Photo gallery: #tbt Throwback Thursday | Akron Children's Hospital

We started counting down to our 125th anniversary year in late August 2014 with Throwback Thursday – #tbt – on our Instagram, Facebook and Twitter channels. We hope you enjoy perusing this collection of #tbt images as much as we enjoyed creating them.

#TBT Ringling Brothers
When the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circus used to parade through Peninsula on the way to the Coliseum, a stray clown or two always made their way to Akron Children’s.

#TBT Kids Are Number One Run
First held in 1984, the Kids Are Number One Run is a day of fun and fitness for local families. The race raises thousands of dollars each year for hospital programs.

#TBT Richard Dawson
Best known for hosting the game show Family Feud, actor Richard Dawson was family friendly during his visit to Akron Children's as a Soap Box Derby celeb.

#TBT Centennial expansion
Akron Children’s celebrated its 100th anniversary with the Centennial expansion, moving the hospital’s front door across Buchtel Avenue and into Perkins Square Park.

#TBT Hydrotherapy Tub
When our regional burn center opened in 1978, Children’s was one of only two pediatric facilities with a center that treated both children and adults. The center featured hydrotherapy tubs to provide pain relief and treatment for burn patients.

#TBT Smiling Faces
125 years of smiling faces have greeted children and families as they arrived on their floor, including this nurse on the hospital’s West wing, which was built in the 1940s and 1950s.

#TBT Bill Considine
In his 35 years as president and CEO of Akron Children’s Hospital, it appears there was at least one occasion when Bill Considine needed to take the bull by the horns

#TBT Nursing Dorm
Opened in 1970, the new nursing dorm provided students with safe, convenient accommodations and helped the hospital expand its nursing education program.

#TBT Iron Lung
Before the development of the polio vaccine, “iron lungs” allowed children stricken by the disease to breathe despite respiratory failure.

#TBT Petie the Pony
Since 1997, the return of spring heralds another season of visits from Petie the Pony, thought to be the only horse that visits patients at the bedside.

#TBT Laundry
Some “pressing matters” in the laundry department, circa 1920s. Akron Children’s has a long history of clean, pressed sheets.

#TBT Poison Prevention
In recognition of National Poison Prevention Week, we’re flashing back to the first poison control center at Akron Children’s Hospital, established in 1957.

#TBT Nurses, circa 1913
Great pediatric care is always in style. Members of the nursing staff at the Mary Day Nursery and Children’s Hospital, circa 1913.

#TBT Doggie Brigade
Kisses have been part of the fun from the early days of the Doggie Brigade, the second oldest dog visitation program in the country.

#TBT Bill & Becky 1968
Hospital president and CEO Bill Considine woos future wife Becky Krenrick at a University of Akron Greek week dance in 1968.

#TBT Captain Kangaroo
Long-time children’s show host Bob “Captain Kangaroo” Keeshan stopped by for a visit.

#TBT Bambino
Created in 1910, the della Robbia bambino inspired today’s edition, first used in the '70s.

#TBT Circa 1940 Nurse
Nursing attire at @AkronChildrens, circa 1940. A favorite toy is always fashionable.

#TBT Music Therapy
Music therapist Shella Benson gives a young patient a chance to pluck the strings during an impromptu duet.

#TBT Bonanza
Hoss, Little Joe & Ben Cartwright took a break from the Ponderosa to visit a patient in 1964.

#TBT 1973 ED
Does this ED counter from 1973 look familiar to you?

#TBT Mary Day to Today
Since 1890, Akron Children’s has evolved into the largest pediatric healthcare system in northeast Ohio with about 80 locations.

#TBT NICU
We opened our first neonatal intensive care unit in 1970. In May 2015, our Akron NICU is moving into the new Kay Jewelers Pavilion.

#TBT Child Life 1979
Since we established our child life program in 1979, our child life specialists have been important members of the healthcare team.

#TBT Call a Nurse
For many years, our nurses and staff have just been a phone call away 24/7 to answer your questions and concerns.

#TBT Hospital in 1949
The hospital’s appearance has changed dramatically in 125 years. This photo shows the front entrance on Bowery Street in 1949.

#TBT Ronald McDonald House
The Ronald McDonald House of Akron broke ground in 1984 for its current facility. This “home away from home” gives families a place to stay while their loved one is a patient at Akron Children’s.

#TBT 1st Tree Festival 1982
A crowd gathers for the Holiday Tree Festival in its inaugural year, 1982, at Quaker Square. The festival is an Akron tradition and one of our largest fundraisers.

#TBT Air Transport
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the Ohio National Guard transported critically-ill newborns via helicopter to Akron Children's. Today, patients are transported in our pediatric helicopter, Air Bear, the first of its kind in the state.

#TBT Muhammad Ali visits
In 1986, our patients were treated to a visit from famed boxer Muhammad Ali. The Champ spent hours signing autographs and posing for photos.

#TBT Darth Vader visits
Darth Vader may be the villain of a galaxy far, far away, but our kids were excited to receive Luke’s father’s autograph when he visited the hospital in 1980.

#TBT Nurses in 1959
While a lot has changed about nursing since this photo was taken in 1959, one thing that has remained constant is the desire of nurses to learn and gain knowledge.

#TBT Doggie Brigade
Since 1992, our patients have been treated to visits from 4-legged friends in the Doggie Brigade. Here, Bumper snuggled up with a patient while making his rounds.

#TBT 1947 Polio
In 1947, polio cases pushed us beyond our capacity and we moved less severely affected patients next door to Grace Church so no patient was turned away.

#TBT Clown Visit 1967
Visiting patients is hard work, and sometimes, you just need to rest. This clown took a break with a patient back in 1967.

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