10/14/2026
Free Hospital for Women
On October 14, 1875 (151 years ago today) the Free Hospital for Women (FHW) opened on East Spring Street in the South End. The hospital was founded by Dr. William Henry Baker and he wanted to treat diseases that inflicted women. With the help from other local physicians, the FHW provided free medical care to poor women. The FHW had one of the first cancer wards in the country and was a teaching Hospital for Harvard Medical School.
By 1895, the Free Hospital for Women had outgrown their South End location. The FHW moved to a larger facility in Brookline. In 1966 FHW merged with Boston-Lying-In and became the Boston Hospital for Women (BHW).
The Boston-Lying-In was a good match for the Free Hospital for Women as they spearheaded many women's concerns, including the use of anesthesia for labor pain, using rubber gloves and washing hands to prevent infection, outpatient services, heated bassinets for premature infants, and a nurse training school. The hospital also established pre-natal care clinics, standards for cesarean section procedures, cardiac care for pregnant women, and preventative medicine for newborns. The first RH factor in blood was also identified at BLI. These advances produced a steady, and often dramatic, drop in both maternal and fetal mortality rates over the course of its 134 years of independent operation.
In 1980, Boston Hospital for Women merged with Peter Bent Brigham and Robert Beck Brigham Hospital to form Brigham and Women's Hospital.
THE PHOTO: Free Hospital for Women at their second location (with a current photo of the 1895 building).
Happy Birthday today to our patients!
Carolyn T of Dorchester
Dennis P of Dorchester
Barry S of Dorchester
Keleigh K of Dorchester
Michael G of Dorchester
Monique D of Dorchester
Mathew S of Dorchester
