THE VALLEY HOSPITAL
RIDGEWOOD
A PLAN IN MOTION
The Ridgewood Hospital Association planned for nearly a
quarter century to build The Valley Hospital on the corner of
Van Dien and Linwood Avenues.
Created in 1925, the 13-town association set out to raise $2.5
million to build a hospital. By the end of 1948, it had only $1 mil-
lion in hand, which, along with about $500,000 in federal aid, they
decided to use to begin the project. It was a difficult decision that
took humility, wrote The Record’s editorial board on Oct. 8, 1948,
though they noted that “There’s nothing humiliating about it.”
1951
THE HOSPITAL OPENS
Set on nine acres next to the original Bergen County Cerebral
Palsy Center, Valley opened in August 1951. It boasted 111-beds
and the campus’ volunteer-run Steilen House restaurant, later
known as Kurth Cottage Café.
The three-story hospital welcomed 11 patients in its first day.
In its second full year, hospital admissions topped 5,700, and daily
capacity was at 75 percent. Expansion became the watchword.
18
2019 EDITION (201) HEALTH
1959
ON-SITE EXPANSION
(Top) Excavation for the F.
Willard Bergen wing is seen from
the fourth floor of Ridgewood’s
Valley Hospital in June 1972.
(Above) Aerial view of the
construction in September 1972.
Plans for the $2.7 million expansion were finalized in 1959. The
four-story addition opened in June 1961 with 147 extra beds and
33 bassinets, new scanning rooms, classrooms and a staff dining
room. Later that summer, the two-story Kraft Pavilion offered 35
staff members the first on-site residences.
J. Robert Stout, the hospital board president, told The Record
newspaper at that time that he was prepared to immediately
consider another expansion. The four-story Phillips Pavilion was
tacked onto the building in 1963, when the original Kurth Cottage
was demolished to make way for parking.
Within three years, hospital officials sought to integrate as many
as 200 more beds. Some resident opposition and zoning issues
delayed the project enough to force a 1971 redesign that brought
the price tag to $12 million.
Completed in 1974, the three-floor F. Willard Bergen Pavilion
expanded capacity to 400 beds. It added new coronary and
intensive care units, and created the potential for further
expansion through a fourth floor, which came during a
$22 million renovation in 1997.
1925
J. Robert Stout, president of the
Ridgewood Hospital Association,
is shown turning over the first
spadeful of earth at the official
ground-breaking ceremonies for
the Valley Hospital in September
1949.