Hackettstown Regional Medical Center Information

Hackettstown Medical Center has been open since 1973, but its beginnings go back to the 1940s when William Rossy and other residents of Hackettstown saw the need for a hospital in their home town. The first recorded plea for a hospital in Hackettstown came in 1945 from Dr. Carl Maxwell, a local Seventh-day Adventist physician. Several years passed before a group of Kiwanis Club members and other dedicated individuals formed the Hackettstown Hospital Committee, which first met in 1953. In 1955, Tommy Tomeo was president of the local chapter of Unico International, an Italian service club of businessmen and professionals. Dr. Frank Rocco spoke at a chapter meeting about the health care needs of the community and the distressing fact that the nearest hospital was some 20 miles away. Tomeo was hooked on the idea of building a hospital and, along with 20 other townspeople, formed a corporation called Hackettstown Community Hospital and became its first executive committee president. They pooled $22,500 out of their own pockets to purchase the hospital's 15 acres of land in 1956 and named Dan Allen, a local gentleman farmer, as Board president.