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St. Joseph-s Hospital Kicks Off 75th Anniversary 01/28/2009 Flags and banners waving around the campus hint at something special happening at St. Joseph-s Hospital. This year, the not-for-profit organization celebrates 75 years of providing high-quality health care to the Tampa Bay community. St. Joseph-s Hospital was founded as a mission of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany, who traveled from New York during the Great Depression to bring much-needed medical assistance to the people of Tampa. In the fall of 1933, the Sisters acquired a partially finished, three-story hospital on Seventh Avenue and Morgan Street. On October 1, 1934, St. Joseph-s Hospital opened, containing an emergency room, private and semi-private patient rooms to accommodate 40 patients, two large operating rooms, an obstetrical delivery room, a lab and pharmacy, kitchen and dining rooms and the best x-ray department in the state. By 1967, the hospital outgrew its facilities and moved to its current location, which was formerly a 70-acre cow pasture located on the corner of Habana and the not-yet-completed Buffalo Avenue (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd). Since that time, services and facilities have grown dramatically to include a children-s hospital, a women-s hospital, new patient care buildings and heart and cancer institutes. In 2008, the 883-bed hospital served more than 126,132 emergency patients, delivered more than 7,100 babies treated more than 40,000 children in the Steinbrenner Emergency/Trauma Center. Throughout 2009, St. Joseph-s is celebrating this milestone anniversary with a series of activities and events for the community as well as the sisters, physicians and team members who support the hospital. Highlights include the St. Joseph-s Hospitals Foundation Gala on March 7 and the Founder-s Day Mass and reception on October 1. Then, in early 2010, the hospital will thank the community for its continued support with the opening of St. Joseph-s Hospital-North, the first new full-service hospital in Hillsborough County in 30 years.