Lorain General Hospital Proposal – November 1950

Did you know that Lorain almost had a hospital on the East Side on Root Road?

I didn’t either, but here's the story that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 9, 1950. It’s an intriguing idea that perhaps was ahead of its time.

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Campaign Opens Soon for Proposed General Hospital

Plans Near Completion On City-Wide Campaign

With more than three years of preparation and planning behind them, members of the campaign advisory committee for the proposed Lorain General hospital are completing plans for launching their drive to solicit funds.

C. C. Waterhouse, general chairman of the campaign, announced today that plans for a poster contest for pupils of elementary and secondary grades and adults will be held in the near future.

A kickoff dinner, tentatively set for the latter part of this month, will officially signal the start of the campaign.

One-Story Structure

At first, the cost of the new hospital was estimated at $200,000 but Waterhouse said it may run as high as $350,000. To house 25 or 30 beds, it is to be a one-story brick structure, 90 by 185 feet.

It will be a nonsectarian, non-profit institution, and will be open to both osteopaths and medical practitioners licensed by the state of Ohio.

The hospital will be located south of the Nickel Plate railroad on Root-rd, with three and one half acres of land available for building space.

Earlier action in starting the campaign was postponed for two reasons, Waterhouse said. The first was a survey made by another local group which was considering the construction of a hospital; the second was the building of the addition to St. Joseph’s hospital.

The campaign advisory committee consists of 27 local men and women. For purposes of methodical campaigning here, the city has been divided into nine divisions, almost the same plan used for the Community Chest drive.

Two Captains Named

Recently appointed captain of the national firms division was J. Harold Clark. G. William Eddy was selected as captain of the professional and clerical division. Other division heads will be chosen in the near future.

Waterhouse said that preliminary plans are being made for coverage of other communities in Lorain-co. Earl Sure, president of Sheffield Lake Businessmen’s association, is in charge of the drive there.

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I don’t know how far along this proposal went before it was abandoned. It was a good idea, because that area remains underserved today from a health care standpoint. 

From a 2020 perspective, the hospital seems like it was going to be rather small. (It would have fit on my house lot when I lived in Sheffield Lake.) The article doesn’t say what side of Root Road it was going to be on, but it was still farmland south of the tracks on both sides back then. But being adjacent to train tracks doesn’t seem like the quietest place for hospital patients to convalesce.

Ironically, today the trend seems to be for health care organizations to build small to medium-sized neighborhood clinics, such as the one Mercy built on Oak Point Road a few years ago. I was just there a few days ago and it’s quite nice.