Virginia Kettering and her husband Eugene, son of famous inventor Charles F. Kettering, were native citizens of Dayton. They moved to Hinsdale, Illinois near Chicago in the 1940s. During the polio epidemic in the 1950s, they were inspired by the care given at Hinsdale Hospital, which would play a vital role in the foundation of Kettering Medical Center. Following the death of his father in 1958, the younger Ketterings moved from Illinois back to Dayton to help manage family affairs. Health care was a primary focus of Charles Kettering, so Eugene and Virginia led efforts to open a local area hospital in his honor. Ground was broken on July 7, 1961. In 1964, Charles F. Kettering Memorial Hospital opened under the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In 2016, Kettering Health opened the new pavilion that houses the Kettering Health Cancer Center, and Kettering Health Brain & Spine. The $60 million structure is connected to the main hospital via a skybridge over Southern Boulevard.
