospital and Rumford Community Hospital merged with Central Maine Healthcare, CMMC’s parent company.

In December 2001, Bridgton Hospital dedicated an entirely new state-of-the-art facility.

CMMC’s longtime effort to establish itself as a major medical center offering a comprehensive array of the highest level healthcare services began to take a more tangible form when the hospital opened the Central Maine Heart and Vascular Institute in the spring of 2003.

Construction for the vertical expansion on top of the medical center’s lower Bean Building near the Emergency Department began in February 2014.