Candler Hospital

Georgia's first hospital, Candler is the second oldest continuously operating hospital in the United States. Its history began in the 1730s when Methodist missionary George Whitfield brought medicines to treat sick seamen and the poor. Chartered in 1804 as a seaman's hospital and poor house, it was later incorporated in 1808 under the name Savannah Poor House and Hospital Society. In 1819, the hospital moved to Gaston Street where it remained for 160 years. After Union forces occupied Savannah, the building served as a Union Hospital until 1866. Renamed the Savannah Hospital in 1872, it later housed the city's first nursing school which opened in 1902. The Methodist Church purchased the hospital in 1930, renaming it for Bishop Warren A. Candler. In 1960, the hospital joined forces with the country's oldest woman's hospital, Mary Telfair. In 1978 groundbreaking ceremonies were held on this site and the facility was completed in October 1980. In 1992 it was renamed Candler Hospital and in 1997, the hospital entered a joint operating agreement with St. Joseph's Hospital, forming St. Joseph Candler Health System.