University of Cincinnati College of Medicine - Annual Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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History of the Hospital Although there are rccunls of at least two previtms ailempis at eslahlish- mcnt of hospitals in fint'hmali, 1he first rme that endured anti hemme a hnspital in fact, as well as in name. was the Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, the direct outgrowth of which is the Cincinnati General Hospital as it stands today. Dr. Daniel Drake, having established the Medical College of Ohio, was many years in advance of his time in the realization of the fact that to endure and become a succeseful Merlieai Cnliege, it was neressary for the faculty to have access to an abundance of ciinical material for ptirpttsEs of undergraduate instruction. He also realized that with the steady increase in the city's popu- lation there was great need for a hospital in which the sick poor might receive proper medical attention. In order to provide for these very apparent needs, he began the difficult task of obtaining legislation providing for the establish- ment of a public hospital. The. project met with mnsiderahle oppusilion, but with the assistance of several loyal friends, notably of Wm. H. Harrison, future Preisdent 0f the United States. who at that time was serving in the General Assembly of Ohio, that body finally enacted a law on January 22, 1821. which provided for the erection of a public hospital in Cincinnati. The plan excited much local opposition due to the fear of increased taxation and it was neressary for some of the faculty of the College and their friends to unite and pledge a bond of indemnity tn the tnwnship, before the law was approved late in the spring of 1821i As a result, a four-acre tract of land was secured at what is now the corner of Twelfth and Ehn Streets and a three story brick building was erected at a total cost of less than eight thousand tltaliars. In 1823 it was Opened for the admission of patients. serving as a general hospital and lunatic asylum besides having LlCCUmmOdiltions for the aged, inhrm, indigent and orphans. In addition it contained a student lecture room and thus from its inception served as a Hteatthing hospital. With an addition erected in 1827. which increased the capacity to one hundred and Fifty beds, it served all these purposes until 1833. when the Cin- cinnati Orphan Asylum was built and the institution's activity as an orphanage cattle to an end. With the establishment of the City Infirmary in 1852, for the care of the aged and indigent, and a separate asylum in .1853, for the insane. the institution became in reality a hospital and it became known as the i'Cnm- mcrcial Hospital of Cincinnati. At this time a campaign for funds for new buildings was successful, but construction was prevented by the beginning of the Civil War. Early in 1865, the overcrowded condition was relieved by the erection of a temporary auncxt but after the war, the need for additional facilities was so great that bonds were issued for the construction of a new hospital and the name of the institution was changed to the Cincinnati Hespitaif! The edifice was completed and equipped in 1869 at an approximate cost of a million dollars. In its day it was considered the most magnificent structure of its kind on the Western mm- Page Thirtyjiw