History of Shriners Children's Greenville

Established: September 26, 1927

In May 1925, Greenville’s Hejaz Temple pledged $100,000 for a hospital committed to providing treatment at no cost to children in need of orthopedic care after a Scottish Rite member noticed the great influx of patients traveling to Atlanta from South Carolina for treatment at the Scottish Rite Hospital.

Thanks to local philanthropist W.W. Burgiss, plans to establish the Shriners' 15th hospital began in Greenville. In November 1925, Burgiss Charities purchased five acres of land and immediately began constructing a 50-bed hospital.

Two years later, the Shriners advanced the last $35,000 of the project's $350,000 cost. On September 26, 1927, thousands of people gathered to celebrate the opening of the hospital with a giant Shriners parade.

The hospital remained in its original location for 62 years before moving to a larger, modern facility on Faris Road in 1989. Shriners Children's Greenville remains in the same location today, where it offers comprehensive disciplinary care under one roof, including radiology, prosthetics and orthotics, a motion analysis center and rehabilitation services.

Location Highlights

• 1927: The hospital opens to the cheers of hundreds at a grand parade.
• 1989: Evolving to meet the needs of a growing population and modernizing its facility, the hospital relocates into a new building.
• 1994: The motion analysis center opened, allowing the gait of each patient to be evaluated and analyzed using state-of-the-art technology.
• 2010: T. Whitney Gibson, D.O., made medical history by performing a successful arthroscopic hip surgery on a 4-month-old child – the youngest patient at that time to undergo the procedure.
• 2013: First X-ray performed using the EOS, the only radiology machine of its kind in the state – emitting only a fraction of the radiation of a standard X-ray.
• 2016: The hospital adds the seventh pediatric orthopedic surgeon (Lauren Hyer, M.D.) to the medical staff, making the hospital home to the largest team of pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the Carolinas. Dr. Hyer also becomes one of only two practicing female pediatric orthopedic surgeons in the state.
• 2017: Mayor Knox White declares it Greenville Shriners Hospital Day in the city during the celebration of the hospital's 90th anniversary.
• 2018: Bill Munley is named administrator, becoming only the eighth individual to hold the position in the hospital's history. Five years later, Munley is elevated to the regional administrator role, overseeing not only Shriners Children's Greenville operations but also those in Florida and Lexington, Kentucky.
• 2021: For the first time, Shriners Children's Greenville wins in multiple categories, including Best Hospital, in The Best of the Upstate Awards – an honor determined by public vote.
• 2023: Shriners Children's Greenville wins the prestigious Pinnacle of Excellence Award® from Press Ganey for ranking in the top 5% of all comparable hospitals in the United States over three consecutive years.