Mount Sinai Hospital

1/5/2026

On January 15, 1852, nine men representing Jewish charitable organizations came together with a shared goal: to provide free medical care for needy Jews in New York City. At the time, most hospitals discriminated against Jewish patients and physicians alike, often refusing treatment or barring Jewish doctors from staff positions. Their vision became reality in 1855 with the opening of the Jews’ Hospital in New York, a 45-bed facility on West 28th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, then a rural area, now the site of the Ritz Plaza. It was only the second Jewish hospital in the United States, following one established in Cincinnati in 1847.

Though founded as a sectarian institution, the Jews’ Hospital treated emergency patients regardless of religion and expanded its services during the Civil War to care for Union soldiers. In 1866, reflecting its broader mission and to secure public funding, the hospital formally abandoned its sectarian charter and was renamed The Mount Sinai Hospital. As New York’s Jewish population moved north, the hospital moved with it, first to 66th Street in 1872 and later to 100th Street in 1904.

More than 160 years later, Mount Sinai is one of the nation’s oldest and largest teaching hospitals. Its maternity program is among the busiest in New York State, with more than 7,000 deliveries each year. From modest beginnings, Mount Sinai has grown into a major academic medical center while remaining rooted in its founding commitment to care, access, and community.

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