Hamilton Health Care System is a not-for-profit, fully integrated system of care serving the northwest Georgia region. The Dalton-based flagship of the system, Hamilton Medical Center, is a 255-bed regional acute-care hospital that offers major medical, surgical and diagnostic services, including award-winning, accredited stroke and chest pain centers.

Known for its advanced care and personalized service, Hamilton Health Care System offers innovative treatment options in state-of-the-art facilities while maintaining a compassionate, friendly, and tranquil healing environment.

Hamilton’s History

In the winter of 1919, an influenza epidemic swept the world. The trip to Chattanooga for health care services was long and difficult for North Georgia residents. Under the “Hospitals” listing, the Dalton city directory stated three simple words: “We need one.”

In the type of cooperative partnership that would be repeated in the years to come, the area’s largest employers, local doctors, and area citizens came together to fill a community need. Crown Cotton Mills, Elk Mills, and several physicians donated property and funds for a new $75,000 hospital. Individuals and organizations furnished rooms.

The long-awaited Hamilton Memorial Hospital, named for Crown Cotton Mills founder George W. Hamilton, Sr., was dedicated on May 12, 1921, on National Hospital Day. It remained there until 1956, when Hamilton relocated from downtown Dalton to its present-day location on Memorial Drive.

Throughout the subsequent decades, Hamilton has grown in size and sophistication to become a source of pride for the region and a reputable regional healthcare system offering advanced facilities, equipment, and programming to the growing communities it serves.

Today, Hamilton Health Care System is still making history. It has thrived through challenging and unpredictable shifts in the healthcare environment without losing sight of its charitable mission to advance the quality and dignity of life for all residents.