Our History

Timeline: 1903-2011

Baylor Health Care System

Click here for a Collection of Photos on Baylor's History and click here for our Interactive Timeline.

1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s

1903

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas is established as Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium. Chartered on Oct. 16, 1903, by the State of Texas, the hospital began in a 14-room renovated house.

Baylor is founded through the efforts of several individuals. Initial efforts began in 1900 with Charles M. Rosser, M.D., founder of the Baylor College of Medicine, who saw the need for "a hospital of great importance" for a growing city like Dallas, and which would support the medical school. Secondly, Rev. George W. Truett, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, convinces Dallas citizens "to build a great humanitarian hospital," and thirdly, Colonel C.C. Slaughter, a devout Baptist and wealthy cattleman, gives a major gift of $50,000 to establish the hospital.

The Baptist General Convention of Texas agrees to help support and administer the hospital, as well as raise funds for a new hospital building.

1909

Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium moves into a new 250-bed facility and opens as the Southwest's most modern hospital of its kind.

Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium nursing program (Baylor University School of Nursing) begins. Nursing students provide primary care for patients during their 12-hour shifts and attend classes during non-work hours. The nurses are housed in the original 14-room Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium.

1918

The Nurses Home and Training School facility opens on the hospital campus, which is made possible by a generous donation from Col. C.C. Slaughter. It is his last gift to Baylor before his death in 1919. His gifts to Baylor are estimated to be more than $200,000.

1921

Texas Baptist Memorial Sanitarium becomes Baylor Hospital to reflect its relationship with Baylor University in Waco, Texas. The hospital, located in downtown Dallas, is surrounded by the Baylor College of Medicine, Baylor College of Dentistry, Baylor University School of Nursing and Baylor School of Pharmacy.

1929

"Baylor Plan" is developed by Baylor administrators during the Great Depression to help area citizens afford hospital care. It is the first prepaid hospital insurance plan in the United States and predecessor of Blue Cross.

1936

Baylor Hospital is renamed Baylor University Hospital.

1937

Florence Nightingale Maternity Hospital opens on the Baylor University Hospital campus.

1943

Because of financial difficulties, Baylor College of Medicine accepts a grant from a foundation and relocates to Houston.

Lawrence Payne becomes administrator of Baylor University Hospital. He realizes that in order to survive the tough economic period since the Depression and relocation of the Baylor College of Medicine from the Dallas campus during WWII, the hospital must build new facilities to attract private patients in addition to charity patients as the association with the medical school dictated.

1944

Boone Powell Sr. joins Baylor University Hospital as business manager.

1946

To advance the quality of the hospital, further the cause of medical research and supervise the teaching program for residents and interns, Baylor appoints its first chiefs of service for the hospital's medical departments and the 13 chiefs appointed also serve as Baylor's first medical board.

Many of these physicians are professors at Baylor College of Medicine and choose not to move but stay in Dallas at Baylor University Hospital.

1947

Baylor University Hospital initiates the formation of the American Association of Blood Banks.

1948

Boone Powell Sr. becomes administrator of Baylor University Hospital when Lawrence Payne assumes responsibility for fundraising and planning for a new hospital. During Powell's almost 30-year career as CEO of Baylor, he is recognized as one of the health care industry's most outstanding leaders. In 1988, he is one of 10 inductees into the first class of Modern Healthcare magazine's Health Care Hall of Fame.

1950

The seven-story, 436-bed George W. Truett Memorial Hospital opens on the Baylor University Hospital campus. This "hospital of tomorrow" features air conditioning and telephones in all patient rooms and makes Baylor University Hospital the fifth largest general hospital in the United States.

1954

Baylor receives first cobalt machine to treat cancer patients. Technology for diagnosis and treatment of cancer was still in its infancy. Prior to receiving the cobalt machine, Baylor had only three small radiation therapy machines for both diagnosis and treatment.

1958

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor, Paul Ellis, M.D., and Leroy Kleinsassor, M.D., perform Baylor's first open heart surgery. A few months earlier in 1957, they were part of a team to perform Dallas' first open heart surgery.

1959

Baylor University Hospital is renamed Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas¹ to reflect the multiple hospitals and services on the Dallas campus.

A new and expanded Women and Children's Hospital replaces Florence Nightingale Maternity Hospital.

