150 years is a long time to stand the test of time, and that’s exactly what a local hospital has done.

Tonight we find out some surprising history, along with changes, and how the legacy of what’s now known as AHN St. Vincent, is being celebrated.

This Erie-born boy now leads the hospital system that gave him his start.

"I was born in Saint Vincent," said Clark. 

Dr. Chris Clark is the President of AHN St. Vincent. It’s a hospital that got its start by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

"On September 5, 1875, the doors of St. Vincent Hospital, Erie’s first hospital, opened," said Clark. 

The three-floor, 12-bed building had an operating room in the basement.

In 1900, a second, larger building was finished. However, they don’t exist anymore on the current campus.

Instead, the main hospital at 25th and Myrtle Streets is accompanied by an emergency room, nearby cancer center, parking garages, and other hospital-affiliated medical offices.

"We became part of the Highmark Health and Allegheny Health Network back in 2013. And that’s when additional changes started to occur very quickly, with investments in our campus, and our facilities and our equipment and so forth," said Clark. 

Inside the main building, there’s an updated cafeteria, café and coffee area, enhanced gift shop, and a pharmacy.

St. Vincent is one of 14 hospitals under the Allegheny Health Network. All are run by physicians.

Since 2017, Dr. Clark’s role is to oversee Erie, Grove City, and AHN Westfield Memorial.

"I’ve been in Saint Vincent since 2001. I still practice outpatient Family Medicine primary care," said Clark. 

He is one of 3,000 AHN hospital employees in the region.

And so is Steve Osborn—the Regional Quality Director, and Chairperson for the hospital’s 150th anniversary celebration.

While the kickoff to a year-long celebration has already started, Steve and others are planning to celebrate the hospital’s legacy by different events for employees and doctors, retirees, nursing school graduates, and, of course, the community.

"We are also doing development, which is raising funds for some major projects here in the hospital to keep moving Saint Vincent forward from a technology point of view, but also from a workforce point of view," said Steve. 

After the 150th anniversary celebration, this is the area, it’s the portion of the lobby in back of the main lobby where a permanent history display for the hospital system will be, and it will span the whole wall.


A chance to revisit the roots relating back to the Sisters of Saint Joseph. There are events every month to celebrate this landmark anniversary—but on September 5th—the exact anniversary of the 150th—an exhibit telling the condensed history of the hospital will be opening to the public at the Hagen History Center.