Community Hospital's rich local history, powered by visionary leaders and philanthropic partnerships
Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula celebrates 90 years of caring for the community this year. Since its 1934 genesis as a 30-bed general hospital in Carmel called Peninsula Community Hospital, visionary leadership and local philanthropic partnerships have resulted in major innovations and milestones that led the hospital to where it is today — a community-wide healthcare system that continues to meet the area’s growing needs.
Throughout Community Hospital’s history, philanthropic partnerships such as those with Maurine Church Coburn, Samuel F.B. Morse, and so many others have set the stage for the hospital to do truly great things for the community. We wouldn’t be where we are today without members of our community supporting and partnering with us. These community-based relationships enable Montage Health to evolve for the greater good of the community.
— Michele Melicia Young, Montage Health Foundation Director
Local roots
Community Hospital got its unofficial start in 1929 as a metabolic disorders clinic in Carmel, established through an endowment by Grace Deere Velie Harris, granddaughter of John Deere and an heir to the John Deere tractor fortune. Five years later, in response to the community’s changing needs, the clinic converted to Peninsula Community Hospital.
Setting in motion the events that led to modern-day Community Hospital was a profound philanthropic partnership between Tom Tonkin, Community Hospital’s first CEO, and Samuel F.B. Morse, founder of Del Monte Properties Company, the predecessor of the Pebble Beach Company. As the Monterey Peninsula blossomed and bustled, Tonkin and Morse recognized that the hospital needed to expand to continue meeting the community’s growing needs. So, in 1955, Morse donated 22 prime, pine-tree-filled acres in the Del Monte Forest for the hospital’s building site.
In 1961, Peninsula Community Hospital’s name was changed to Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, and one year later, Community Hospital opened its 100-bed, 210,000-square-foot building on Holman Highway. The facility cost $3.5 million, most of which was raised from community donations. In 1971 the hospital added its iconic dome over its fountain court and 72 rooms, including a mental health unit, and community contributions funded half of the $4 million project.
Community Hospital's building site before construction began.
Community Hospital nurse.
Community Hospital volunteers.
A vintage rolling library at a patient's bedside.
Incoming patient at the entrance of Community Hospital.
Tom Tonkin, Community Hospital's first CEO.
The iconic fountain court before the building was constructed around it in 1971.
A philanthropic vision for Community Hospital’s future
Today, Community Hospital’s patients, visitors, and staff enjoy an environment unlike any other hospital. In a lobby that feels more like a living room, music — sometimes live — harmonizes with a bubbling fountain. Thoughtfully curated art adorns almost every wall, buffering the routine stress of a hospital visit with inspiring moments of calm reflection and peaceful energy. Mid-century modern architecture situated within a meticulously landscaped, pristine forest provides the building’s occupants with views of nature from nearly every window.
“I have practiced in hospitals across the country, and there is no other hospital where I’d rather work,” says Dr. Jon Benner, a surgeon who joined the hospital’s medical staff in 1980. “While there are many great hospitals, this is by far the most pleasant space in which I’ve practiced — and that has been because of the people, too.”
This unique healing environment was established with intention thanks to Maurine Church Coburn, wife of Morse and friend of Tonkin. Coburn, who died in 1977, was on the Board of Trustees when the new hospital was being developed and was integral in selecting the architect, Edward Durell Stone, to guide the hospital’s design.
Coburn’s legacy endures today through an endowment she started with the goals of creating a healing environment through art, architecture, and music, empowering future generations of healthcare workers, and supporting patients in need.
Coburn believed what later studies would prove: Creating a healing environment in healthcare spaces improves patient outcomes and promotes patient and staff well-being. She believed such an environment was the perfect complement to the high-quality medical care patients would receive.
The Maurine Church Coburn endowment supports Montage Health’s healing spaces through programs and services including the Community Music program that features soothing live music in the hospital’s fountain court and skilled nursing facility, the Art Program, which brings art to the walls of all Montage Health facilities, and the hospital’s landscaping, which matches the building’s physical imprint with the natural beauty of the surrounding area.
Maurine was a humanist. She was passionate about supporting the health of our community, whether that was through professional growth, education, the arts, or compassionate healthcare. She saw how these things work together.
— Dr. Steven Packer, President and CEO of Montage Health
Grateful for the care and compassion she was shown by Community Hospital’s nurses toward the end of her life, Coburn partnered with Tonkin to bring about the Maurine Church Coburn School of Nursing at Monterey Peninsula College. Established nearly four decades ago through her endowment, the school has graduated more than 1,600 registered nurses, many of whom have stayed to care for Monterey County communities. The Maurine Church Coburn endowment also supports Community Hospital’s Sponsored Care program, providing free and significantly discounted care to patients in need.
“Maurine was a humanist,” says Dr. Steven Packer, President and CEO of Montage Health. “She was passionate about supporting the health of our community, whether that was through professional growth, education, the arts, or compassionate healthcare. She saw how these things work together.”
“Throughout Community Hospital’s history, philanthropic partnerships such as those with Maurine Church Coburn, Samuel F.B. Morse, and so many others have set the stage for the hospital to do truly great things for the community,” says Michele Melicia Young, Montage Health Foundation Director. “We wouldn’t be where we are today without members of our community supporting and partnering with us. These community-based relationships enable Montage Health to evolve for the greater good of the community.”
Evolving in partnership with the community
Since its inception, Community Hospital has evolved in lockstep with the community’s growing needs.
“Philanthropy has fueled innovation and progress at Community Hospital,” Packer says. “That has made our healthcare team’s experience here an extremely positive one, and that of course translates to excellent care for patients because they have extremely skilled clinicians using state-of-the-art medical devices that are usually only found in big-city hospitals.”
Community Hospital’s roots run deep on the Monterey Peninsula and throughout the county. “We take the word ‘community’ in our name very seriously,” Packer continues. “Montage Health’s expansive network of doctors, nurses, therapists, and many other care providers practicing in close-knit Monterey allows for more personal relationships between patients and care providers. When you’re treating a patient in such a close community, that patient might be your child’s teacher or the cashier at your local grocery store.”
That special connection translates to uniquely personal care. “We’re caring for our friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and relatives,” Packer says. “We’re a healthcare system started by members of this very community, and our local roots are foundational to who we are today.”
Learn more about Community Hospital and Montage Health’s history.
