History

Dr. William Henry Lawrence, Jr. founded Overlook in 1906 at the age of 26. In 1905, Dr. Lawrence bought the Faitoute property on the highest point in Summit, overlooking the Baltusrol Valley and only ten minutes away from the train station. He borrowed $15,000 from three local civic leaders to build the hospital. On October 1, 1906, the three-story building, boasting an operating room, X-ray facilities, and a hydraulic elevator, officially opened. There were 1,000 visitors on the first day. The hospital had two wards with 15 beds each, and 12 private rooms. The final cost was $30,000— twice the original estimate.


Dr. William Henry Lawrence Jr.

Dr. Lawrence announced that although the hospital was privately owned, it was open to all practicing physicians and its policy would be "To care for all proper and deserving cases whether able to pay or not, and to take emergency cases at all times." The only exceptions were "No TB, no contagious or otherwise objectionable cases and no mental patients." Dr. Lawrence served as Chief Surgeon with Dr. R. D. Baker as his associate. Several well-known physicians from Newark acted as consultants.

A 1906 brochure noted that: "Accident and emergency cases are received at all times. Patients are expected to provide their own hospital clothing and bed linen, and to have laundering done outside the hospital. Each room is cleaned and fumigated as soon as it is vacated." Six patients were operated on during the first week. During the first year there were 241 patients treated, including 160 surgical cases. Overlook's first baby, born on Oct. 20, 1906, was Dr. Lawrence's niece, Grace.


Overlook Hospital in 1906

As the number of patients grew, Dr. Lawrence hired and trained a number of nurses. He taught each one to tend the patients to the very best of their abilities. He was strict, but fair. Once, he had to let two nurses go due to a very serious infraction. The other nurses all signed an appeal demanding that the two be rehired. Upon receipt of that appeal, Dr. Lawrence told all who signed to leave by six that evening. He replaced them with nurses from New York City. That incident led him to realize that the hospital needed well-trained nurses readily available. This led to the development of a School of Nursing, which opened in 1912, and by 1915 was graduating eight nurses a year. Student nurses were housed in two nearby houses.

By 1909, the hospital was in need of additional rooms, and Dr. Lawrence borrowed another $50,000 to build two additions, each two stories high. One was used for patients, and brought the total number of private rooms up to 18, and increased the ward beds by nine. The second floor of the other addition was used for nurses quarters, and the Lawrence family moved into the first floor.

By 1911, the hospital needed the rooms the Lawrence family occupied, and they bought their own house at 130 Summit Ave. In 1912, the hospital was incorporated in order to secure a $50,000 bequest from the estate of former New York City Mayor Smith Ely.

In 1913, Dr. Lawrence offered the hospital for sale to the community for $125,000 and agreed to serve as Surgeon in Chief for five years with no pay. The Summit Hospital Association was renamed The Overlook Hospital Association and a capital funds campaign was conducted. The final transfer took place in January 1915. During the first four months, receipts were $14,359 and expenditures were $11,249. A private room cost between $20 and $50 a week, and a ward bed was only $16 a week.

By 1925, modernization of the old building was needed, and the Overlook Hospital Association raised $350,000. This money, together with a mortgage of $172,500 made possible the needed renovations, and the building of a maternity wing. The maternity wing is the only original wing that still exists today.

The L-shaped central unit with the A and B wings was constructed in 1952. The new buildings raised the bed capacity to 250. In the 1960s, the hospital established the first electronically monitored cardiac care unit in New Jersey under the direction of Dr. W. Austin Tansey. In 1967, the hospital expanded again, with the addition of a new entrance on Beauvoir Avenue and the Wallace Auditorium.


Overlook Hospital in the 1950's

During the 1970s, Overlook enhanced its reputation as an educational facility by becoming a major teaching affiliate of Columbia University. Other milestones include the opening of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in 1976 and the expansion of emergency care to include the state's first Mobile Intensive Care Unit. Overlook's Hospice program, with a focus on caring for the terminally ill and their families, was also established at this time.

Neuroscience came into the spotlight at Overlook in the 1980s. Dr. Henry R. Liss, a renowned neurosurgeon credited with performing the first stereotactic neurosurgery with his associate Dr. George Zazanis in 1965, became senior vice president of medical affairs. Overlook's medical education program, run by Dr. Michael Bernstein, was also among the best in the region during this decade.

Overlook Hospital became part of Atlantic Health in 1996, joining forces with Morristown Memorial Hospital and Mountainside Hospital to provide the community with access to leading-edge health care.

The Medical Arts building, another milestone in serving the community and the physicians at the hospital, opened in 1993. The 1990s also saw innovations in the area of cancer treatment, with the radiation/oncology department becoming the first in New Jersey to offer stereotactic radiosurgery for inoperable brain tumors.

More recent milestones include the addition of the CyberKnife, a revolutionary tool for treating inoperable tumors of the brain, spine and other areas of the body, a new NICU for treating premature and sick infants, and the groundbreaking for the new Medical Arts Center.


Overlook Hospital in 2002


Overlook Hospital in 2008