At the end of the 19th century, Birmingham was a crowded metropolis of 100,000 people, many of them poor, many of them employed in dangerous occupations and lifestyles. For most of these thousands, healthcare was almost unavailable. In November of 1898, four Daughters of Charity came to Birmingham to build what is now the city's oldest hospital. That hospital is St. Vincent's, and we proudly celebrate the faith, the charity and the hard work that was begun by those four women and has been carried on for 100 years by thousands more, dedicated to serving the city of Birmingham.

The history of St. Vincent's is a rich one, and it is foremost the story of people, dedicated people from all walks of life who committed themselves to building the finest of hospitals for the service of their community. Beginning with a meeting of a determined cross-section of the Birmingham population, St. Vincent's opened only a few months later in November, 1898 in a rented Southside mansion. The hospital quickly filled with patients, almost half of them without the ability to pay for the care they received. St. Vincent's was immediately embraced by all of Birmingham. Thousands visited the new 200-patient facility upon its opening in 1900. A newspaper article noted that "the thousands are prepared to believe now that there is perhaps not now in existence a more complete, a more perfectly appointed hospital than St. Vincent's at Birmingham... "

Watching over Birmingham from the south highlands hill, immediately named Mount St. Vincent's, the hospital cared for all of Birmingham. The wealthy came to St. Vincent's because the doctors and facilities were among the best in Alabama. The poor came because they knew they would receive the best of care regardless of their ability to pay. St. Vincent's grew as Birmingham grew, rising above financial hardships during its first decade to expand, with new facilities, equipment and programs, as the community's needs increased.

From its first new wing in 1910 to serve the dramatically increasing number of patients and the city's first outpatient clinic for the poor, to the newly completed Women's and Children's Center, St. Vincent's has been unwavering in its commitment to the city it has watched over throughout this century. St. Vincent's was built on dedication -- the dedication of its Sisters, its physicians and its employees, as well as the dedication of the citizens it has served for the past century -- and through this dedication, St. Vincent's has thrived.