On June 4, 1870, land was purchased in the Oakland community to build Duval Hospital and Asylum, making it Florida’s first non-military hospital. It originally consisted of three small buildings before a more spacious one-story building was constructed in 1877. This new facility housed a kitchen, a chicken house and a small back building for the asylum where tuberculosis patients were isolated.

An isolation pavilion was constructed at Duval Hospital and Asylum in response to the 1883 smallpox epidemic.

Boylan Industrial Training School for Girls opened at Davis and Duval streets. Established by the Woman’s Home Missionary Union Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the school educated young black women on becoming missionaries and tending to the ill. Later, in 1932, it would become the Boylan-Haven School for Girls.

Duval Hospital and Asylum received major modern renovations, including indoor toilets, a sewer system, gas and electric lights.

Land for the George A. Brewster Hospital and School of Nurse Training was acquired at 915 W. Monroe St. in Jacksonville’s LaVilla neighborhood. Brewster was the only institution treating and training African Americans at that time.

Recognizing a need for medical services for the African-American community, the Brewster School of Nurse Training opened a small, one-room treatment unit in a cottage on Lee Street. Equipment consisted solely of a cot, a table and a few chairs. After the Great Fire of 1901, the Brewster School of Nurse Training became the relief center for African-American fire victims.

Brewster Hospital relocated to 149 Lee St. in LaVilla.

Brewster Hospital relocated again to 1001 W. Union St., putting the hospital closer to the growing African-American population.

The first residency program in Florida was established at Duval Hospital for surgical residents.

Duval Hospital and Asylum moved to a 230-bed facility in Jacksonville’s Springfield area and was named Duval County Hospital. The hospital was designed by architect, Henry Klutho, who also helped design the local neighborhood when it was rebuilt after the Great Fire of Jacksonville.

As a leader in treatment and training, Brewster Hospital built a new facility at 1640 Jefferson St. in Springfield, just a few blocks from Duval County Hospital. The new 95-bed facility was dedicated on March 29, 1931, and named Brewster Methodist Hospital. It was Florida’s largest hospital for African Americans at the time.

Duval County Hospital was renamed Duval County Medical Center on June 23, 1948.

The first cancer treatment program was established for patients at Duval Medical Center. Its successor, UF Health Jacksonville, is still a leader in treatment for cancer today.

Duval Medical Center becomes one of the first hospitals in Florida to offer radiation oncology for cancer patients.

The first open heart surgery in Jacksonville was performed at Duval County Medical Center.

In 1962, Orthopaedic Surgery was added to the growing list of residency programs in Jacksonville.

Brewster Methodist Hospital closed, following the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. The new law allowed African-American patients to go to any hospital they chose, causing Brewster Methodist to lose business.

Brewster Methodist facility reopened as Methodist Hospital, featuring 134 all-private rooms.

Jacksonville Health Education Program, based at Duval Medical Center, became an extension service of the UF College of Medicine.

In 1969, Duval Medical Center added hemodialysis treatment for end-stage reneal disease – the first of its kind in Jacksonville.

Duval Medical Center was renamed University Hospital after a new affiliation with the University of Florida. The 485-bed facility, located on 8th Street across from Methodist Hospital, was dedicated on Aug. 14, 1971.

University Hospital opened the city's first Neonatology Program, giving premature babies and their families the latest in care. The same year, the hospital began offering gynecologic oncology diagnosis and treatment for patients.

Methodist Hospital opened its first medical tower, Plaza Tower I, on June 1, which is now known as Tower I.

Building on a tradition of excellence in neonatal care, University Hospital opened the area's only Level III Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, the highest designation for neonatal care at that time.

University Hospital installed the first electron microscope in Jacksonville, providing even better diagnosic tools for hospital physicians and diagnosticians.

Methodist opened Plaza Tower II, which is known as Tower II today. Plaza Tower II had exceptional amenities for a health care facility, including physician offices, Florida’s first comprehensive hospice program, the Methodist Pathway Center for recovery from addiction, and offices and meeting rooms. The facility also included gift shops, restaurants, a bakery, pharmacy, bank, florist and cafeteria.

