St. John's Riverside Hospital history

Beginning in 1893 when, thanks to the effort and monetary support of Anne Langdon, the first Hospital at Dobbs Ferry was built.

In 1894, William and Eva Cochran donated buildings on Ashburton Avenue, from Palisade Avenue to North Broadway and further increased the capacity to 100 beds.

In 1896 the Cochran School graduated its first class.

That is the main reason why, during an era of chronic nursing shortages, St John’s can fill its nursing positions. It was a revolutionary advancement in first aid when St John’s introduced Westchester’s first motorized ambulance in 1918.

Those many years of planning came to fruition in 1984 when financing was approved for the construction of a new $15 million state-of-the-art Community Hospital at Dobbs Ferry.

Construction was completed in early 1987, and the new Community Hospital officially opened its doors in June of that year.

Today, the hospital contains a total of 407 beds, maintains a staff of 300 physicians, and is accredited by the New York State Department of Health and the Joint Commission. It acquired a second location, the ParkCare Pavilion, after merging with Yonkers General Hospital in 2001, which today is an outpatient center.

In late, 2006, Community Hospital at Dobbs Ferry was named on the Berger Commission’s Closure List (New York State). After a huge public outcry and eighteen months of battling the order, Community Hospital was saved.