People: Our Founders

According to the three-volume "History of Union County," edited by F.W. Ricord, which covered the period from 1819-1897, this was the story of the establishment of the Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary:

THE ELIZABETH GENERAL HOSPITAL AND DISPENSARY
The first successful movement toward establishing a hospital in Elizabeth was made in the early part of 1877 by Dr. James S. Green.

Convinced of the necessity of such an institution, he desired to bring the general public to a recognition of the fact, and this he believed could best be done by the establishment of a free dispensary as a preliminary movement. To this end he sought and obtained the co-operation of Drs. Alonzo Pettit, J. Otis Pinneo and Thomas N. McLean, and these four physicians, at their own expense, secured rooms, and on April 17, 1877, opened a "Free Dispensary for the Treatment of Surgical Diseases of the Poor."

In the early part of 1879, the time for further organization seemed to have arrived, and the gentlemen immediately interested in the enterprise, executed, on the 9th of May, 1879, under the general laws of the state of New Jersey, a certificate of the incorporation of the Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary, and filed it in the office of the secretary of state. The following names were attached to this certificate : James S. Green, J. O. Pinneo, N. C. J. English, R. W. Woodward, William T. Day, C. B. Place, I. E. Gates, W. W. Sterns, Thomas N. McLean, Lebbeus B. Miller, C. W. Van Home, Albert B. Hazard, Charles H. Rollinson, J. Augustus Dix, Alonzo Pettit. These gentlemen, by the terms of the certificate, became the first board of managers of the corporation.

In October of the same year the organization of the board was completed by the election of its officers as follows : President, Lebbeus B. Miller ; vice-president, Albert B. Hazard ; treasurer, Charles B. Place ; secretary, W. T. Day. At the same meeting a medical and surgical staff was appointed as follows : Surgeons —Jas. S. Green, M. D., Lewis W. Oakley, M. D., Victor Mravlag, M. D., Alonzo Pettit, M. D. ; physicians —J. Otis Pinneo, M. D., J. S. Crane, M. D., Robert Wescott, M. D., Thomas N. McLean, M. D. In February, 1880, the managers elected a dentist, Louis S. Marsh, D. D. S. In January, 1880, Drs. Green and Pettit and Mr. C. B. Place were appointed a committee to select a location for the hospital, the result being the purchase of the Jaques property, on Jaques street, for three thousand two hundred dollars. This purchase was made on the i6th of April following, and subsequently the building was altered and additional lands purchased.

In January 1880 the physicians in charge of the Free Dispensary for the Treatment of Surgical Diseases of the Poor, transferred the same to the managers of the hospital.

On the 6th of February the Emergency Hospital, an enterprise that had been started a short time before, under the care of a number of ladies, was tendered, with all its appliances, to the board of managers of the hospital, and was accepted. On the 26th of May, 1880, the first annual meeting of the association was held, and fifteen managers were elected. The Jaques-street building was opened for patients October 11, 1880.

Through the efforts of Mrs. Eliza G. Halsey, the "Daisy Bed" fund was inaugurated, which has been of much assistance in the work, as many as ninety-one children having been cared for in one year in the Daisy Bed ward. In January, 1881, the Ladies' Aid Society of the Elizabeth General Hospital and Dispensary was organized, at once began co-operation with the board of managers, and has rendered most substantial aid in many directions. Through its efforts the Training School for Nurses was organized, in 1892.

Soon after the opening of the Jaques-street hospital it was found necessary to have more room for patients, and a surgical pavilion was added, which gave temporary relief. Later on, a further increase of room became an urgent necessity, and early in 1888 the board of managers, after careful investigation, decided to put up a new building, which should embody the most improved plans and arrangements for hospital purposes.

In carrying out this decision a new site, on the northeast corner of East Jersey and Reid streets, was purchased and the present hospital buildings were erected thereon, the expenditure for grounds and buildings being about ninety thousand dollars, the larger part of which was secured through the active personal efforts of Mayor John C. Rankin. Three of these subscriptions aggregated eight thousand dollars and there were twenty-eight of one thousand dollars each. On May 2, 1894, the building on Jaques street was abandoned as a hospital, and the work inaugurated in the new quarters.

*The Blake Memorial, for women, was a gift by Mrs. Frederick M. Blake, as a memorial of her father and mother, the late William and Augusta Zschwetzke. The building was completed and formally opened on the evening of April 28, 1894. The Cribside Association, inaugurated by Mrs. Blake for the purpose of furnishing supplies of garments, linen and bedding to the Blake Memorial, has not only succeeded in doing this, but has also contributed two thousand dollars toward its endowment.

The total number of patients treated in the hospital in 1896 was : Surgical ward, 384 ; medical ward, 328 ; maternity ward, 55 ; emergency cases —surgical, 200 ; medical, 25. This renders a total of nine hundred and twenty-two cases treated in the hospital, while the same year records dispensary visits to the number of two thousand three hundred and twenty-eight. The present officers are : President, Lebbeus B. Miller ; vice-president, Charles H. K. Halsey ; secretary, William T. Day; treasurer, Patrick J. Ryan. The present board of managers comprises : William W. Ackerman, James H. Alexander, Francis J. Blatz, Frank H. Davis, William T. Day, Charles H. K. Halsey, Lebbeus B. Miller, Charles H. Moore, Jacob H. Olhausen, Calvin B. Orcutt, William H. Rankin, Patrick J. Ryan, Elias D. Smith, Charles Townsend, R. W. Woodward.

The present staff are : Surgeons —Alonzo Pettit, M. D., Victor Mravlag, M. D., James S. Green, M. D., Edgar B. Grier, M. D.; physicians—Thomas N. McLean, M. D., William A. M. Mack, M. D., Norton L,. Wilson, M. D. ; superintendent of the hospital, Louis R. Curtis. Mr. Lebbeus B. Miller has been president of the hospital from its organization, with the exception of the years 1891 to 1894, inclusive, during which time J. Augustus Dix, one of the founders and liberal patrons of the hospital, occupied the position. The secretaryship has been in the hands of William T. Day from the year 1879, with the exception of two or three years, when he served in the capacity of financial secretary, during which time Mr. R. W. Woodward held the office of secretary.

**The capacity of the present hospital is one hundred and five beds. In addition to the general wards, it has the Daisy Bed ward for children, an isolated pavilion for diphtheria cases, and the Blake Memorial pavilion for women. There are ten rooms for private patients in the main hospital and four in the Blake, the latter for gynecological and maternity patients. The charge for private rooms is fifteen dollars per week, which includes board, medicines, ordinary surgical appliances and the services of the house staff and the regular nurse. There are three surgical operating rooms, and the equipment for surgical work will compare favorably with the best hospitals.

There is also a training school for nurses connected with the hospital, from which nurses for private families are supplied.

This information was last reviewed or updated on January 1, 2025. Adjustments may be made to this page as new information is added, making this a continual work in progress.