Penn Highlands Connellsville
Penn Highlands Connellsville enjoys a rich tradition of providing high-quality care to the communities it serves. The hospital delivers skilled health and wellness care to allow the people in the region to receive the medical, surgical, and support services they need close to home.
About Penn Highlands Connellsville
For more than 130 years, Penn Highlands Connellsville has been providing health care to the residents of Fayette County and surrounding areas in a safe and compassionate environment. The hospital is the premier source for healthcare services that promote overall health and wellness for life.
The hospital opened in 1891 as Cottage State Hospital. It was built on land donated by Col. J.M. Reid and transferred to a board of trustees in November 1890. In 1891, a frame building was built at the intersection of Cottage and Murphy Avenues. The first patient was admitted January 31, 1891, when the hospital was staffed by 13 nurses, support employees, and an eight-member medical staff. Its bed capacity was 38 patients. It came under state ownership and was one of many established for coal miners.
Eventually, it was renamed Connellsville State General Hospital and, in 1927, the original building was replaced by a red-brick structure. The East Wing was built in 1953 as a nurses’ residence. The Central Wing was added in 1963 and featured additional inpatient rooms, a surgical suite, and an emergency room. With the economy, population, and industry dwindling in the 1970s, the state’s focus on owning and managing health care facilities waned. After years of speculation the hospital would be closed, the state divested itself of Connellsville State Hospital and turned over ownership and management to the community. It was the first of eight state-owned hospitals to go under private control.
On September 7, 1985, Highlands Hospital began operation as a community-owned, not-for-profit institution and a member of the Forbes Health System. The divestiture agreement provided that to ensure stability and success of the new institution, a local board would oversee it and a partnership with an established health care organization would be required. Forbes was chosen.
In April 2022, Highlands Hospital partnered with Penn Highlands Healthcare to continue its tradition of providing high-quality care and became known as Penn Highlands Connellsville.