History

Adventist Health Portland has been dedicated to the health and wellness of our community since our first days in the 1890s. The history of the hospital is one of vision, continuous growth, and the power of caring for your neighbors. 

Sparked by a dream, sustained by dedication 

Seventh-day Adventists began to move to Oregon in the late 1860s. Like many Americans, they held strong convictions about health. The Battle Creek Sanitarium had been established in Michigan by the church, and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. Many hoped a similar sanitarium could be built in the West. 

Lewis Belknap, MD, a student of Dr. Kellogg, had such a dream. Dr. Belknap arrived in Portland in 1893 penniless, having been robbed of all his possessions while waiting on a dock in San Francisco. 

But he held tight to his dream. A local family loaned him the first month's rent for an eight-room house in which to start a six-patient practice. 

Within a couple years, the fledgling sanitarium outgrew the small quarters. By 1895, Portland Sanitarium had relocated to the Reed Mansion — rented from the Simeon Reed family, whose estate founded Reed College. The large ornate house provided room for 20 patients plus a surgical ward, office, kitchen, and dining room.

Dr. Belknap moved to San Jose, California, in 1896 to start another sanitarium. With this departure, the Seventh-day Adventist Church took full charge of the Portland Sanitarium. By 1897, a two-year nurses' training program and a health food company were added. 

The hospital was named Portland Adventist Sanitarium by 1922 and moved into a modern building at SE 60th and Belmont on Mount Tabor. Expansions continued at this site over the years, and the sanitarium became Portland Adventist Hospital in 1964. 

As the hospital continued to grow, a new facility was again needed. This move was to today’s site, just east of I-205. The new hospital was completed in 1977 (a few years before I-205 was finished) and was named Portland Adventist Medical Center.

Our history of growth continues

Adventist Health Portland is now the centerpiece of a comprehensive health system that includes a modern medical center and dozens of primary, urgent and specialty care clinics. 

We are affiliated with OHSU, the only academic medical center in Oregon, to provide increased access to care for patients on Portland’s east side. 

Although many things have changed during a century of providing health care to our community, our historical commitment to our mission of caring for the whole person remains unwavering.