Huntington Hospital was founded as a result of a charitable act. In 1914, recognizing that the nine bed Winkworth Cottage Hospital on New Street could no longer meet the needs of a growing community, Cornelia Prime, daughter of a prominent New York banking family, donated a house located on five acres of land on Park Avenue. The original hospital still stands today, adjacent to the main structure. Construction commenced under the direction of a community board of trustees and on May 1, 1916, Huntington Hospital formally opened to receive its first patients. With 18 adult and 4 children's beds plus 6 bassinets, and 16 attending physicians, the new hospital admitted 334 patients in its first year. The average cost per patient was $3.36 a day.

May 26, 1917 marks the anniversary of the first formal meeting of the Women's Auxiliary of Huntington Hospital. This organization of volunteers also began as a result of charitable intent as it was organized for the purpose of "raising and disbursing funds to provide supplies, not including drugs, for the hospital and its patients."

The hospital steadily outgrew its original quarters and as a result of a fund raising effort spearheaded by the Chamber of Commerce, a new building with 70 adult beds, 7 children's beds and 16 bassinets opened its doors on September 23, 1933. That building is today's West Wing of the hospital. The Auxiliary had 270 members, helped raise money for the new hospital and donated a Chrysler ambulance to transport patients in need of emergency care.

By the 1950's the town had grown dramatically and the hospital leadership recognized the need to grow with it. On October 26, 1958, the East Wing was dedicated. Beds numbered 195, admissions exceeded 12,000 and births totaled 2,610.

Intent on keeping pace with the demands of a rapidly expanding community, the 1960's saw unprecedented hospital expansion as well. In 1962 the six story South Wing opened, followed by the first stage of the North Wing in 1969 and stage two in 1971. Bed capacity reached 398.

Growth in population meant more patients and the need for more services; far more services than the existing facility could handle. We entered the 1980's with a $19 million Northeast Wing construction giving rise to a Kidney Dialysis Unit, Coronary Care Unit, Ambulatory Surgery Unit, Emergency Room, 30 bed Maternity and Nursery, CAT scanner and six laboratories. All new, all state-of-the-art, and all ready to meet the medical and technological needs of a sophisticated and burgeoning community.

The beginning of the 1990's gave us little warning as to what to expect. Managed care would change the face of how medical care would be delivered and how it would be paid for, breast cancer was reaching epidemic proportions on Long Island and a shifting population brought an influx of new immigrants, working poor and medically indigent. Again, the volunteer and professional leadership rallied to meet the needs of this community. In 1993 a successful fund raising campaign enabled us to open a dedicated Breast Care Center which featured Suffolk County's first stereotactic needle biopsy machine. In 1994, a $5.5 million fund raising capital campaign was instituted for the purpose of building Long Island's first privately funded primary care facility for the medically underserved. In October, 1995 the 19,000 square foot Dolan Family Health Center, named as a result of a $1 million lead gift from the Dolan Family Foundation, opened its doors, thus ensuring the availability of accessible and affordable primary care for all Huntington residents regardless of their ability to pay.

With the opening of the Surgical Services Pavilion in December 2004, another important fund raising capital campaign came to fruition. At this time, the hospital more than doubled in square footage its surgical facility. Ten new operating rooms were equipped with the latest surgical technologies including robotic arms, flat screen monitors, harmonic scalpels, specialized lasers, and Xenon lighting. In addition to providing patients with state-of-the-art services available close to home, the Surgical Services Pavilion also allowed for a streamlining of services. All pre-admission testing needs were now able to be handled within this one convenient location.

Today Huntington Hospital has 408 inpatient beds, although due to the shift in outpatient and ambulatory services, beds, bricks or mortar no longer define hospitals. A creditable history of nearly a century of growth, meeting needs, keeping abreast of the latest medical technology accomplished by visionary leadership, with community involvement, voluntarism and charitable donations, has set the stage for the hospital to address the challenges that lie ahead in this 21st century.