The history of Peninsula Hospital

The tunnel that was under El Camino Real allowed the farm animals access to the western thousand acres of the Mills Estate for grazing, avoiding having to cross the highway. Mike ambled over to these men and asked them what they were doing with the equipment they had set up. “Surveying the site for a hospital,” they replied. Mike was shocked. He had not heard of this development. The next year Mike was no longer able to raise his flowers on this section of the Peninsula.

The land was leveled by bulldozers and a four-story concrete community-owned hospital was constructed at 1783 El Camino Real in Burlingame. It opened in March 1954. The need for a new hospital facility had been growing since the explosion of population after World War II ended.

Ever since 1908, Mills Memorial Hospital with its six beds in San Mateo had been the main hospital in the area. A smaller facility was in operation in South San Francisco, and a sort-of makeshift facility existed in San Bruno. The Benito House on San Benito Avenue in San Bruno delivered babies and tended to minor medical needs before it became an orphanage for French orphans from San Francisco.

For more extensive medical needs, an hour-long trip had to be undertaken to get to San Francisco’s well-staffed hospitals. D.O. Mills’ daughter, Elizabeth Mills Reed, donated land for what was then called a nurses’ station on property she owned by the San Mateo House in the early 1900s in San Mateo. That small facility blossomed into a full-fledged hospital, Mills Hospital, that served the entire area.

A county public hospital in Beresford (southern San Mateo) had been built in the 1920s to help people who needed medical attention, but could not afford it. Now, however, both were being overtaxed with the post-World War II influx of people.

The Peninsula Healthcare District was formed and this 26-acre piece of Mills property in Burlingame could help alleviate the needed health services.

At a cost of $4,250,000, this four-story hospital was to have some 150 beds with state-of-the-art facilities, making it a first-class hospital of which the community would be proud. Extra basic facilities were being built into the structure to facilitate future expansion. A staff of 200-plus was needed and was being recruited for the early spring 1954 opening. The average cost of stay in a four-bed ward was to be $17.50 per day. A two-bed room was $18.50 per day and a private room was $25 per day.

In the first four days after opening, 40 patients checked into the hospital and eight emergency operations were performed. A thousand people inspected the hospital the day before the dedication day, which attracted 5,000 more visitors. One of the first babies born at the hospital and the first San Bruno baby to be born here was Michael Steven, son of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Schaukowitch.

At the same time as the main hospital was being built, a smaller one-story building was constructed facing El Camino Real (next to the El Camino Real exit of the hospital) and was to be used for the San Mateo County Blood Bank. Another two-story building to be used for offices was constructed at 1515 Trousdale Drive at the corner of El Camino Real).

In 1960, the four-story hospital was enlarged by adding the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth floors. The total bed capacity was now 374, and the Peninsula Hospital changed its name to Peninsula Hospital and Medical Center.

In 1994, Bill 1953 was passed that mandated stricter safety standards for hospitals in California. A seismic retrofit for Peninsula Hospital was deemed too expensive. Building of the new facility was begun in the early 2000s. The 55-plus year hospital was demolished in 2012.

Rediscovering the Peninsula by Darold Fredricks appears in the Monday edition of the Daily Journal.