Bronx Hospital, 1931. The history of the Bronx Hospital dates to 1911, when the facility was established to serve the needs of a booming south Bronx population. In 1919 ground was broken for a new building, designed by Louis Allen Abramson. The building was funded, in part at least, by private donors, including Abraham Harrison of the Bronx whose $500 contribution afforded him the honor of "turning the first spadeful of earth." Donors received a pair of decorative metal bookends in the shape of the completed building. (You can get your own vintage pair on eBay!) The building opened in 1928 and today remains a part of the larger Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center complex.