At the turn of the 20th Century, Pittsburgh was booming, and West Penn had outgrown its busy Strip District home. Smoky, noisy and buffeted by railroad yards, the hillside was referred to as the “Golgotha of the Iron City.” The hospital needed electricity, more modern rooms, and a better location, and the hospital's board — populated by names like Heinz, Frick, Carnegie, Mellon and Horne — agreed to build a new hospital in Pittsburgh's Bloomfield neighborhood, about a mile to the east. The cornerstone was laid in 1909, and on New Year's Day, 1912, the new West Penn Hospital opened. The six-story, X-shaped hospital was able to accommodate up to 500 patients, and featured modern operating rooms, laboratories, and X-ray machines.