St. John's Episcopal Hospital South Shore^[2][3][4] opened as St. Joseph's Hospital^[5][6] on June 25, 1905,^[7][8] became the South Shore Division of Long Island Jewish Hospital in January 1973, and was renamed St. John's Episcopal Hospital South Shore on July 1, 1976.

During the 3+1⁄2 years that Long Island Jewish operated South Shore, Peninsula Hospital attempted to take over this Far Rockaway hospital.^[9]

Regarding the need for a replacement for the century-old hospital^[6] The New York Times wrote in 1976 that a clash between "officials said they could not continue to operate in the old structure" and voters who "feared a new hospital would bring too many people and cars into their community" resulted in a takeover by another group.^[2][6] A proposed closing was avoided via a takeover by a related hospital group. A bankruptcy filed in 1999 by that group resulted in selling one of the group's hospitals.^[10]

In 1987 the 300-bed hospital installed a dairy kosher kitchen.^[11]

Peninsula Hospital, which in 2006 a state agency wanted St. Johns to absorb,^[12] closed in 2012. This closing left St. John's, whose emergency room "was last renovated in the 1960s"^[13] as the only hospital in Far Rockaway.