ON THIS DAY: Jan. 19, 1911, Magee Hospital opened

On Jan. 19, 1911, a women’s hospital was opened on the family estate of Sen. Christopher Lyman Magee. Horse-drawn ambulances brought the first 14 women and their infants to the make-shift facility at the corner of Forbes Ave and Halket Street, which had previously been known as “The Maples.”

Magee, born in 1848, was educated at the Western University of Pennsylvania (which later became Pitt). He worked in the city treasurer’s office and as a 22-year-old, won the primary election for that position, according to his biography on the Pennsylvania Senate website. Magee lost the general election, but continued working in the treasurer’s office and earned a reputation for cutting costs.

Magee’s success caught the attention of other politicians and he rose in power, eventually running the Republican Party machine that controlled Pittsburgh for the two decades before the turn of the century.

Along the way, Magee married Eleanor Louise Gillespie in 1878, and the couple built themselves a new home in Oakland, which they named “The Maples.”

Elected to the state Senate, Magee would serve two terms and make a fortune in the street car industry. Magee’s prominence led to numerous seats on boards and nonprofit institutions.

It was Magee’s donation of $125,000 in 1895 that established the Pittsburgh Zoo.

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Magee died in office and was buried at Allegheny Cemetery in 1901, where an obelisk marks his final resting place. His will stipulated that, following his wife’s death, his estate should be used to build and endow a hospital. It was to be named Elizabeth Steel Magee Hospital for his mother.

Eleanor Louise Magee lived on until 1909.

Upon the passing of Eleanor Magee, The Maples’ conversion into a hospital started.

When it opened in 1911, its mission, as described by Magee, was to “be open to the sick and injured of all classes without respect to their religion, creed, color, or previous condition ... I especially desire the admission to this hospital of all females who may apply for admission thereto for lying-in purposes and as to all such I direct that they be admitted without any question asked as to their lives or names."

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Since 1911, more than half a million babies have been born at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital and more than 200,000 patients are seen there every year.

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OTD: Jan 19 - Magee Hospital opens OTD: Jan 19 - Magee Hospital opens

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