Two stacked black & white photos, each showing an old automobile with various people in or around

Ambulance service, 1908 and 1912

Ambulance service was established at the MGH in 1873 “for the conveyance of cases of accident, or urgent sudden sickness, not contagious, to the Hospital.” The early horse-drawn ambulances were eventually replaced by motor vehicles using electricity, steam and then gasoline. Above is the 1908 MGH ambulance, a White Steamer. Below, a Packard purchased in 1912, with Percy B. Gamble, eventual chief of the ambulance drivers, at the wheel.