Fund-raising to establish an English hospital in Montreal was undertaken in the years 1818-1820. The growing needs of the English-speaking population led to several charities, among them the Female Benevolent Society of Montreal and the Society for the Relief of Immigrants, to ask for help in building a new hospital. At this time, Montreal had two hospitals: the Grey Nuns' Hopital General and the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal). In 1819 enough money had been received to lease a building on Craig Street to accommodate 24 patients and this small hospital opened on May 1, 1819. By 1820 enough money had been subscribed to purchase property on Dorchester and St Dominique streets. The cornerstone of the new Montreal General Hospital was laid in 1821 and the 72-bed hospital building opened in 1822. The hospital received its first charter in 1823. At the same time four Edinburgh-trained physicians Andrew Fernando Holmes, William Robertson, William Caldwell and John Stephenson were working to establish medical teaching in Montreal. They founded the Montreal Medical Institution in 1823 as a teaching unit of the hospital. In 1829 the Institution became part of McGill University, then known as McGill College. It was McGill's first faculty and Canada's first faculty of medicine. On May 30, 1955, the Montreal General Hospital moved to its present location near Mount Royal on Cedar Avenue, at the corner of Côte-des-Neiges Road and one block north of Pine Avenue.
Redevelopment
The present location of the MGH is sited for the expansion and development into the MUHC Mountain campus, which will house the cardiac critical care and level one trauma centres. The campus will also be the future site of the Montreal Neurological Hospital upon its relocation from its present site near McGill University.
Notable physicians
Carl Goresky, his theoretical treatment of the transport of substances through intact organs led the basis for the understanding of events within the microvasculature
Phil Gold, a physician and scientist. In 1968, he co-discovered with Samuel O. Freedman the carcinoembryonic antigen, which resulted in a blood test used in the diagnosis and management of people with cancer.
David Mulder, a physician and surgeon committed to the field of trauma and known as the primary physician for the Montreal Canadiens
Academic activities
The hospital is the site for numerous teaching activities throughout the year. Orthopedic Surgery residents hold weekly trauma rounds at 3:30 on Wednesdays to review all the operative cases from the previous week.
