Description
The Los Angeles City Receiving Hospital first opened in 1868 to provide emergency care for victims of pestilence, primarily
smallpox. Located in Chavez Ravine, the institution quickly expanded its scope, admitting patients afflicted with other contagious
diseases. After occupying four different locations, the hospital, now known as the Central Receiving Hospital and located
at 6th Street and Loma Drive, closed its doors in 1970 and the building was demolished in 2005 to make way for the Los Angeles
Police Departments $29 million Rampart Station. This small collection consists of five volumes of clinical records from the
Los Angeles City Receiving Hospital. The log books cover the periods November 17, 1903-January 2, 1905 (3 volumes); August
31 to November 24, 1905; and October 23, 1907 to January 3, 1908. Each consists of an alphabetical list of entries, followed
by individual pages for each patient that include physician's name, patient's name, age, marital status, birth location, occupation,
address, date and time admitted, location of accident, where taken, how injured, extent, treatment, and remarks.
Background
The Los Angeles City Receiving Hospital first opened in 1868 to provide emergency care for victims of pestilence, primarily
smallpox. Located in Chavez Ravine, the institution quickly expanded its scope, admitting patients afflicted with other contagious
diseases. By the 1880s, the hospital had moved to its second location, a two-room emergency first aid unit in the back of
the downtown Central Police Station. It was staffed by one police surgeon and treated victims of violent crime. Within the
span of one year, the number of patients seen at the hospital reached over 3500. By 1896, the hospital occupied its third
location, on 1st Street between Broadway and Hill, where it became known as the Central Police Station and Receiving Hospital.
In 1927, the fourth incarnation of the hospital opened on the third floor of the Georgia Street Police Station. By that time,
the Georgia Street Receiving Hospital, as it was then known, was one of about a dozen hospitals across Los Angeles. Georgia
Street was open until 1957, when it was replaced by the state of the art Central Receiving Hospital, located at 6th Street
and Loma Drive. It closed its doors in 1970 and the building was demolished in 2005 to make way for the Los Angeles Police
Departments $29 million Rampart Station.
Restrictions
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.