In 1905 Mrs. A. Elliot bequeathed money in her will toward building a university hospital in memory of her husband, Dr. A Elliot.  Four years later, a temporary university hospital featuring 24 beds opened and was used until the 108-bed Elliot Memorial Hospital was completed in 1911.  By 1923, 16 beds were reserved for children’s care and later that year, W. Eustis contributed money for the construction of Minnesota Hospital and Home for Crippled Children. It opened in 1929 and included a pediatric outpatient area, school area and two floors providing inpatient pediatric care. 

During the mid 1930s much was happening in cardiology and cardiac surgery at the University of Minnesota and Dr. Dwan established the first pediatric cardiology unit.  In 1944 the Variety Club initiated a fund drive for Dr. Morse Shapiro’s rheumatic fever treatment and research program.  By 1951 the Variety Club Heart Hospital was completed and provided services for both adults and children, including a 40-bed pediatric unit with a playroom, classroom and an auditorium.

Hospital care for children at the University of Minnesota continued to be provided in the Variety Club Heart Hospital, Children’s Rehabilitation Center and the Mayo Hospital until 1986 when major hospital services were consolidated to a new, state-of-the-art building.  The new hospital featured three general pediatric units, a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), a pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), a child and adolescent psychiatric unit, a pediatric bone marrow transplant unit and a full array of affiliated specialty clinics.  The name of the combined clinical areas for children at this time was University-Variety Hospital for Children.

Across the Mississippi River, Fairview was also providing quality pediatric care and opened a dedicated pediatric unit in 1955.  Two years later Fairview became the first general hospital in Minneapolis to offer special mental health and rehabilitation facilities for these services and today has become a leader in mental and behavioral health care for children and adolescents. In 1962, the hospital introduced a new adolescent/young adult unit, which was the first of its kind in the Upper Midwest.

In 1997 the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinics merged with Fairview to become Fairview-University Medical Center and Fairview-University Children’s Hospital.  In 2005, the hospitals were renamed and Fairview-University Children’s Hospital became University of Minnesota Children’s Hospital, Fairview.  Today the children’s hospital features the Twin Cities’ widest range of pediatric specialists and 254 staffed beds.