Our History

The Henrietta Johnson Medical Center has been "Helping, Healing and Caring" in the Wilmington community for more than four decades.  

In 1967 a better-health subcommittee of the Greater Wilmington Development Council began to discuss and investigate the health care resources available for the inner city of Wilmington.  Motivated by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968, Dr. Allston J. Morris was one of the original physicians who approached the Health Planning Council. Southbridge, a primarily black, low-income neighborhood isolated from the city was selected as a site for a health center. Bylaws for the Southbridge Medical Activities Center (S.M.A.C.) were written and revised, and by June of 1969 they were incorporated.

Southbridge received support from many groups and individuals. The Wilmington Medical Center provided training for Southbridge staff, the Delaware Pharmaceutical Association staffed the pharmacy, Physicians Organized to Practice at Southbridge provided volunteer physicians, area doctors donated medical equipment, and the Crystal Trust and a private donor provided the initial financial support. 

With its fifteen volunteer doctors and seventeen pharmacists, Southbridge Medical Activities Center was the first privately funded community health center in Delaware.  Highlights of our history include from that point:

• 1973…S.M.A.C. receives the Delaware Public Health Association’s first ever award for outstanding community service in the field of public health.
• 1974…As the demand for services increases, the need for additional staff became critical. Consequently, S.M.A.C. begins the transformation from volunteer to paid professionals.
• 1977…We receive federal funding through the Department of Health and Human Services.
• 1980…S.M.A.C. moves out its quarters on A Street to the Henrietta Johnson Community Center on New Castle Avenue.  We change our name to the Henrietta Johnson Medical Center or HJMC.
• 1999… Henrietta Johnson Medical Center opens a second office at the Riverside Medical Arts Complex, located on Lea Boulevard in the Northeast section of Wilmington.
• 2000…after a successful capital campaign, HJMC renovates and expands the current building to be able to treat the increased number of patients from Wilmington and beyond.  The building includes dental facilities, a first in Delaware among federally funded healthcare facilities.
• 2008…with the support of a federal grant, Henrietta Johnson Medical Center takes the initial steps to changeover to computer-based electronic medical records, scheduling and billing.  The result:  better patient care, lower costs, better time-utilization.
• 2010…Because of a generous grant from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Delaware, BluePrints for the Community, HJMC expands women's health services by adding a second full-time OB/GYN.
• 2010…The Henrietta Johnson Medical Center initiates the planning of a capital campaign to meet the increased need for dental and women’s health services.

The Biography of Mrs. Henrietta Johnson 1914-1997

Henrietta Johnson - (1914-1997) was born on July 24,1914 in Baltimore, MD. She was the mother of 3 children, 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren. She spent 20 years as a nurse and also volunteered at the YMCA, Layton Home for the Aged and Delaware Adolescent Program.

Mrs. Johnson made political history in Delaware by becoming the first Black woman elected to the Delaware General Assembly House of Representatives. She served four 2-year terms representing the people of the 3rd district. During her years in the General Assembly, she sponsored legislation for financial support to senior citizen centers, community based social services, increased welfare benefits and general obligation bonds for school renovations. In 1980, Mrs. Johnson was honored for her years as a tireless representative of the people by having a multi-purpose facility named in her honor..... Henrietta Johnson Medical Center.