75th Anniversary

Up until the formation of the Tahoe Forest Hospital District in 1949, Truckee was served only by a small, insufficient clinic in Brickeltown. Four years prior, recognizing this shortfall, the Rotary Club of Truckee proposed backing “some kind of hospital or first aid station with a bed” at the Truckee Fire Station. However, further discussion revealed the need for a “decent, fair-sized hospital,” and support grew behind forming a hospital district to build and operate a 12-bed hospital.

Read the original letter from Hobie Snider detailing the formation of the Hospital District (PDF)

In need of a site for the new hospital, the club approached Richard “Dick” Joseph, one of Truckee’s prominent landowners, who had recently lost his wife Margaret in childbirth. Joseph agreed to donate land in memory of his son Levon, who was killed in World War II.

Joseph was an Armenian immigrant who arrived in the U.S. in 1906. He fell in love with Truckee during a short stop on a train ride from Sacramento to Colorado, and eventually, he and Margaret settled there. By the 1920s, Joseph had become a prominent figure in town, purchasing much of the land that is now Gateway and running businesses like Manstyle Barbers, the Donner Hotel, and the Pastime Club.

But tragedy struck when complications arose during Margaret’s pregnancy and Joseph was forced to rush Margaret to Reno, where she died shortly after giving birth to twin girls. Joseph believed that if a full-service hospital had existed in Truckee, Margaret’s life could have been saved.

To facilitate the land donation, the Tahoe Forest Hospital District was formed in April 1949, and a bond was passed to finance its construction cost of $400,000 ($5.2 million in 2024 dollars). Tahoe Forest Hospital opened to patients on April 14, 1952, with two doctors and 15 beds.

In 1965, the hospital saw its first expansion with the opening of the North Wing, a 42-bed acute care center. Throughout the 1970s and 80s the hospital continued to grow, adding a new emergency department, x-ray and laboratory, physical and respiratory therapy, minor surgery, intensive care unit, and an alternative birthing center. Much of this expansion was a supported by additional land and monetary donations by Dick Joseph and his sisters, Roxie and Azad.

The early 2000s saw even greater growth, with the opening of the Western Addition in 2006, which included an intensive care unit, a medical surgery unit, an MRI facility, and a new lab. This was followed shortly thereafter by the passage of the 2007 Measure C General Obligation bond with 72% of the vote, providing $98.5 million for renovation and expansion. Construction began the following year, and the next eight years saw the opening of a new emergency department, a long-term care center, the Gene Upshaw Memorial Cancer Center, and the Joseph Family Center for Women and Newborn Care.

The Tahoe Forest Health System is deeply grateful to the Rotary Club of Truckee’s initial organizing efforts and to Dick Joseph’s original land donation, as well as to the Joseph family and our community’s continued support throughout the years. The Tahoe Forest Health System is honored to have served the Truckee-North Tahoe community for the past 75 years and is committed to providing exceptional healthcare in the years to come.