Lancaster General Hospital began serving the needs of our community in December 1893 in a 3-story brick residence at 322 N. Queen St., Lancaster. Its mission was to deliver the best possible care to anyone in need, regardless of ability to pay. Today, Lancaster General Hospital is a major regional institution.

Its mission, however, remains the same: providing the community with high-quality, low-cost, caring medical service.

Highlights of Lancaster General Hospital's more than 100 years of serving the community include:

• 1896 The hospital relocated to a private mansion at 530-532 North Lime Street
  
• 1897 On January 9, the first baby was born at Lancaster General Hospital - Dorothy Miller.
  
• 1903 Formal nurses' training school is established; first nurse graduates in 1905
  
• 1913 There were 112 recorded births at Lancaster General Hospital; first cesarean section was performed on June 26, 1912
  
• 1916 Lancaster General Hospital starts using its first motorized ambulance
  
• 1918 The flu epidemic hits Lancaster. Hundreds of citizens get the bug and hospitals are filled beyond capacity. The Moose Hall in the 200 block of East King Street is converted to use as an emergency hospital. On October 7, 1918, there were 2,516 reported cases of the flu in a single day.
  
• 1929 Lancaster General Hospital undertakes its last major expansion project before World War II. A $450,000 program paved the way for a new maternity building, a new administration wing and acquisition of another private home for nurses.
  
• 1933 The value of free services provided by hospital in the fiscal year ending May 31, 1933 exceeded $120,000.
  
• 1938 Lancaster General Hospital acquires its first Drinker respirator, also known as an iron lung.
  
• 1943 Lancaster General Hospital marks its 50th anniversary.
  
• 1946 Following the end of the war, there were 1,448 babies born at Lancaster General Hospital. In 1951, that figure doubles.
  
• Early 1950's The Department of Physical Therapy is established.
  
• 1952 A new wing is dedicated that contains 156 new beds, a chapel, new interns' quarters, new library, new kitchen and cafeterias, new administrative areas, new employee lounges, heart clinic and a snack and gift shop. The hospital now has 450 patient beds. The addition, a four-story structure, was located to the rear of the existing structure in the 500 block of North Duke Street.
  
• 1957 The Polio Unit is phased out at Lancaster General Hospital.
  
• 1967 The new student residence for the Lancaster General Hospital School of Nursing is seven-stories and has 117 rooms to house 234 student nurses. It also contains an auditorium, laboratories, classrooms and library.
  
• 1967 Six residential properties were demolished in the 100 block of East James Street to accommodate additional parking facilities. The hospital now has off-street parking for 526 automobiles.
  
• 1970 Family Practice Residency program begins under the direction of Dr. Nikitas Zervanos. The program is now one of the most successful and among the largest in the nation.
  
• 1977 Lancaster General Hospital begins using a technological marvel - the computerized axial tomography machine (CAT scanner) - a new advance in X-ray services.
  
• 1981 Lancaster General Hospital starts its first cardiac catheterization laboratory under the supervision of Dr. Richard H. Mann.
  
• 1983 Dr. Lawrence I. Bonchek performs the county's first open-heart surgery at Lancaster General Hospital. He is head of the Lancaster General Hospital cardiac surgery team.
  
• 1986 Lancaster General Hospital announces creation of Women's Health Pavilion within hospital.
  
• 1987 Lancaster General Hospital's trauma center receives Pennsylvania Trauma Systems Foundation
  Accreditation as a regional trauma center.
  
• 1990-92 Lancaster General Hospital expands its Emergency Medicine/Trauma Department and Food Services Department.
  
• 1990 Laparoscopic gall bladder surgery is performed at Lancaster General Hospital.
  
• 1994 Lancaster General Hospital finishes construction on the Lancaster General Health Campus.
  
• 2000 Lancaster General Hospital opens Women & Babies Hospital adjacent to the Health Campus.