Due to the efforts of Fire Chief Henry Yates and Kiwanis Club President Dr. Alfred Warner, the Schenectady Reconstruction Home for Crippled Children was incorporated on November 4, 1926.

Hospitals from a 23-county region transferred their polio patients to Sunnyview after the communicable phase of their disease was completed.."[1] With the advent of vaccines, and a decrease in polio cases, in 1957 the Sunnyview board made the decided to change its mission to become a comprehensive rehabilitation hospital.

Sunnyview created the "Studio Arts Project" in June of 2002 to provide a program for disabled students that promotes creativity, independence, dignity, and community integration.

Modeled after Ronald McDonald House, it provides temporary accommodation for the families of children receiving medical treatment at local hospitals, including Sunnyview.

[5] Following the death of an Erie Canal barge tender, the city's first medical facility, the Schenectady Free Dispensary, opened in 1885.

Eight years later, a new 30-bed hospital opened on Jay Street, through the charitable support of Charles G. Ellis, president of Schenectady Locomotive Works.