Boston Children’s Hospital: its founding in 1869 and the organization of care and teaching

Boston Children’s Hospital emerged during the nineteenth-century development of hospitals dedicated to children. Francis Henry Brown, who had served as a surgeon in the American Civil War, visited Europe in 1867 and observed specialized pediatric hospitals. He hoped to bring such care to Boston. The hospital that opened in 1869 began with twenty beds in a small townhouse.

Preparations preceded its opening. A medical education book published in 1916 records a meeting at Brown’s home on December 9, 1868. Brown was joined by the Reverend Chandler Robbins, George Kuhn, J. Huntington Wolcott, and physicians William Ingalls and S. G. Webber to discuss premises and funding. Physicians, religious figures, and civic donors formed the network behind the undertaking.

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On February 26, 1869, Massachusetts approved Chapter 44, incorporating Chandler Robbins, George H. Kuhn, Nathaniel H. Emmons, and their associates and successors as the Children’s Hospital. Its purpose was to establish and maintain a Boston hospital for sick or injured children. The act subjected the corporation to applicable general laws and allowed it to hold up to $150,000 in real and personal property. On March 22, the corporators accepted the charter and proceeded to organize the hospital.

Parkins’s 1916 account lists four early aims: medical and surgical treatment of childhood diseases; acquiring and disseminating knowledge of those diseases; voluntary nursing by experienced women; and training young women as nurses. Voluntary nursing also included the moral and religious instruction valued at the time. Medical relief and the transmission of knowledge were therefore part of the same institution’s original purpose.

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The managers purchased 9 Rutland Street in the South End and appointed Adeline Tyler to oversee the hospital’s internal arrangements. She remained until 1872, after which members of the Episcopal Sisters of St. Margaret continued its management. Early care depended both on visiting physicians and on women administrators who maintained daily routines and nursing services.

The Rutland Street house soon became too small. The hospital subsequently moved to 1429 Washington Street and opened its Huntington Avenue building in 1882. More space allowed wards and clinical work to be arranged specifically for children. In 1915 it moved again to Longwood Avenue, where wards behind the main building were designed to provide sunlight and fresh air, continuing the attention to surroundings as part of care.

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During the hospital’s founding period, Mrs. Robert C. Winthrop and Mrs. Chandler Robbins helped organize the Ladies’ Aid Association to supply linen, bedding, dressings, and other necessities. Brown’s 1895 history records a report on this arrangement at a preparatory meeting in 1869. Such work converted charitable support into materials that the wards could use directly.

In 1874 the association rented a cottage in Wellesley Hills with room for fifteen children and established a convalescent home. Its facilities later expanded. The 1916 account describes patients traveling from the city each week in a special electric car, eating together, spending time outdoors, and receiving daily instruction from a kindergarten teacher. Wheelchairs enabled children unable to walk to go outside, while trained nurses and assistants continued their care. Recovery thus included a return to everyday life and learning.

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By the time Parkins wrote, the hospital offered teaching in medicine, surgery, orthopedics, and several specialties. Harvard Medical School professors served on its active and consulting staffs. Pediatric courses included clinical instruction once or more each week, and advanced medical students acted as clinical assistants in wards and outpatient departments. Teaching grew out of continuing contact with patients and participation in hospital work.

The hospital also had a workshop producing orthopedic appliances and incorporated specialist experience into its instruction. Its growth from a townhouse hospital to a clinical institution closely associated with a medical school depended on cooperation among physicians, nursing staff, aid organizations, and donors. Its dedicated service to children took practical form in ward environments, supplies, convalescent care, and student training.

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