Cook County Hospital

Cook County Hospital traces its origins to 1835 when the Cook County Board of Commissioners decided to build a Poor House.  The next important milestone was in 1864 when Chicago Medical Society recommended and Dr. George Amerman, the father of Cook County Hospital, pushed for its establishment. In 1874, the Commissioners purchased land between Harrison, Wood, Polk and Lincoln Streets and in 1875 a new hospital was built.  

By 1910, overcrowding and the need for repairs the Board realized the need for a new hospital. 

In 1914, the current main building begins its operation as a 656-bed hospital and is located south of the historic Route 66 on 1835 Harrison Street.  The main building is an excellent example of the Beaux art architecture so characteristic of Chicago.  

From the 1920s to 1960s, CCH was the world’s largest medical institution and was nicknamed “ Chicago’s Statue of Liberty” as it served the many newly arrived poor immigrants.   I became the Chairman of the Department of Radiology at Cook County Hospital in 1986.  I moved to “County,” as it was affectionately known at the time, because of my belief that the indigent patients of the city deserved care as good as that received by the population at large. I wanted to help make a difference. Between the time it was built and the time it ceased to function, the County trained more physicians than any other hospital in the country and developed units of excellence in the fields of Trauma and Burn Care, among others.   During my 6 years at County, I also served as the Chairman of the Chicago Medical School.  I stayed there until 1992, at which time I left for the Ohio State University.

The grand old hospital “The County” was replaced by the new state-of-art John Stroger Jr. 465-bed hospital.  The hospital’s mission remains the same to provide excellent care to the indigents of the city of Chicago and the County of Cook.