Children’s Hospital Colorado

Children’s Hospital Colorado is a nonprofit hospital for children located on the Anschutz Medical Campus near the interchange of I-225 and Colfax Avenue in Aurora. Children’s Hospital Colorado’s Network of Care provides pediatric healthcare at many locations across the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area.

In 1897, the idea for a children’s hospital in Colorado began with summer tent hospitals for babies inspired by Dr. Minnie C.T. Love. Denver’s high-country ventilation was touted as a cure for a variety of diseases. Using a mix of fresh air and Colorado sunshine, six medical staff and volunteer nurses treated up to 50 children under the age of five.

Early on, those volunteers saw a need for a permanent hospital that would “care for sick, injured and crippled children from birth to 16 years of age” and which would be supported mainly by volunteer contributions. With that goal to guide them, this same group of intrepid volunteers officially incorporated as The Children’s Hospital on May 9, 1908.

In 1909, Children’s Colorado converted a former residence at 2221 Downing Street in Denver into a “well equipped institution with a capacity of 30 beds,” admitting its first patients on Feb. 17, 1910.

As the demand for child healthcare services increased throughout the region, the hospital quickly outgrew its original location and raised funds to build a new and improved facility, which opened in 1917 at 19th Avenue and Downing Street in downtown Denver.

After numerous expansions over the years at the hospital’s downtown Denver location, Children’s Hospital Colorado opened its new campus in Aurora on September 29, 2007. The 1,440,000 square feet (134,000 m2) hospital designed by ZGF Architects includes 284 beds and advanced medical equipment especially designed for children, as well as inspiring artwork and outstanding family accommodations.

On June 21, 2011, the hospital announced that its name was changing from The Children’s Hospital to Children’s Hospital Colorado. The hospital made the change to help differentiate it from other hospitals in the country with the same name.[3]