Missing Apostrophe

One of the many ways Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is unique is the spelling of the name itself -- Childrens is spelled without an apostrophe.  For as long as anyone remembers, whenever the curious asked what happened to the apostrophe they were told, "there never was one."

The original incorporation papers filed in 1901 were typed without an apostrophe.  All the other keys of that long-ago typewriter seemed to work.  The capital letters typed clearly, and the key for the colon worked: but there was no apostrophe in Childrens.  The new corporate entity was given birth and recognized by the State of California as the Childrens Hospital Society of Los Angeles.

The missing apostrophe was evidently not noticed at the time of filing, nor for many years afterward.  The first annual report spelled the name with an apostrophe.  The original bylaws were printed with an apostrophe.  Yet, the sign above the porch of the first hospital clearly said "Childrens Hospital."

At some point in the early decades, the hospital’s name as it appeared in the minutes of the Board of Directors meetings began to be spelled without the apostrophe.  (Someone evidently had checked the official incorporation papers.)  Other reports, announcements and brochures merrily used the apostrophe.

The mischievous apostrophe was nearing its end in 1941.  When a previously unknown organization began soliciting funds using Childrens Hospital in its name, the hospital’s attorneys were consulted.  Probably at this time, lawyers confirmed that the corporate name was spelled Childrens Hospital and advised the administration to say goodbye to the apostrophe and use the legal name consistently.

On July 19, 1961, the Board of Directors changed the name of the hospital from Childrens Hospital Society of Los Angeles to the briefer Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles (again, no apostrophe).  One imagines that there was some discussion about this surely there were grammarians who argued for the apostrophe and the opportunity to include it in the name change.  But tradition prevailed.  The unusual spelling had come to convey the notion of a hospital for children.  Today the legal name remains Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, and the logotype and common usage name remain Childrens Hospital Los Angeles (without the of), spellings that have lasted a century.