The Boston Evening
Clinic's building
until 1991.
Dr. Morris Cohen founded the Boston Evening Clinic in 1927 with the mission to provide medical, surgical and mental healthcare for the working poor during the evenings
Workers and their families received quality medical care during convenient hours and no patient was turned away for lack of funds. The clinic continued this mission, and almost two generations later in 1964, celebrated its millionth patient and continued presence in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood.
No patient was turned away
for lack of funds
In the 1970s, the clinic joined the ranks of the community health movement as a community health center and was renamed the Boston Evening Medical Center. Daytime hours were added and services expanded for Boston’s elderly and low income residents. As the city changed, so did the clinic, making a move in 1991 from its historic building at 314 Commonwealth Avenue to a new modern facility just two blocks away.
As healthcare changed in the 1990s, the Boston Evening Medical Center found it increasingly difficult to remain an independent clinic. On the eve of its 71st anniversary in 1998, the clinic’s medical practice was acquired by Massachusetts General Hospital.
The Boston Evening Clinic Foundation was created by the clinic’s Board of Directors after it ceased providing direct medical services. The foundation continues the mission of the clinic and is the torchbearer for
Dr. Cohen’s legacy – no longer by direct patient care - but through grants to other charitable organizations that provide healthcare services focusing on the medical needs of low income persons, their families and the elderly.