When it opened in 1826 as the General Hospital Society of Connecticut, Yale New Haven was the first hospital in Connecticut and the fourth voluntary hospital in the nation.
The first hospital building was opened in 1833 on seven-and-a-half acres of land between Cedar Street and Howard Avenue, and Davenport and Congress Avenues. The original 13-bed hospital, called the State Hospital, was designed by prominent New Haven architect Ithiel Town and cost $13,000.
Since it opened in 1826, the hospital was affiliated with the Medical Institution of Yale College, which had been founded in 1810. In 1884, the hospital's name was changed to New Haven Hospital. In 1917, the Yale School of Medicine and New Haven Hospital signed their first formal affiliation agreement, which marked the beginning of the modern medical center. In 1945, an affiliation with nearby Grace Hospital led to a name change: Grace-New Haven Hospital. In 1965, a more formal agreement with Yale officially created Yale New Haven Hospital.
Founded as a charitable institution for the care of the poor, the role of the hospital soon expanded to include care for the entire community. In its early days, sailors from New Haven's busy seaport came to the hospital for care. During the Civil War, more than 25,000 U.S. Army soldiers were brought to the hospital, which temporarily changed its name to the Knight U.S. Army General Hospital. In subsequent wars, Yale New Haven was on alert as a designated military hospital.
Today, YNHH is a 1,541-bed private, nonprofit teaching hospital that ranks among the premier medical centers in the nation. YNHH is included among the Best Hospitals in the U.S. in the annual U.S.News & World Report ranking. With two main campuses, Yale New Haven is the largest acute care provider in southern Connecticut and one of the Northeast's major referral centers.
The inpatient buildings of Yale New Haven Hospital are four pavilions around a central atrium. Of these, the East Pavilion opened in 1953, followed by the South Pavilion in 1982; Yale New Haven Children's Hospital (West Pavilion) in 1993; and Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven in 2009. Yale New Haven Hospital also includes the Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital (formerly Yale Psychiatric Institute) and an ambulatory services division, with several satellite facilities including Temple Medical Center and the Shoreline Medical Center in Guilford.
On September 12, 2012, Yale New Haven Hospital acquired the assets of the Hospital of Saint Raphael, located on Chapel Street in New Haven and now named Yale New Haven Hospital Saint Raphael Campus. The integration allows YNHH to provide the region with more coordinated care, to reduce redundancy of clinical services and financial investments and to become more efficient. It also gives YNHH 511 much-needed beds and provides financial stability for the Saint Raphael Campus.