1960

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the Southwest's first pacemaker implant.

1961

A gift from Charles A. Sammons and the Reserve Life Insurance Company funds the Sammons department of virology, the United States' first clinically oriented laboratory.

1968

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the medical center's first coronary bypass operation. Women's and Children's Hospital is renamed Karl and Esther Hoblitzelle Memorial Hospital.

1970

The 200-bed Erik and Margaret Jonsson Medical and Surgical Hospital opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1972

The 300-bed Carr P. Collins Hospital opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. A. Webb Roberts Center for Continuing Education opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1973

Twin towers, named in honor of J.K. and Susie L. Wadley and Albert S. and Velma Barnett, open as part of the Baylor Medical Plaza which includes physician offices and a 75-room hotel, and is located at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1975

David Hitt, who worked closely with Boone Powell Sr. for more than 20 years, becomes the hospital's administrator with responsibility for the hospital's day to day operations. Boone Powell Sr. concentrates on fundraising for additional growth.

1976

Baylor installs the first computerized axial tomographic scanner (CAT scan) in North Texas. Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1977

H.L. and Ruth Ray Hunt Heart Center opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1978

The Baylor University Medical Center Foundation is created with an initial endowment of $5 million to support the activities of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Boone Powell Sr. is the founding president.

1979

David Hitt resigns and a search committee is formed to find a new CEO.

1980

Boone Powell Jr. becomes president and CEO of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1981

Baylor Health Care System is formally established with Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas as its flagship hospital and corporate headquarters. Boone Powell Jr. is named president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor Medical Center at Ennis becomes the first community medical center to join Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine¹ joins Baylor Health Care System.

1982

Baylor Research Institute opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1983

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas becomes the first hospital in the Southwest to have a nuclear magnetic resonance scanner (MRI).

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform North Texas' first marrow transplant.

Baylor Medical Center at Waxahachie¹ joins Baylor Health Care System.

1984

Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation¹ opens on the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas campus.

1985

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform Texas' first successful adult-to-adult liver transplant.

1986

The 17-story A. Webb Roberts Hospital opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

1988

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform Texas' first unrelated donor marrow transplant.

Baylor Health Care System, Methodist Hospitals of Dallas and Presbyterian Health Care System sponsor CareFlite helicopter ambulance service.

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas performs the first biliary lithotripsy for gallstones in the United States.

1989

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform Dallas' first lung transplant and three years later perform Dallas' first double lung transplant.

Baylor Center for Restorative Care¹ opens on the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas campus.

Baylor purchases Gaston Episcopal Hospital on Gaston Avenue and moves Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation into the building to give it a larger facility in which to provide services to its patients.

Baylor Health Care System launches HealthSource^™ with Dr. David Winter in collaboration with WFAA-TV, Channel 8. Today, the program airs weekdays during the 5 p.m. newscast.

1990

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform world's fifth combined heart/kidney transplant.

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the nation's first bridge to heart transplant using the ABIOMED^® assist device.

1991

Baylor Tom Landry Health & Wellness Center opens at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

Baylor Medical Center at Garland¹ joins Baylor Health Care System.

1993

U.S. News & World Report "America's Best Hospitals" guide recognizes Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas as one of the best hospitals in the nation — an honor the medical center again receives for 15 consecutive years. Recognized specialties include AIDS, cancer, cardiology and cardiac surgery, endocrinology, gastroenterology, geriatrics, gynecology, neurology and neurosurgery, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, otolaryngology, pulmonary disease, rehabilitation, rheumatology and urology.

Baylor Pediatric Center for Restorative Care¹ opens as an alternative treatment facility for children where services are provided in a relaxed, home-like setting.

Hopkins County Memorial Hospital³ signs affiliation agreement with Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor/Richardson Medical Center³ joins Baylor Health Care System.

The first Baylor Senior Health Center opens in Dallas' Casa Linda neighborhood. In 2007, Baylor operates four senior health centers across the Metroplex.

1994

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the Southwest's first small bowel transplant.

Baylor University Medical Center Foundation is renamed Baylor Health Care System Foundation.

Lake Pointe Medical Center³ joins Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor Health Care System establishes HealthTexas Provider Network, a physician network provider organization, to assist the system in becoming an integrated health care delivery system.

