In this paper, we argue for the importance of understanding hospital closings and relocations. Broad descriptive data on closings, relocations, and other reconfigurations of beds in 52 large and mid-size U.S. cities are presented. The period covered is 1937 to 1980. Two contrasting outlooks on hospital closings and relocations are offered. As hypothesized, smaller and less specialized nonteaching hospitals and those located in minority neighborhoods or serving above-average proportions of minority or Medicaid-funded patients were more likely to close. A potentially more effective but more costly and less accessible system of urban health care appears to result.