Newton-Wellesley Hospital

Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Partners HealthCare
Newton-Wellesley Hospital
Geography
Location	2014 Washington St., Newton, Massachusetts, United States
Coordinates	42°19′58.26″N 71°14′46.33″W / 42.3328500°N 71.2462028°W / 42.3328500; -71.2462028Coordinates: 42°19′58.26″N 71°14′46.33″W / 42.3328500°N 71.2462028°W / 42.3328500; -71.2462028
Organization
Hospital type	Nonprofit, Community Teaching
Affiliated university	Tufts University School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Services
Emergency department	Level II trauma center
Beds	313
History
Founded	1881
Links
Website	http://www.nwh.org/
Lists	Hospitals in Massachusetts

Newton Cottage Hospital Historic District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. Historic district
One of the hospital's historic buildings
Location	2014 Washington St., Newton, Massachusetts
Built	1894
Architect	Hartwell & Richardson; Et al.
Architectural style	Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, Georgian Revival
MPS	Newton MRA
NRHP Reference #	90000108
Added to NRHP	February 21, 1990

90000108

Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its campus is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Newton Cottage Hospital Historic District.

It is a member of Partners HealthCare, a network founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The Hospital offers a range of medical, surgical and specialty care, including maternity services, a 24-hour emergency department and orthopedic, critical care and oncology inpatient units.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital, originally called Newton Cottage Hospital, was incorporated in 1881. The idea for the hospital began when a local reverend, George W. Shinn, encouraged the mayor of Newton, Royal M. Pulsifer, to provide health care services for sick members of the community. Nine acres were purchased for the building. The hospital opened its doors on June 5, 1886 and admitted its first patient a week later. As a cottage hospital, Newton-Wellesley was built to serve the local population. It consisted of a complex of buildings, radiating from a central administrative building. Patients were cared for in windowed ward rooms, one story high.

A School of Nursing was established at the hospital in 1888. The first baby was born there in 1890 (by 1965, 50,000 babies had been delivered, including the hospital's first in-vitro baby). Newton-Wellesley acquired its first X-ray machine in 1902, and an electrocardiograph in 1933. In 1910, the outpatient department was opened at the hospital. Most outpatient departments at the time consisted of a doctor and a nurse. But Newton-Wellesley offered a variety of services, each attended by a specialist. The department had an orthopedic service, one of only two in the Boston community. A complex of eleven modestly-scaled buildings (compared to modern hospital facilities), most constructed between 1894 and 1908, were the subject of the 1990 "Newton Cottage Hospital" listing on the National Register of Historic Places. Several of the listed buildings have since been demolished.