CHILTON MEDICAL CENTER
1944
PEQUANNOCK
IN MEMORIAM
Chilton Medical Center’s story started
on June 21, 1944, when Pequannock’s
Forrest S. Chilton III went missing while
flying a fighter aircraft for the 313th
Fighter Squadron over France.
Three years later, his father, doctor
Forrest S. Chilton II, donated seven acres
off Newark-Pompton Turnpike for a
memorial hospital. The donation launched
a fund drive that raised $315,000 in two
years. Construction on the 50-bed hospital
started in September 1949, but took five
years to finish.
The Herald-News described the project
in a March 30, 1954, staff editorial as “a
striking example of what determination
and devotion to a cause can accomplish.”
The protracted fundraising campaign, it
noted, attracted small individual donations
from the region’s residents instead of
old-money or contributions from titans
of industry.
1954
OPEN FOR PATIENTS
Chilton Memorial Hospital opened on
Nov. 29, 1954, with a children’s ward,
emergency room and 50 beds. Nine
patients were treated within its pastel
walls in the first 12 hours. The first was
an 18-year-old in need of a tonsillectomy.
Within a week, 32 of the $875,000
hospital’s beds were full. Dresser drawers
were later used due to a shortage of cribs.
Planning for a 30-bed addition started in
1956, when the hospital was operating at a
loss. In April 1961, following a $1.3 mil-
lion addition that included new operating
and delivery suites, the hospital expanded
to 111 beds and 24 bassinets. It welcomed
its 20,000th patient later that year.
26
2019 EDITION (201) HEALTH
1968
GROWTH
The biggest change for the
hospital came in August 1968,
when the hospital purchased
40 acres one mile to its west.
Dedicated in November 1971,
the West Parkway facility added
160 beds and 203 rooms at a
cost of $5.3 million.
As it did at the original hospital, the pastel palette
stood out. The new facility welcomed medical,
intensive care and surgical patients, with pediatric
and maternity care reserved for the old facility.
Chilton Memorial Hospital in
Pequannock under construction
in January 1971.