Prior to 1931 St. Louis County had no hospital facilities of its own; patients had to use hospitals in the city of St. Louis. A 1927 bond issue allocating funds for a county hospital passed, and in 1929 construction began on a 28-acre site in Clayton. The non-segregated, 200-bed St. Louis County Hospital opened in July 1931. In June 1986 inpatient care was discontinued.