After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the growing fears of a ground invasion, the 8,000 residents in Roseville saw the need for a hospital in their community. While the opening of a permanent hospital would be a decade away, Hattie Broyer, R.N., oversaw the opening of a local makeshift hospital. She helped convert the Roseville High School gymnasium into a medical facility with cots, bandages and medical supplies.

Over the next nine years (1943-1952), several local groups began raising funds for a new community hospital. There were dances, victory garden fairs and harvest festivals. By 1946, these fundraisers had gathered $15,000, which is the equivalent to nearly $200,000 by 2020’s standards.

This sizeable amount led to the Roseville Chamber of Commerce to approve the Community Council’s “Municipal Hospital Project.” In 1948, a $150,000 bond proposal was included in the municipal ballot and was passed overwhelmingly.

In January 1949, eight and a half acres of land near Sunrise and Melrose Ave. — where the hospital would be built – was donated by Frances Adamson, a local resident. Two years later, construction on the new hospital began.

Roseville Community Hospital opened its doors in 1952. It was housed with 26 acute care beds, an operating room and a labor and delivery room. Over the next several decades, the hospital would care for generations of patients. And just like Roseville, the hospital would grow and change to meet the needs of its community.

In 1993, a little more than 40 years after the hospital opened its doors, Roseville Community Hospital affiliated with the Sutter Health network. This allowed the hospital to take advantage of services from the network’s progressive and highly regarded health system.

Just as the citizens of Roseville did during WWII, Sutter Health looked to grow the hospital’s ability to care for the community. In 1997, the state-of-the-art Sutter Roseville Medical Center opened with capabilities to provide advanced medical care well into the future.

And in 2020, Sutter Roseville Medical Center further grew its care capabilities with a new 98,400 square-foot expansion. Included was a new intensive care unit, more cardiac care, a lush healing garden and an expanded emergency department (ED) — which is now the largest ED in the entire Sutter network.