Tag Archives: Georgia Hospitals & Asylums

Americus Colored Hospital, 1923

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The first facility in South Georgia where black doctors, nurses, and pharmacists could train, practice, and serve people of color, the Americus Colored Hospital was established by Dr. William Stuart Prather (1868-1941), a white physician who was well aware of the health care needs of this under-served community. He bought the property and built this state-of-the-art facility, with the cooperation and contributions of the Americus Negro Business League and the Americus Junior Welfare League.

According to the Americus-Sumter County Movement Remembered Committee (ASMRC), 33 doctors, 2 dentists, 2 pharmacists, 6 registered nurses, and 18 nursing professionals were associated with the hospital. The resulting black middle class that grew out of this experiment was one of the most vibrant in the state; in fact, Americus-Sumter County had more black professionals and landowners than anywhere else in Georgia from the 1920s-1942.

Though it faced numerous difficulties, it was an important resource for the African-American community until it closed in 1953. At that time, Sumter Regional Hospital opened its doors, and because it used federal funds via the Hill-Burton Act, couldn’t discriminate by race. The act didn’t mandate desegregation, however, and Sumter Regional was racially compartmentalized. Since no black doctors were hired, much of the black middle class left Americus, resulting in a negative economic impact. The Americus Chapter of the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, purchased the Colored Hospital building and used it as a nursery and youth center. During the Civil Rights Movement, it also served as a Freedom School and Training Center.

Presently, it is being restored for use as the Americus Civil Rights and Cultural Center.

Several Historic Buildings to Be Demolished at Central State Hospital

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Walker Building, Built in 1874 for the convalescence of white male patients of the Georgia Lunatic Asylum.

Citing dangerous conditions and ongoing issues with trespassing, the state of Georgia plans to demolish the Walker, Jones, and Green buildings, and the wash house on the historic campus of Central State Hospital. Strangely, the old prison buildings near the cemetery, which appear to be the most dangerous structures on the property, aren’t included in the order. The governor has signed off on the demolition request from the state’s behavioral health board and work could begin as soon as this fall. The iconic Powell Building and restored depot will remain.

A spokesperson for the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities told the Milledgeville Union-Recorder: “First, we understand the connection the community has with Central State Hospital and the concern community members have over the protection of the property,” DBHDD communications director Ryan King said in an email response. “DBHDD explored in-depth the alternatives on these properties. Ultimately, it was determined that demolition was the only viable option to mitigate the significant and potentially deadly risk these buildings pose to the public and to create a path for the property to be revitalized.”

“In attempts to breathe life back into the Central State Hospital campus through reinvestment and partnerships, the intention is to demolish the Wash House, Walker, Green and Jones buildings. It’s important to understand the Powell Building will remain intact and serve as a centerpiece in potential reinvestment and redevelopment plans.“

Several preservation groups have spoken out against the plan, including the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation and the Atlanta Preservation Council. Milledgeville’s Convention and Visitors Bureau leads trolley tours of the property and numerous visitors pass through the grounds with cameras on a regular basis. Most of these people aren’t breaking any laws as exterior photography is allowed, but urban explorers who trespass inside these dangerous structures are the source of concern.

Old Hospital, Fitzgerald

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2008

Fitzgerald’s first general hospital was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s to replace Dr. Dudley B. Ware’s much smaller convalescent hospital on Central Avenue.

My grandmother worked here in the 1950s and my mother and father were born here. It was used by the community until 1974 when a more modern facility, Dorminy Memorial Hospital [now Dorminy Medical Center] opened. When I was growing up, the hospital housed the Cooperative Extension office and other governmental offices.

It was lost to arson in 2012.

Allen’s Invalid Home, Milledgeville

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This is one of two nearly identical structures that were later built on the site, and is the only surviving remnant of the sanitarium. From limited sources, I have preliminarily identified this as the administration building and Dr. Allen’s residence, though it has also been identified as the dining hall and women’s building.

In 1890, Dr. Henry Dawson Allen, Sr., bought the old Oglethorpe University property in the Midway community and in 1891 opened a private hospital for chronic incurable cases, likely as an alternative to the less personal care offered at the nearby State Lunatic Asylum.

Allen’s Invalid Home for the Treatment of Nervous Diseases was among the first private psychiatric institutions in the Southeastern United States. Dr. Allen was very progressive and bought up as much of the surrounding land, on which were grown a great variety of vegetables and stock for the use of the institution. Patients weren’t required to work but could if they chose to. Dr. Allen’s sons, Dr. H. D. Allen, Jr., and Dr. Edwin Whitaker Allen, Sr., eventually practiced alongside their father.

Rear of the building, showing the addition.

Abandoned Interiors of Allen’s Invalid Home

Please note that this is private property. I had permission to photograph. If you wish to photograph you may wish to make a donation to the Maranatha Mission, which oversees the property.

Jim Dixon House, 1910, Metter

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This home also served as Metter’s first hospital.

