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Celebrating 100 Years in 2026

100 Years of Empowering the Extraordinary

For a century, Shriners Children’s has stood at the forefront of pediatric specialty care, helping thousands of children live fuller, healthier lives, with a reputation for finding answers and giving families hope. We invite you to join us in honoring 100 years of extraordinary care, innovation and impact.

Founded in 1922, Shriners Children’s is a unique healthcare system driven by compassion, excellence and the unwavering belief that every child deserves access to life-changing care, regardless of the families' ability to pay or insurance status.

A Legacy of Hope and Healing in Chicago

Since opening its doors in 1926 in a 50,000 square foot, red brick hospital, Shriners Children’s Chicago has been a sanctuary for children in need of specialized orthopedic care. In the hospital’s beginnings, only families who could not afford to pay for treatment were accepted. Children often stayed for months – sometimes years – receiving not just medical care, but compassionate support that gave them a chance to thrive.

Orthotics and prosthetics were once handcrafted in the basement from steel and leather. Today, the facility employs modern fabrication techniques to deliver custom devices that restore mobility and dignity. Throughout the decades, Shriners Children's Chicago has continually advanced care, from pioneering orthopedic residency programs, to expanding services to include spinal cord injury rehabilitation and cleft lip and palate treatment.

In 1981, the current hospital was built to meet growing demand, and further renovations in the 2000s enhanced both inpatient and outpatient care. In 2010, our approach, but not our mission, changed to include the billing of private insurance and government programs such as Medicaid. While our methods and facilities have evolved, our mission remains constant: to improve the lives of children through advanced, compassionate care.

We invite you to explore our legacy and consider how your support can shape the next century of impact.

Shriners Children's is very unique in that they’ve adapted and grown to what patients and their families need in a certain era or time period.

Dr. Purnendu Gupta, Shriners Children's Chicago Chief of Staff

Celebrating a Century. Building the Future.

Shriners Children’s Chicago proudly marks 100 years of delivering world-class pediatric specialty care – made possible by the vision of generous supporters and the dedication of an extraordinary medical team.

As we look ahead to our second century, we invite you to join us in advancing our mission: to elevate care, accelerate research and train the next generation of medical leaders. Together, we aim to provide the best care to more children in the right places with greater impact and value than ever before. Your support is not just a gift to a hospital, it’s a legacy that will transform lives for generations to come.

Our Hospital | Shriners Children's Chicago Celebrates 100 years

Our Hospital on the outskirts of Chicago has been changing children's lives for 100 years. Here is a look at our history.

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[title card: Shriners Children's Chicago logo]

[title card: "Our Hospital"]

Speaker:

Our hospital on the outskirts of Chicago has been changing lives for 100 years. In the Roaring '20s, Chicago, the Windy City, was known for Al Capone, prohibition and jazz music. But a group of men decided to tell a different story, partnering together to change children's lives by offering healthcare like nowhere else. Through the vision and efforts of the Medinah Shriners of Chicago, they broke ground in April 1925, and the cornerstone for Shriners Children's Chicago was placed on June 20th, 1925.

Our hospital's century of care officially began in March of 1926. The Shriners opened a 50,000 square foot red brick hospital, located in what is now our parking lot. At that time, the polio epidemic raged. Tuberculosis of the bone also caused many deformities, leaving thousands of children in need of medical care that wasn't available to them. In the hospital's beginnings, only families who could not afford to pay for orthopedic care were accepted. Hospital stays could last for a year or longer. In a culture where people with disabilities were usually hidden away, patients found themselves accepted and valued, with school, scouting and sports available to many of them for the first time.

Our hospital quickly established itself as a leader in pediatric care. We led the nation in establishing orthopedic medical residency programs to train future doctors. Remarkable breakthroughs in care also followed over the years, including the first surgically successful treatment for osteogenesis imperfecta. Early testing of the halo skeletal fixator in the 1960s followed. We later started the first craniofacial cleft lip and palate program for Shriners Children's.

After years of changing childrens' lives, the Shriners were not done giving back. When patient volumes grew dramatically in the 1970s, the Shriners fraternity again stepped up to build a new facility on the same grounds. Led by Vice Chairman Earl Brown, construction of our current hospital took place over two years. The cornerstone was laid in June of 1980, and the new building was dedicated June 14th, 1981. A major renovation in the early 2000s added an outpatient clinic area, as well as a new inpatient area on the lower level. In 2010, our process but not our mission changed, to include the billing of private insurance and government programs, such as Medicaid.

Today, our work endures to advance our threefold mission, outstanding clinical care, medical education and research. Supported by 15 shrine temples, donors and friends, our hospital continues to improve the lives of more kids with the best care in the right places, all regardless of a family's ability to pay or insurance status. Our Chicago hospital's legacy is a century of care worth celebrating.

[title card: Shriners Children's Chicago logo]

Who We Are

Shriners Children's Chicago is a destination hospital for families on the outskirts of Chicago.

About Us

Our History

Our Care

Achieving the Extraordinary: 1926-2026

Grateful for members of Shriners International, who began Shriners Children's as their official philanthropy.

Providing caring, compassionate family-centered nursing care for 100 years.

Every therapy session is a carefully crafted mixture of science, creativity and play.

We're proud of the personal stories shared by thousands of children and families about our life-changing medical care.

100 years of generous donors making a difference by supporting Shriners Children's.

We celebrate 100 years of life-changing pediatric specialty care, and improving care everywhere through medical education and research.