Our History
Timeline
St. Louis Children’s Hospital opened in 1879 in downtown St. Louis. St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the first children’s hospital west of the Mississippi River and the seventh oldest in the country, celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2004. Founded in 1879 by a group of eight pioneering women, the hospital opened in a small, rented house with 15 beds. Today, St. Louis Children’s Hospital’s clinical and community outreach programs touch more than 250,000 patients annually.