Jersey City Medical Center - History

History

The hospital began as the "Charity Hospital" but the Board of Aldermen of Jersey City bought land at Baldwin Avenue and Montgomery Street in 1882 for a new hospital. The locale was chosen to remove the hospital from the industrial development at Paulus Hook. This building is now the Medical Center building. It was renamed the Jersey City Hospital in 1885 and had expanded to 200 beds. In 1909, the original hospital building was reserved for men and a second wing was added for women. When Frank Hague became mayor of Jersey City in 1917, he planned to expand the hospital. He had the original building renovated and constructed a new 23-story structure for surgery, known as The Orpheum. The new facility opened in 1931, and George O'Hanlon was the first director. With money from the Works Progress Administration new buildings were added during The Great Depression. The formal dedication of the Medical Center Complex, the B. S. Pollack Hospital, was on October 2, 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating the building. During the 1950s, JCMC was the home of the medical school of Seton Hall University the predecessor to the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry now located in Newark, NJ. The Art Deco buildings of the former JCMC complex are being renovated as The Beacon Jersey City.