125 Years of Service
In 1887, Los Angeles had a population of approximately 80,000. Although horse-drawn carriages were still the main form of transportation, the city also had cable car systems in place. The area was a major agricultural region, and people arrived in droves for the jobs, available land, and healthy air. This was also the year that Dr. Walter Lindley bought a building and property at 315 West Sixth Street in Los Angeles for $1,825 to open the first California Hospital, which had only six to eight beds located on the third floor.
Eleven years later, Dr. Lindley and 21 other physicians built a new 50-bed hospital at 1414 South Hope Street. Opened in June of 1898, It had four stories, corner towers, and awnings shading the windows, and was the first building in Los Angeles specifically designed for medical purposes.
By the early 1900's, California Hospital was known nationally and internationally as the largest, best-equipped hospital west of Chicago entirely owned and operated by physicians and surgeons. In 1910, the hospital established the first emergency Aviation Hospital in Dominguez Ranch, serviced by a horse-drawn “ambulance.”
In 1926 the hospital constructed a fireproof nine-story, 300-bed brick building at a cost of $1,187,000. The president of the board said, “Work will begin, never to cease so long as there are sick and injured who need our services.” Indeed, further building work has occurred in the ensuing decades to continue meeting the needs of the growing downtown Los Angeles community, including the current expansion of the Trauma and Emergency Services Center.
Now in 2012, California Hospital marks 125 years of serving Los Angeles and looks ahead to continuing its legacy of exceptional, compassionate healthcare. To see more highlights of the hospital's 125 years, please click here.
