page_title: Cleveland Clinic
section_title: Cleveland Clinic fire
hierarchical_section_title: Cleveland Clinic / History / Cleveland Clinic fire
caption_attribution_description: English: This is the building where Cleveland Clinic began in 1921.
context_page_description: The Cleveland Clinic is an American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170 acre campus in Cleveland, as well as 11 regional hospitals, 19 family health centers in northeast Ohio, and hospitals in Florida and Nevada. Outside the United States, Cleveland Clinic also operates the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi hospital and a sports medicine clinic in Toronto. A Cleveland Clinic hospital campus in London is scheduled to open in 2021. Tomislav Mihaljevic is the president and CEO.
  Cleveland Clinic is consistently ranked as one of the best hospitals in the United States. In 2018-2019, the U.S. News & World Report ranked Cleveland Clinic as the number 2 hospital in the Best Hospitals Honor Roll, as it was nationally ranked in 14 adult and 10 pediatric specialties. Cleveland Clinic’s cardiology program has ranked No. 1 in the nation since 1995.
  Cleveland Clinic's operating revenue in 2017 was $8.4 billion and its operating income $330 million. That year it recorded 7.6 million patient visits and 229,132 admissions.
context_section_description: On May 15, 1929, nitrocellulose x-ray films stored in the basement of the outpatient building ignited. An explosion sent a cloud of toxic oxides of nitrogen and carbon though the building. One hundred and twenty-three people lost their lives, including John Phillips, one of the founders. A dozen investigating agencies were not able to determine what had caused the fire. Cleveland Clinic's own inquiry narrowed the possible causes down to spontaneous combustion caused by heat; a discarded cigarette or match; and contact with an extension cord light hung over a stack of films.
  Philanthropist Samuel Mather formed a committee of 36 community leaders to help Cleveland Clinic reestablish itself in temporary quarters across the street. Patient care services resumed five days later. The 1921 building was completely renovated, and a new three-story clinic building, with a new main entrance, was added in 1931. All debts were repaid by 1941.
caption: Cleveland Clinic's original building, built in 1921
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