Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital - History

History

Funding for a hospital began after the 1908 death of Moses H. Cone, a North Carolina magnate who founded the Cone Mills textile company. In 1911, Bertha Cone, the widow of Moses, established a trust fund that would establish a hospital to serve Greensboro and memorialize her late husband. The trust fund stated that "No patient should be refused admittance because of inability to pay.". After Bertha Cone's death in 1947, her inheritance went to the trust fund that would eventually established the hospital. Construction began in 1949 and the facility opened on February 20, 1953.

In the late 1970s, a dispute over payments after the completion of a new wing eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court. By a 6-3 margin, the justices required the hospital to arbitrate with its contractor. The case, Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Constr. Corp., set some precedents in civil procedure, clarifying the circumstances under which a federal court can decline jurisdiction when there is a similar case in state court and when a stay may be appealed as a final judgement.

Moses Cone Hospital is the largest hospital in its four county region (Alamance, Guilford, Randolph, and Rockingham counties). The hospital is a designated Level II Trauma Center. In 2009, it sought permission from the state to expand the emergency department, construction of a north patient tower, and construct a new entrance on Church Street.