1995

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the medical center's first kidney and pancreas transplant.

Irving Healthcare System joins Baylor Health Care System and becomes Baylor Medical Center at Irving².

1996

Baylor Institute for Immunology Research is established at Baylor Research Institute.

Texoma Healthcare System³ joins Baylor Health Care System; the relationship ends in 2007.

Boone Powell Sr. dies Sept. 15 at age 84.

1997

Baylor Pediatric Center for Restorative Care is renamed Our Children's House at Baylor¹.

Baylor Health Care System board of trustees establishes autonomy on March 31 from the Baylor University board of regents in Waco, Texas. Baylor Health Care System agrees to continue its commitment to support the University's nursing and medical education programs.

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform the world's first extracorporeal perfusion (bridge to transplantation) using a genetically engineered pig liver.

1999

Baylor Health Care System and United Surgical Partners International partner to form Texas Health Ventures Group, which develops and manages 20 outpatient surgery centers throughout North Texas.

Michael Ramsay, M.D., is named as president of Baylor Research Institute.

The Zelig H. Lieberman Research Building, which houses Baylor Research Institute and Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, opens on the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas campus. The building is named in honor of Zelig H. Lieberman, M.D., a surgeon on staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.

2000

Joel Allison is named president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System.

Boone Powell Jr. retires as CEO of Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor Center for Restorative Care is renamed Baylor Specialty Hospital¹.

Baylor Health Care System is the nation's first health care system to provide supplemental newborn screening for more than 30 inherited metabolic diseases.

Baylor Health Care System Foundation hosts its first annual Celebrating Women Luncheon, benefiting the W. H. and Peggy Smith Baylor Sammons Breast Center. Today, the luncheon's proceeds support breast cancer research and technology throughout Baylor Health Care System.

2001

Boone Powell Jr. retires.

2002

All Saints Health System joins Baylor Health Care System and becomes Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth¹ and Baylor Medical Center at Southwest Fort Worth¹.

Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital¹ opens on the Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas campus.

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas acquires three outpatient imaging centers.

Frisco Medical Center⁴ opens.

Transplant surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth perform Tarrant County's first liver transplant.

2003

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas celebrates its 100-year anniversary.

Baylor Health Care System and Richardson Hospital Authority end affiliation. Baylor/Richardson Medical Center becomes Richardson Regional Medical Center.

2004

Baylor Health Care System forms ODC Therapy Inc., a cancer immunotherapy company.

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano¹ opens.

Baylor Health Care System launches a $149 million investment in redesigning its clinical processes and seamlessly linking the information throughout its health care network. The clinical transformation is enabled by technology to enhance quality of care and improve safety.

Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine is renamed Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine¹.

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas receives the Magnet Award for "Excellence in Nursing Services" from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

2005

Baylor Health Care System takes majority control of five Texas Health Ventures Group surgical hospitals around the Metroplex: Baylor Medical Center at Frisco, Baylor Medical Center at Trophy Club⁴, Baylor Surgical Hospital at Fort Worth⁴, Mary Shiels Hospital⁴, Medical Center Surgical Hospital^3,4, Irving Coppell Surgical Hospital⁴.

Rowland K. Robinson named president of the Baylor Health Care System Foundation.

Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth receives a $10 million gift to build a women's hospital, which is scheduled to open in 2008. The gift, given by Paula and Judy Andrews Jr., is the largest single health care gift in Tarrant County and Baylor's largest gift to date.

Physicians on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas perform North Texas' first islet cell transplant and Texas' first successful intestinal transplant.

2006

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas and Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine begin expanding their emergency departments. Baylor Dallas' $53 million expansion was completed in January 2008. Baylor Grapevine's $9.2 million expansion was completed in October 2007.

Baylor Research Institute expands to Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth.

Baylor Research Institute receives a $6.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop the Baylor Center for Lupus Research and $2.9 million from the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and Alliance for Lupus Research to expand research of the disease.

Researchers at the Baylor Institute for Immunology Research report on the successful treatment of children with systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis. The findings, published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, are highly significant for juvenile arthritis patients for whom previous therapies have failed.

Baylor All Saints Medical Center at Fort Worth celebrates its 100-year anniversary.

Baylor Health Center at North Dallas opens.

