Jersey City Medical Center

Jersey City Medical Center
RWJBarnabas Health
The Center as seen from Jersey Avenue
Geography
Location	355 Grand Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey
Organisation
Hospital type	General
Services
Emergency department	Level II Trauma Center
History
Founded	1882
Links
Website	www.barnabashealth.org/Jersey-City-Medical-Center.aspx

The Jersey City Medical Center is a hospital in Jersey City, New Jersey. The hospital has had different facilities in the city. It is currently located on a 15-acre campus at Grand Street and Jersey Avenue overlooking New York Harbor and Liberty State Park. The Campus presently includes three facilities, the Wilzig Hospital, the Provident Bank Ambulatory Center, and the Christie Kerr Women's Health Center. The hospital serves as a regional referral, teaching hospital.

Jersey City Medical Center is a teaching affiliate and a member of Americas Essential Hospitals.

The hospital began as the "Charity Hospital" but the Board of Aldermen of Jersey City bought land at Baldwin Avenue and Montgomery Street in 1882 for a new hospital. The locale was chosen to remove the hospital from the industrial development at Paulus Hook. This building is now the Medical Center building. It was renamed the Jersey City Hospital in 1885 and had expanded to 200 beds. In 1909, the original hospital building was reserved for men and a second wing was added for women. When Frank Hague became mayor of Jersey City in 1917, he planned to expand the hospital. He had the original building renovated and constructed a new 23-story structure for surgery, known as The Orpheum. The new facility opened in 1931, and George O'Hanlon was the first director. With money from the Works Progress Administration new buildings were added during The Great Depression. The formal dedication of the Medical Center Complex, the B. S. Pollack Hospital, was on October 2, 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating the building.

In addition to the surgery building and the maternity hospital, the campus included the nurses' residence (Murdoch Hall), hospital for chest diseases (Pollock), a psychiatric hospital, and an outpatient clinic. The Medical Center's services were free. The formal dedication of the Jersey City Medical Center Complex was on October 2, 1936, with Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicating the building. During the 1950s, JCMC was the home of the medical school of Seton Hall University the predecessor to the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry now located in Newark, NJ. The Art Deco buildings of the former JCMC complex are being renovated as The Beacon Jersey City.