History of Shriners Children's Twin Cities

Established: March 12, 1923

Shriners Children's Twin Cities' 60-bed hospital opened on March 12, 1923 as the third location in the healthcare system. Eleven acres of land on East River Parkway along the Mississippi River, as close as possible to the boundaries of St. Paul and Minneapolis, was purchased for $20,000. The first patient to be treated was a boy named John P. Sharp from Browning, Montana.

In 1956 an addition was built to house a new outpatient department, an auditorium and a room for the Women’s Auxiliary. It was in 1976 that the first patient at Shriners Children's Twin Cities was fit with a myoelectric prosthesis.

The second hospital building was built on the same land on East River Parkway and opened in April of 1990. This was a 40-bed hospital that included a parent accommodation center, two surgical suites, an in-house orthotics and prosthetics lab, and a rehabilitation services suite complete with a therapeutic pool.

Advanced Medial Care Leads to Shorter Hospital Stays

In 1970, the average length of stay for a patient was 65 days. In 1980, this decreased to 35 days, 8.9 days in 1988 and down to 2.5 days in 2015.

From Hospital to Outpatient Clinic

In 2018, Shriners Children's Twin Cities transitioned from a hospital to an outpatient clinic, performing surgeries at neighboring hospitals. In June of 2020, Shriners Children's Twin Cities moved from their original home on East River Parkway to a new clinic in Woodbury, Minnesota, an eastern suburb of the Twin Cities.

Location Highlights

• March 12, 1923: Opened
• April 14, 1923: Dedication
• 1925: Brace shop opened
• 1934: The first Shriners Convention after the repeal of Prohibition was held in Minneapolis
• 1956: Outpatient department added
• April 17, 1990: Second building opened
• 2012: Camp Achieve started
• 2018: Transitioned to outpatient clinic model
• 2020: Moved to Woodbury, MN