A 16th-century building originally occupied by the Jesuits, it was taken over in 1785 by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God, who continued to provide services both in the church and the hospital. By 1827, due to neglect, the state leader J. M. García Rojas transferred the complex to the city government and later to the municipality, renaming it the Civil Hospital. Years later, it was converted into a psychiatric hospital. In 1921, the Sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate transformed the building into the Hospital of San José. After their departure in 1992, the hospital came under the administration of the Diocese of Zacatecas.