Sheltering Arms Hospital was established in Athens, Ohio, on May 21, 1921, when two rooms of the Charles and Delia Breinig home on Clark Street became a lying-in hospital for maternity patients. The hospital came about at the suggestion of Dr. John R. Sprague with strong endorsement by Dr. Blaine R. Goldsberry. At that time, area residents received healthcare services in physicians' offices or in their homes because there was no hospital.

Mr. Breinig continued to build additions to the hospital and, together with Mrs. Breinig, operated the hospital until it was sold to Dr. T. H. Morgan in 1947. Dr. Morgan and his wife Betty Gilham Morgan (Anastas), who became the hospital's manager, soon increased the hospital from 46 beds to 52 beds and nine bassinets and began completely renovating the facility.

In 1948, civic leaders organized the Sheltering Arms Hospital Foundation, Inc., to solicit funds to expand the hospital's services. When Dr. Morgan died in 1957, ownership of the hospital was transferred to the Sheltering Arms Hospital Foundation, Inc., in accordance with the terms of Dr. Morgan's will. Today, the foundation continues to operate O'Bleness Memorial Hospital and additional affiliates as the O'Bleness Health System.

In the early 1960s, area physicians and hospital leadership decided that the growing Athens community needed a larger, modern facility. A major fund-raising campaign was launched that raised $1.7 million for the construction of a new hospital. The hospital was named O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in honor of Charles G. O'Bleness, the hospital's major benefactor. Further expansions of the hospital were made possible, in part, by the community's overwhelming support of O'Bleness' fund-raising campaigns.

Throughout the decades, the hospital has kept pace with advances in healthcare technology and undergone extensive modernization that has expanded and improved many areas of the hospital. Major construction completed in 1995 created a new emergency department, laboratory, patient registration area, business offices, gift shop and several waiting areas as well as a medical office building attached to the hospital. Renovation expanded the surgery, outpatient and radiology departments. In 1998, O'Bleness' Birth Center moved into newly renovated space on the hospital's second floor. A second major fund-raising campaign in the community raised $1.4 million toward the financing of the building project.

In 2004, the Castrop Center was constructed near the hospital in the O’Bleness Medical Park. Several hospital services are located in the Castrop Center including the O’Bleness Rehabilitation Center as well as satellites for laboratory, imaging and patient registration. Other affiliates of the O’Bleness Health System are also located in the Center.

The Cornwell Center for Cardiovascular and Diabetes Care opened in 2006 at the west end of the hospital. The Center brings together a progressive alliance of healthcare professionals who provide a comprehensive array of services related to cardiovascular disease and diabetes mellitus – two diseases often linked. State-of-the art diagnostic testing, treatment, rehabilitation, patient education and clinical research, as well as professional training programs, are available at this contemporary regional center serving Southeastern Ohio. O’Bleness Memorial Hospital’s low-risk catheterization laboratory for cardiac and vascular procedures is located in the Cornwell Center, as well as HeartWorks cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation program in conjunction with WellWorks at Ohio University.

For more information about the history of O'Bleness Memorial Hospital and the practice of medicine in Athens, Ohio, check out our historical tabloid published in 1996 by The Athens Messenger in recognition of the hospital's 75th anniversary.

The O'Bleness Health System also maintains a website with information about its affiliates.