Second building for the Los Angeles Infirmary, 1881, located at 1414 Naud Street. The hospital operated here from 1860 through 1884. Photo from Security National Bank Collection, courtesy Los Angeles Public Library.
In 1856, after arriving in California from Maryland at the request of the Bishop of Los Angeles and Monterey, four members of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul opened a small school and orphanage in Los Angeles (see also First Orphanage in Los Angeles). Shortly thereafter, they added caring for the sick to their ministry. This small hospital, named the Los Angeles Infirmary, became the first permanent medical facility in Los Angeles, located in an abode on upper Main Street owned by then-Los Angeles Mayor Don Cristóbal Aguilar. In 1860, the sisters relocated their hospital to 1414 Naud Street (seen in the above photo in 1881). They incorporated ownership of the hospital in 1869, becoming the first women to form a corporation in Southern California. By 1884, the Daughters opened a newly constructed larger hospital at Sunset and Beaudry on land they had purchased a year earlier. By 1898, the Los Angeles Infirmary came to be known as Sisters Hospital and both names were commonly used for the hospital for some time afterwards. In 1918, the hospital was formally renamed St. Vincent's Hospital. In 1924, St. Vincent’s moved into a newer building at Third and Alvarado Streets and decades later, in 1971, moved into new facilities at 2131 West Third Street. In 1974, the hospital was renamed St. Vincent's Medical Center.
Third building for the Los Angeles Infirmary, circa 1880s located at Beaudry and Sunset. The hospital operated here from 1884 through 1924. Photo from Security National Bank Collection, courtesy Los Angeles Public Library.
