History:

A Christmas Eve train wreck in 1899 laid the groundwork for what is today Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center. Following the train wreck the early Pomona Valley residents acknowledged the need for a local hospital and made the commitment toward insuring the well-being of the local community.

Forged out of a partnership with concerned citizens become Pomona's first hospital in 1903, Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center (PVHMC) today continues to lead the way to meet the present and future health care needs of the community which gave it birth.

Initially the Hospital was located in a two-and-a-half story frame house built on Piedmont (now Kingsley) and Garey Avenues. A group of townspeople led by Eliza B. Bradbury (later formally organized as the Pomona Valley Hospital Association), opened the tiny, 12- bed Pomona Valley Hospital but was soon overwhelmed by the medical needs of the area's rapidly growing population. Its existence had already attracted 19 new physicians to the Pomona Valley, generating both a heavy patient load and a demand for more trained nurses. Consequently, in 1905 the fledgling hospital opened its Nurses Training School and in 1912 broke ground for a new 40-bed facility on five lots that would in time contain the central hospital complex.

It was a close call: just days after the groundbreaking, the original frame house Hospital burned down, but all patients were safely removed and placed in temporary quarters nearby. Three years later, the new hospital was opened. Although it would confront many serious obstacles for several years--including losing the nurses' school during the Depression - the Hospital's loyal and generous cadre of community leaders, including the Auxiliary which was founded in 1937, invariably assured its survival.