Brigham and Women's Hospital

Brigham and Women's Hospital is an aggregate of several hospitals: Boston Lying-in Hospital, Free Hospital for Women, Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, and the Robert B. Brigham Hospital. In 1832, the Boston-Lying In Hospital, one of the nation's first maternity hospitals, opened its doors to women unable to afford in-home medical care. In 1875, the Free Hospital for Women was founded "for poor women affected with diseases peculiar to their sex or in need of surgical aid." The Peter Bent Brigham Hospital was established in 1911 "for the care of sick persons in indigent circumstances." The Robert B. Brigham Hospital, opened in 1914 to serve patients with arthritis and other debilitating joint diseases. In 1966, the Boston Lying-In Hospital and the Free Hospital for Women formally combined missions and operations resulting in the incarnation known as the Boston Free Hospital for Women. In 1975, it merged with the Peter Bent Brigham and the Robert B. Brigham Hospitals forming the Affiliated Hospitals Center. In 1980, at the time of the opening of a new state-of-the-art facility, the Affiliated Hospitals became known as the Brigham and Women's Hospital, a teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School.