The Legacy Circle of The Wells Philanthropic Society

In 1884, a group of community leaders formed the Hospital Aid Association whose object was to secure a hospital for New Brunswick. The New Brunswick City Hospital operated out of a small rented cottage, and then a larger house on Commercial Avenue.

The Association committed themselves to raising $3,000 to purchase a lot on Somerset Street and in 1889, a widow named Grace Tileston Wells used her own funds to construct a proper hospital building on that lot, establishing The John Wells Memorial Hospital in memory of her husband. That initial gift gave rise to what we now know as New Jersey’s premier academic medical center, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.

To honor Grace Wells, whose generosity and forethought contributed so significantly to the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital of today, The Wells Philanthropic Society has been established to recognize and pay tribute to those individuals who have made an investment in the future of the hospital.

The Legacy Circle of The Wells Philanthropic Society has been established to recognize and pay tribute to those individuals who have made an investment in the future of the hospital through a charitable bequest or other planned gift.