Greenville Hospital,
Kennedy Boulevard entrance.
The contemporary turquoise and red brick facade hides the older structure which still remains at the building's core..
Photo: C. Karnoutsos, 2007
Photograph of Greenville Hospital circa 1950 showing the original 1912-1914 structure.
Courtesy, Jersey City Free Public Library
In 1898, Greenville Hospital opened as the German Hospital and Dispensary of Hudson County, New Jersey, by the Schwabischer Kranken Unterstitszungs Verein of Hudson County in a Danforth Avenue house. The German civic organization Suabian Sick Benefit and Folk Festival Society purchased the property for the hospital "to care for, nurture the sick, injured or those afflicted by disease, or victims of accidents or casualty, and the training, education and instruction or preparation of persons, male or female, to act as nurses."
The hospital's founding coincided with a new wave of German immigrants who settled in Greenville to join earlier German inhabitants. The newcomers had fled their homeland, fearing growing militarism in Europe and future war. They found the Gothic-style Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1877 (now Muungano Seventh-Day Adventist Church) at Kennedy Boulevard and McAdoo Avenue and the English Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in 1898 (now the Redeemer Lutheran Church) at Warner Avenue.
Local architect Robert C. Dixon designed the German Hospital building. On May 30, 1912, New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson joined Jersey City's Mayor H. Otto Wittpenn and the Rev. John E. Heindel of Redeemer Lutheran Church for the cornerstone-laying ceremony. The hospital opened with 32 beds on June 1, 1914. It became Jersey City's third hospital with Jersey City Hospital on Baldwin Avenue (later Jersey City Medical Center) and Christ Hospital on Palisade Avenue.
In 1918, the hospital directors renamed the German Hospital the Greenville Hospital in response to anti-German hostilities in America during World War I. They were determined that its name would not stand in the way of providing health care during war-time medical emergencies and remained true to its motto: "Partners in care--sharing time and resources."
Greenville Hospital's contemporary twentieth-century style building was completed in 1964; the west wing was added in 1971. In 1989, the hospital joined the Jersey City Medical Center. Two years later, they joined LibertyHealth Systems, a consortium of health care services in Hudson County, the former parent organization of the Jersey City Medical Center.
In the late 1990s, Greenville Hospital was renovated for its centennial anniversary. t served as an acute care facility from May 2004 to April 23, 2008. However, financial losses and the completion of the new Jersey City Medical Center, about three miles away, brought about a decision to close the facility. Greenville Hospital became the Jersey City Medical Center's Emergency Medical Service (2009-2011). LibertyHealth Systems briefly used the hospital as an urgent care center. In 2012, it sold the hospital to Community Healthcare Associates and leased it to the Jersey City Medical Center. In March 2015, the former Greenville Hospital re-opened as an outpatient medical center for Jersey City Medical Center-Barnabas Health.
Fink, Jason. "Pulling Plug on Greenville Hosp [sic]," Jersey Journal 28 April 2008.
Gomez, John. "'Dream of Years' Come True," Jersey Journal 15 March 2006.
Hack, Charles. "Plan New Use for Greenville Hosp [sic]," Jersey Journal 1 August 2012.
Harwood, Brett. "Making More Efficient Use of Hospital Resources," Jersey Journal 28 April 2007.
Jersey City Medical Center at Greenville. http://www.barnabashealth.org/Jersey-City-Medical-Center-at-Greenville.aspx
Panico, Rebecca. "New Life Breathed into ex-Greenville Hospital." Jersey Journal 16 June 2015.
Thorbourne, Ken. "Greenville Hosp [sic] Shuts April 23," Jersey Journal 25 March 2008.
