Good Samaritan Hospital and its department of surgery: a historical perspective

At the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States government acquired the Northwest Territory, including the city of Cincinnati. Given the city's position on the Ohio River, and the subsequent development and introduction of steamboats in the early 1800s, Cincinnati became a major center for commerce and trade. With a population of over 115,000 in 1850, Cincinnati was the sixth largest city in the United States--larger even than St. Louis and Chicago-the first major city west of the Allegheny Mountains, and the largest inland city in the nation. The city's growth and importance is mirrored by the history of one if its prized institutions, Good Samaritan Hospital--the oldest, largest, and busiest private teaching and specialty-care hospital in Greater Cincinnati and a national leader in many surgical fields.