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| Grandchild spurred judge to build hospital |
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| Question: I am a relatively new resident to Boone County and I find the medical facilities adequate, but I am curious about the age of the local hospital. Do you have early information about the beginning of the hospital on Main Street in Harrison? |
| Answer: As far back as the late 1920s and early 1930s, local people realized the need for a good medical facility. Because of tight money during the Great Depression, a hospital had to take "back seat" on the list of priorities, even though the talk of a health center persisted. As military doctors began to return home after the war, some established offices with hospital bed space. Dr. O. B. McCoy bought the home of his then wife's grandfather, Dr. Leonidas Kirby; Dr. H. Kirby purchased the Hammerschmidt home just around the corner; Tom McCoy and Dr. Ulys Jackson established an office south of the Methodist Church on South Pine Street. Although the facilities were very good, they were not up to the standard of the Harrison Clinic that was being operated by Drs. Owens and Gladden. |
| Dr. J. G. Gladden had practiced in Western Grove and joined Dr. D. L. Owens in Harrison. Being interested in surgery, they built an up-to-date clinic at 113 East Rush. This buff brick building is now occupied by the Vita Saville CPA Group. Each doctor had offices in the front of the building - Dr. Owens on the left and Dr. Gladden on the right. The operating room was located near the rear of the building and the clinic had bed space for 12 patients. Dr. W. H. Poynor, who had been in practice since 1914, joined with Gladden and Owens and did most of the anesthesia. |
| Now let's get back to the history of the early county hospital. Most older county residents will tell you that County Judge Aubrey Hickenbottom was "the" man responsible for this county building a hospital. Aubrey was a smart, hard-working man who knew the facilities here were very inadequate, especially after his grandchild was born who needed more medical help than Harrison had to offer. With his political clout, he began the task of contacting county residents and state officials, gaining wide support, which was evident in 1947. |
| On November 17, 1947, a tax measure was approved that brought into the county a sum of $300,000, which along with $150,000 of Hill-Burton funds was enough to begin a county hospital building project. |
| The Boone County Hospital opened December 17, 1950, actually one day ahead of schedule due to the emergency surgery performed on Harrison's spirited and brilliant attorney J. Lloyd Shouse. The 50 bed hospital opened with 51 employees, including department heads as follows: Martha Milburn, supervisor of X-ray; Wayne Smith and Houston Ethridge, lab technicians; and Vera Parker, R.N., director of nursing services. |
| The first board of governors was appointed in July 1950. Serving on that board were: chairman Sterling Hurley, Claude Alexander, James Cecil, J. Smith Henley, Bert Askew, Ralph Hudson and Leland "Bud" Reid. Margaret McCormick was chosen as the hospital's first administrator. |
| In 1963, 32 beds were added to the facility and another 21 beds were added in 1967. The acquisition of the Johnson property that many remember as the Johnson Park on the east side of the hospital was purchased and turned into the hospital parking lot. |
| This acquisition has been questionable to some local residents. Some say the Johnson heirs had stipulated that this land could never be used for commercial purposes, while others say the Masons were to use this plot of land for a Masonic temple only. |
| When talk around town mentioned a shopping center was being built on the land, tempers flared and legal battles started so the hospital could purchase the property from the Masons, who in the long run had held a clear title to the land. |
| More about the building of the original hospital is in the 1980 issue of the Boone County Historian, edited by Jim Miller, son of Joe and Frances Miller. Jim, along with Dr. H. V. Kirby, who wrote "The Old Persimmon Tree: the History of Medicine in Boone County," covers the complete story of doctors and medicine in our county. |
| That issue of the Boone County Historian is available at the Heritage Museum, located on the corner of South Cherry Street and Central Avenue., The museum is now observing winter hours and open Thursdays from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Come and spend a Thursday with us! |
| This column appears Fridays in the Harrison Daily Times. Mail questions to Boone County Heritage Museum, P. O. Box 1094, Harrison, AR 72601. Marilyn Smith can be contacted at bchm@windstream.net |
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