On January 18, 1886, Dr. James W. McLane approached the College of Physicians and Surgeons Board of Trustees with the issue of a lack of obstetrical training and care in New York.

[1] The hospital was located on the P&S campus in Midtown Manhattan at Amsterdam Avenue and 59th Street, serving as a teaching facility for P&S students, and opened its doors in early 1888.

It was originally created on the basis of free obstetrical care for underprivileged, but due to increasing fees the endowment of the Sloane Family could not cover all the costs.

[4] In 1928, it moved with P&S and Presbyterian Hospital to its present location on 168th Street in the Washington Heights area of northern Manhattan to form Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center.

[citation needed] Notable people born at Sloane include actor Humphrey Bogart, National Geographic photographer Gordon Gahan and former First Lady of the United States Nancy Reagan.

[citation needed] The Sloane Maternity Hospital was created to focus on obstetrical care and referred all gynecological patients to the Vanderbilt Clinic.

[1] After birth, maternal care consisted of vaginal sutures with silk worm gut, a transfusion of ergot to prevent bleeding, and bed rest for 9 days after delivery.

[1] The detailed case histories of these patients discussed tools and techniques used at the hospital including: cephalotripsy, the use of chloroform as an anesthetic, the use of opium for pain treatment, the use of a Barnes' dilator, the Crede's maneuver, and bougie labor induction.

[1] After its founding, and in coordination with Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Sloane Maternity Hospital became an obstetrical student training center.

For a fee of $50, the student would be provided a dormitory, forty lessons on obstetrical operations, observation of births at the hospital, and teachings on how to treat new born infants.