Western Pennsylvania Hospital history

Founded in 1866 and originally known as Homeopathic Medical and Surgical Hospital and Dispensary, what is now Shadyside Hospital was once located in downtown Pittsburgh.

In 1887, Kirk LeMoyne, the young son of a Pittsburgh pediatrician, and some friends had an idea to raise $3,000 to endow a cot at The Western Pennsylvania Hospital dedicated to the care of an infant or child.

Presbyterian Hospital was founded by Louise Lyle, the wife of a Presbyterian minister, in 1893 on the North Side.

The community rapidly outgrew that first hospital and a new two-story hospital opened in 1898 on the corner of West Pittsburgh and Spring Streets.

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

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.

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

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

In 1976, the planting of the Physic Garden was the Bicentenial project of the Philadelphia Committee of the Garden Club of America and the Friends of Pennsylvania Hospital.

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.

In 1990, Montefiore became affiliated with the Presbyterian-University Hospital of Pittsburgh and eventually became part of the UPMC system.

In 1997, it merged with UPMC.

If he was able to raise the funds, Franklin proposed, the Assembly had to match the funds with an additional 2000 pounds.

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