South Metter Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

The Charm House, 1907, Clarkesville

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W. R. Asbury built this home and named it Oak Heights. Later it served as the Clarkesville hospital and was a boarding house known as the Charm House, hence its present designation. It has also been home to a bed and breakfast and a restaurant. It’s a grand Neoclassical house and sits back from Washington Street on a beautifully manicured lot.

Washington-Jefferson Street Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Stewart-Webster Hospital, 1950, Richland

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The cornerstone of the hospital is dated 1949 but I understand it wasn’t completed and occupied until 1950. It was sponsored by the Richland Lions Club and Dr. J. T. Phillips was the hospital authority chairman. This is just one of numerous rural hospitals that have closed in recent years, leaving many without accessible major medical care. The politics around the issue go back and forth, but when your county loses a hospital, that’s irrelevant. This particular hospital served two counties.

Sumter County Hospital, 1913, Americus

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A group of local women established the Americus & Sumter County Hospital Association in 1908 and after raising funds and community interest in a modern medical facility, they dedicated the Sumter County Hospital in 1913.

Initially a 27-bed facility, it doubled in size after the addition of an annex in 1932. It was in use until a new hospital opened north of town in 1952.

This Prairie style landmark has been abandoned for over 60 years and is presently on the market.

Americus Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Dismuke & Willis Sanitarium, 1914, Ocilla

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Dr. Herman Dismuke holding Brenda McCormick, whom he had delivered a year earlier, 27 April 1947

Ocilla’s first hospital, with 20 beds, was opened by Dr. Herman Dismuke* and Dr. Gabe Willis in 1914. It originally featured wrap-around porches. Jamie Wilcox Lovett and Cindy Griffin note that this was built by their great-grandfather, Robert Toombs Woolsey. It was made obsolete by a newer facility in the early 1930s and is now a private residence.

*Dr. Dismuke was the most beloved physician in Irwin County during his lifetime. He delivered thousands of babies, promoted modern health and sanitary practices through his work with the clinic at Irwinville Farms during the Great Depression and served as the county doctor.

Sandra Crouch Irons writes: My grandfather, Thomas A. Crouch, purchased this building to house his wife and family which included 7 children the first of which was born in 1898 and the last in 1911. I’m not exactly sure as to when he purchased the sanitarium, but I do have photographs of my father, Joseph P. Crouch, outside the back porch when he was about 12 which would have made the date around 1923. The sanitarium was never replaced around the 1930s because the Crouch family lived there. I am aware that my grandfather remodeled some of the interior, but the exterior remained basically the same until it was sold somewhere around the late 1980s/early 90s. I lived in and grew up in this house from 1954, when my father retired from the Marines and moved back to Ocilla, until I went to college in 1965. My husband, Stephen Irons, our daughter, Jennifer, and I continued to visit my parents and Aunt Joree who continued to live here until the house was sold.

 

Central State Hospital, Milledgeville

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Central Building [now known as the Powell Building]

The Georgia Lunatic Asylum opened on the outskirts of Milledgeville in 1842, its name only slightly more benign than the original “Lunatic, Idiot and Epileptic Asylum” conjured at its establishment in 1837. The need for such a facility was precipitated by the social reform movements popular in the early 19th century and at first, especially under the guidance of Dr. Thomas A. Green, patients were treated as humanely as possible. Green was responsible for attempting to humanize the plight of the asylum’s population, removing chains and restraints and even taking meals with them. Within its next century, though, the institution occupied over 200 buildings on nearly 2000 acres. At its peak, there were nearly 13,000 souls residing here, making it the largest state mental institution in the nation.

Walker Building


Unfortunately, after the Civil War, the institution experienced rapid growth, as many communities warehoused “undesirable” people from their communities to what was essentially a prison sentence at Milledgeville. This included thousands of veterans whose maladies deemed them impossible to treat in their resource-strained communities. This growth lead to a 100:1 physician to patient ratio that persisted for nearly a hundred years. In 1897, the facility came to be known as the Georgia State Sanitarium. But to most Georgians, it was simply known as “Milledgeville”. It was universally known in the state as a place to avoid. Walking the immense grounds today, one has to feel sorrow for the souls who were put away here, and a sense of anger at the horrible way we treated the mentally ill until the recent past.

Storehouse

By the 1960s, pharmaceutical advances helped reduce the number of patients who were subjected to such horrific treatments as electroshock therapy and lobotomies. For much of the 20th century, the institution was essentially an experimental laboratory of psychology, doing greater damage to its residents than good. The name of the property was changed to Central State Hospital in 1967 and by the 1970s, the population was in rapid decrease.

Auditorium

Today, fewer than 200 residents are in treatment here and a goal of phasing out the facility altogether is closer to reality. Most of the buildings are in ruin and while anyone is welcome to walk around the grounds, it’s illegal to enter any of the structures. A round-the-clock security team strictly enforces this mandate.