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St. Barnabas Hospital was incorporated as “The Home for Incurables” on April 6, 1866, less than a year after the close of the Civil War. At the time, it was the world’s second chronic disease hospital, America’s first, and the inspiration for many to follow. The Home was founded by the Rev. Washington Rodman, rector of Grace Episcopal Church, in the West Farms area of what is now the Bronx. He called together a group of public-spirited citizens to explore how to provide a haven for so-called incurables who could not be cared for in existing hospitals. Rev. Rodman’s goal was to bring hope and medical care to a group that had neither.

The Home for Incurables received its first patients in 1867 in a small, frame building that had been a temperance house. Thirty-three patients were admitted the first year. Dr. P.C. Pease, the Home's first physician, noted that, “...where the faintest hope exists, no efforts are spared nor are any new remedies left untried.” It was here that nitrous oxide was first successfully used as an anesthetic in prolonged operations.

In November 1947, the name was officially changed to "St. Barnabas Hospital for Chronic Diseases" and is known today as St. Barnabas Hospital.

Today, St. Barnabas is a 461-bed nonsectarian community hospital and Level I Trauma Center providing the highest quality of care to a diverse and changing Bronx community.