1876
Great train disaster
enforces need for
community hospital
1983
Ashtabula General
Hospital officially
changes
its name to
Ashtabula
County
Medical Center
1994
ACMC partners with
the Cleveland Clinic
foundation to bring
anesthesia and pain
management services to
the county; ACMC acquires
Glenbeigh Hospital
1995
ACMC and The
Ashtabula Clinic merge;
ACMC receives the
Best of the County
Award from the
Growth Partnership of
Ashtabula County
1998
ACMC becomes an
affiliate member of
the Cleveland Clinic
Health System
2003
Joint replacement center and
behavioral medicine unit
open; outpatient physical,
occupational and speech
therapy services relocated to
ACMC campus
1882
Ladies Railroad
Auxiliary formed
to care for patients
in the temporary
hospital
1892
Ladies Hospital
League undertakes
effort to establish a
proper hospital
1902
Ashtabula General
Hospital Association
is organized
1904
Ashtabula
General
Hospital opens
on June 30; the first
patient is seen just after
midnight
1907
First class of nurses
graduates from the
nursing school
1870
1900
HELLO
MY NAME IS
1980
2000
OUR HISTORY BEGAN
because the community saw a lack
of medical care when it was needed
most. I see those roots as key to the
future of Ashtabula County Medical
Center (ACMC) as well.
Just as in those early years, we have
experienced phenomenal growth in a
short period of time. It is growth that—
like the vision of those who founded the
hospital—brings the best healthcare
services and best physicians right here
to our hometown.
Hospitals exist to improve their
communities. Our story began out of
the tragedy known as the Ashtabula
Train Disaster of 1876. Community
members decided that a calamity of
that magnitude did not have to happen
here again. They combined resources,
manpower and expertise to start the
first hospital in Ashtabula. In 1882, a
small emergency hospital opened to
care for injured railroad workers.
Work immediately began to raise
funds for a permanent facility. On
June 20, 1904, Ashtabula General
Hospital opened its doors, at a cost to
build of $14,500. That amount today
would be more like $2.5 million.
To be honest, with the skyrocketing
cost of construction and equipment,
even $2.5 million won’t get you very
much these days—a few patient rooms
and exam rooms. Those early hospital
founders rallied the community to
furnish equipment and amenities for
four wards, six private rooms, two
operating rooms, administrative
offices, a kitchen, a boiler room, a
laundry room and
more. That is an
impressive campaign.
Meeting the
challenge
Throughout those
early years, the
Ashtabula community
was called upon
regularly to raise funds
for the newest equipment of the day.
Thanks to that support, the hospital
also added a nursing school and a new
patient wing.
That support was put to the test
during the Great Depression, when the
hospital doors were almost closed for
good. The electric plant from which
the hospital received its steam for
ACMC celebrates 110 years
T
his year, we celebrate the hospital’s 110th anniversary. It’s been
110 years of growth and community support—something we
continue to rely on just as much as in those early days.
Michael Habowski,
ACMC president
and CEO