In 1983, University Hospital established the state's first Level I trauma center, offering the highest level of care for major traumatic injuries. The same year, University Hospital opened the first hospital-affiliated primary care center in the city. (Source: Florida Times Union)

University Hospital was designated an affiliate of the University of Florida, strengthening the educational relationship of the two entities and establishing the UF Health Science Center Jacksonville. They also launched the TraumaOne flight program that year.

Methodist Hospital was renamed Methodist Medical Center after the Dec. 1, 1988, opening of its new hospital on the former site of the old St. Luke’s Hospital.

University Hospital was designated the metropolitan campus for the Gainesville-based UF Health Science Center at the University of Florida. All physician faculty based in Jacksonville became UF faculty.

University Hospital was renamed University Medical Center.

Physicians at University Medical Center performed the first kidney transplant in Northeast Florida.

The University of Florida Health Science Center Faculty Clinic opened and includes physician offices, outpatient clinic and outpatient surgery rooms. A new parking garage between the main hospital and Faculty Clinic also opened to accommodate growth in patient volumes.

The Learning Resource Center (LRC) opened, connecting to the Faculty Clinic by an atrium. The LRC houses academic and administrative offices for the UF College of Medicine, as well as nursing and pharmacy programs. It also houses an auditorium, meeting rooms and the Borland Library.

The UF Southside Specialty Care Center, the first community-based multispecialty practice under the University of Florida structure, opened in Jacksonville at 4555 Emerson Expressway. This location would become UF Health Emerson Medical Plaza.

Physicians and professionals at University Medical Center performed the first heart transplant in Northeast Florida.

Shands Jacksonville was created when Shands HealthCare, University Medical Center and Methodist Medical Center joined forces to establish one health care institution in Northeast Florida.

Shands Jacksonville and UF Health launched the local area's first Thoracic Oncology Program.

The Cardiovascular Center at Shands Jacksonville was ranked among the top 100 heart centers in the nation acccording to Solucient, a national quality benchmark organization.

Shands Jacksonville celebrated the opening of the comprehensive Pediatric Sickle Cell Center - the first one in North and Central Florida. The center provided a wide variety of services to individuals and families living with sickle cell disease.

A UF physician at Shands Jacksonville became the first in the state to perform two corneal (front layer of the eye) transplants using artificial corneas flown in from Australia.

The UF Health Proton Therapy Institute opened August 2006 as the first proton therapy treatment in the Southeast, offering state-of-the-art therapy for cancer treatment. Today, it is among the top 10 proton therapy treatment centers in the world.

Shands Jacksonville was the first hospital in Northeast Florida to be accredited by the Agency for Health Care Administration as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, sharing the distinction with only three other hospitals in the state.

Shands Jacksonville opened a new Neuroscience Intensive Care Unit.

Shands Jacksonville was granted Magnet recognition by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Shands Jacksonville was renamed UF Health Jacksonville.

UF Health Jacksonville launched a telemedicine pilot program for ALS patients.

The new UF Health North medical office building opened on Jacksonville’s Northside. The facility includes an emergency room, physician offices and diagnostics services.

UF Health opened a 92-bed inpatient hospital on the UF Health North campus.

A University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville physician performed the world’s first implant of a regenerative bio envelope that protects a cardiac defibrillator implanted under the skin.

The University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville opened a unique center for research on aging called the Jacksonville Aging Studies Center, or JAX-ASCENT. The same year, UF Health Jacksonville opened a new groundbreaking center dedicated to epilepsy wellness.

UF Health Wildlight opened. The facility includes pediatrics, family medicine, dentistry, urgent care, obstetrics and gynecology, and other services.

On Dec. 14, 2020, a group of 10 front-line health care workers at UF Health Jacksonville were believed to be the first in Florida, and possibly the Southeast, to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. At 10:39 a.m., Dr. Leon L. Haley Jr., a board-certified emergency room physician, CEO of UF Health Jacksonville and dean of the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville, was thought to be the first in the state to be vaccinated. He was followed by additional physicians, nurses, a pharmacist and other health care staff who work in areas of the hospital that most frequently care for patients with COVID-19. UF Health Jacksonville was designated one of the “Pfizer Five” — a handful of sites in Florida selected to receive the initial distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine.