UPMC history

The first Westmoreland Hospital opened in 1896 and was nothing larger than a home, but it was a godsend to the residents in the area many of them who were coal miners and had a high risk of injury.

Sewickley Valley Hospital opened in 1907 and was a true community hospital as residents of Sewickley donated land for it and raised the funds to construct it.

Montefiore Hospital was founded by the Hebrew Ladies Hospital Aid Society in 1908 to serve the health concerns of the city’s Jewish community.

The hospital began in 1911 in a home at the corner of Forbes Avenue and Halkett Street.

With the growing Pittsburgh population, West Penn needed to expand as well and moved to a new facility in Bloomfield in 1912.

The hospital was closed in 1918 during the influenza epidemic and leased to care for stricken soldiers.

A public fund-raising campaign was held in 1924, and $1.6 million was raised toward the $1,850,000 cost of the new hospital.

In 1936, a 22-story hospital opened on the site, making it one of the first skyscraper hospitals in the nation.

The new hospital opened in 1938 with the objective of providing health care, conducting research, and providing education.

In 1944, Doctor Albert Haines recognized that the South Hills needed its own hospital and worked for 10 years within the community to build one.

A new hospital opened in 1949 on Heckel Road.

The new hospital opened in February 1954 and was named for American Patriot Major General Arthur St Clair, who in addition to fighting for our independence, was also a student of medicine and an early Pittsburgh resident.

Passavant, opened in McCandless Township in 1964 to serve the growing suburban population in the North Hills.

West Penn continued to expand and pioneer care; its well-respected Burn Unit opened in 1970.

Forbes Hospital was formed in 1972 when Pittsburgh Hospital in East Liberty and Columbia Hospital in Wilkinsburg merged with a private clinic East Suburban General Hospital in Monroeville and built a new hospital on Haymaker Road in Monroeville.

In 1973, the two hospitals formed South Hills Health System and eventually changed its name to Jefferson Regional Medical Center.

The new hospital opened in 1978 and was named Forbes Hospital because all the preceding hospitals were located along the old Forbes Road, the historic military path Brigadier General John Forbes built in 1758.

The Department flourished under the leadership of Doctor Kupfer who became Chair of the Department in 1983 when Doctor Detre moved to the position of Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences.

Beginning in 1986, members of the University Health Center including Presbyterian University Hospital, Falk Clinic, the Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Eye & Ear Hospital began to consolidate.

1990, the name “University of Pittsburgh Medical Center,” or UPMC, was adopted.

UPMC then began to form a network of affiliated specialty and community hospitals in 1994 termed the Tri-State Health System and established a for-profit health insurance division, UPMC Health Plan, which contracted with these hospitals.

In 1996, UPMC had moved to acquire South Side, Aliquippa and Braddock hospitals.

1997, recognizing the efficiencies possible from complementing its provider network with a health insurance product, UPMC started its Insurance Services Division.

Mercy Hospital was Pittsburgh’s first hospital. It became UPMC Mercy in 2008 and is the only remaining Catholic hospital in the area.

After 26 years of leading the Department to unprecedented excellence, Doctor Kupfer stepped down in 2009, handing over the reins to another innovative leader, David A. Lewis, MD, whom Doctor Kupfer had recruited to the Department faculty and mentored for many years.

In 2013, it became part of Allegheny Health Network.

In December 2016, WCA Hospital of Jamestown, New York became the first domestic hospital outside of Pennsylvania in the UPMC system.

In September 2017, Pinnacle Health, a seven hospital system in South Central Pennsylvania, merged with UPMC and concurrently merged with Hanover Hospital.

Cole Memorial hospital partnered with UPMC Susquehanna and merged with the UPMC system in March, 2018.

Somerset Hospital, located in Somerset, Pennsylvania, merged with UPMC on February 1, 2019.