2007

THE HEART HOSPITAL Baylor Plano opens.

Our Children's House at Baylor opens a new wing, including 20 new inpatient beds and 12 day beds, as well as additional therapy space, a physician's clinic and a pediatric outpatient surgery facility.

Rosemary Luquire, R.N., Ph.D., C.N.A.A., F.A.A.N., named chief nursing officer for Baylor Health Care System.

Baylor Health Care System and Wise Regional Health System sign a five-year affiliation agreement.

Baylor Health Care System and MedBasics sign a collaboration agreement. MedBasics operates convenient care clinics that provide walk-in medical services inside major retail outlets for routine medical conditions and preventive care.

Baylor Medical Center at Frisco completes a nearly $62 million expansion project adding a women's center, new operating rooms, treatment rooms for pain management and gastrointestinal procedures, pre-operative beds, post-operative/recovery beds and an expanded emergency department.

James Walton, D.O., chief health equity officer of Baylor Health Care System, is selected to participate in the Disparities Leadership Program designed to tackle racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Dr. Walton is one of only 28 individuals from 14 health care organizations from around the United States to be selected.

Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital receives the Magnet Award for "Excellence in Nursing Services" from the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas is the first hospital in the United States to receive the Gold Seal of Approval^™ from The Joint Commission for its Ventricular Assist Device program.

2008

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas Announces Completion of $47 Million Expansion of Emergency Department.

Baylor Health Care System is awarded the 2008 NQF National Quality Healthcare Award for being a role model in achieving meaningful, sustainable quality improvement in health care.

Two Baylor Physicians Elected as Heads of National Organ Transplant Societies. Dr. Michael Ramsay, M.D., F.R.C.A., was named President-elect of the International Liver Transplant Society (ILTS). While Dr. Göran Bo Gustaf Klintmalm, M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.S., chief and chairman of the Baylor Regional Transplant Institute, served as the 34th president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS).

Cindy Schamp named president of Baylor Medical Center at Irving.

Baylor Health Care System Breaks Ground on New Medical Center at McKinney¹, a 95-bed four-story hospital and medical office complex in Collin County.

Baylor Health Care System announces plans to build North Texas’ first dedicated cancer hospital along with a new outpatient cancer center on the campus of Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. The new 450,000-square-foot cancer center is scheduled to open in 2011, and construction of the dedicated cancer hospital will begin in 2010 with completion scheduled for 2013.

2009

Trinity Medical Center joins Baylor Health Care System and becomes Baylor Medical Center at Carrollton, effective June 15. The 237-acute care hospital is the first Denton County hospital in the Baylor Health Care System.

2010

Baylor Health Care System and the City of Dallas join forces to open the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute (DHWI), bringing a new model of health care to South Dallas, the community with the highest rates of diabetes in the city.

ROCHE, Baylor Research Institute partner in Human Immunology Research to focus on developing cancer vaccines, auto-immune disease diagnostics and treatment.

2011

The new Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center at Dallas opens its doors. This outpatient cancer center is the largest in North Texas and is LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation and a subsidiary of Select Medical Corporation form a joint venture to provide an expanded network of inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation care across the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Baylor Regional Medical Center at Grapevine breaks ground on $100.5 million patient tower and expansion.

The Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC) College of Medicine and Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas (BUMC) join forces to establish a Clinical Training Program in Dallas, expanding medical education opportunities in Dallas area.

2012

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas Opens North Texas’s First Dedicated Cancer Hospital.

Baylor Health Care System forms a joint venture with Emerus to bring eight freestanding emergency hospitals to North Texas by 2014.

Baylor Medical Center at McKinney, a 95-bed, full-service hospital serving the residents of McKinney and surrounding communities, opens.

Baylor Health Care System launches the Baylor Quality Alliance (BQA), its accountable care organization (ACO).

Seven Baylor facilities join the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center Network, with two more expected in a few years.

T. Boone Pickens Invests $10 Million in Baylor Health Care System. In recognition of this gift, Baylor names its new cancer hospital the Baylor T. Boone Pickens Cancer Hospital.

Baylor Health Care System and Scott & White Healthcare sign an agreement of intent to join forces and create a new health system. If formed, Baylor Scott & White Health would be the state’s largest not-for-profit health system.