More Than a Century of Caring ...

1904

In response to an overwhelming need in the community, the women of the Methodist Church opened Colorado Conference Deaconess Hospital and Nurses Training School on Institute Street. One student nurse and a superintendent nurse staffed the hospital, which had a capacity for 30 beds but opened with eight (including one designated pediatric bed).

1907 - 1911

General William Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, donated land for a hospital at the present site of Memorial Hospital Central on East Boulder Street. Construction was completed in 1911, and the hospital was renamed Beth-El.

1912

A Crippled Children's Ward and Pavilion, jointly staffed by Beth-El Hospital and the Visiting Nurse Association, opened for children with special needs, establishing a commitment to caring for children that would continue throughout the next century.

1918

An observation hospital, staffed by Beth-El, opened to treat contagious diseases and was funded and constructed by the City of Colorado Springs and El Paso County. This community extension of the hospital was instrumental in treating local patients suffering from the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed more than 20 million people, including 675,000 Americans.

1925 - 1926

Beth-El Hospital opened the four-story National Methodist Sanitarium for the treatment of tuberculosis patients. The state-of -the-art facility was located on 29 acres east of the hospital (now the United States Olympic Training Center), and attracted patients from across the United States.

1937

Daniels Hall, built with a gift from Mr. and Mrs. C.W. Daniels, expanded the treatment and care of crippled children.

1943

Colorado Springs City Council voted to purchase Beth-El Hospital for $76,500 and re-named it Memorial Hospital, in honor of the men and women of Colorado Springs who lost their lives in World War II. The hospital and sanitarium, staffed by 145 employees, had a total of 177 beds and 17 bassinets.

1946 - 1949

Voters approved city operation of the hospital, creating a citizen's board of trustees. They also approved a three-story hospital addition, referred to as the Sunshine Wing.

1956

City Council approved $600,000 in revenue bonds to make improvements and add 60 beds to Memorial Hospital.

1965 - 1967

The Junior League of Colorado Springs established the Memorial Hospital Auxiliary to help provide service to Memorial and its patients. In 1967, a junior volunteer program began.

1973

In response to population growth and the needs of the community, voters approved a $15 million bond issue to rapidly expand services, as well as funds for a parking garage and the construction of a seven-floor patient tower, which expanded the number of beds to 315.

1974 - 1979

New services were added, including a Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery and a 24/7 Emergency and Trauma Center. The north patient tower opened and housed the state's only Pediatric Intensive Care Unit outside of Denver. Memorial's survival rates for babies born between one and two pounds soared by 200 percent over the next few years.

1981 - 1984

Memorial launched its open heart surgery program. High-tech transportation services began for critically ill and injured newborns, children and pregnant women in premature labor. Memorial received Level III designation for the highest level of nursery care available in a non-teaching hospital. At the beginning of the 1980s, Memorial employed 873 people and realized a net operating revenue of approximately $21 million.

1987 - 1988

Memorial received Level II trauma designation for the Emergency and Trauma Center and opened the Family Birth Center.

1992 - 1997

In 1992, the Memorial Cancer Center opened to expand the hospital's cancer services. Construction of a second seven-story tower was completed in 1997. The new patient wing opened with additional surgery suites and expanded space in laboratory, radiology and cardiology departments. The Rehabilitation Patient Care unit opened, and the Intensive Care Unit moved to its expanded space in the new tower.

2000

Memorial opened Printers Park Medical Plaza and Surgery Center, featuring outpatient surgery, radiology, rehabilitation and occupational medicine, laboratory services and physician offices.

2003

Memorial Hospital was named as one of the Top 100 cardiac hospitals in the nation and announces plans for a Children's Hospital. The Briargate Medical Campus opened to serve the city's fast-growing northeast suburbs. A new parking facility opened on the main Boulder campus.

2004

Memorial received national designation for a children’s hospital by the National Accreditation of Children’s Hospitals and Related Institutions (NACHRI). Named Colorado Springs Children’s Hospital at Memorial Hospital, this dedicated children’s care center reflected Memorial’s deepened commitment to enhancing the health and well being of our community’s children, as well as ensuring they have easy access to the specialized care they need.

2006

Memorial Hospital became Memorial Health System with its significantly expanded geographical presence throughout the community. Additionally, Memorial Health System established a partnership with The Children’s Hospital (in Denver) to jointly manage southern Colorado’s only children’s hospital, now called Memorial Hospital for Children in partnership with The Children’s Hospital.

2007

2007 was a huge year for Memorial and the Colorado Springs community. In January, Memorial Health System opened a new emergency department on its Central campus. With the busiest emergency department in the state and one of the busiest in the nation, Memorial Hospital Central more than doubled the size of the previous emergency department with five separate, specialized care units—pediatrics, trauma/cardiac, behavioral/substance abuse and two general emergency. Housed in Memorial Hospital Central’s new east tower, the new emergency department features a separate area for children to be treated, private rooms and secure access.

In April, Memorial opened the community’s first new hospital in decades and the first hospital in northern Colorado Springs—Memorial Hospital North. Late in the year, Memorial Hospital Central opened its new East Tower. This became the centralized and expanded home for Memorial Hospital for Children, as well as women’s services, the birth center and physician practices.

2008

During first quarter, the second building on the Memorial Hospital North campus opened: Medical Office Building One. This office building is home to numerous physician offices and will soon open an ambulatory surgery center. It’s conveniently located just steps away from Memorial Hospital North and in the heart of the Briargate community.