(Note: The following is part of a series of columns looking at the establishment and growth of doctors, hospitals and the health industry in Georgia and Bulloch County.)

    On May 9, 1906, Statesboro newspapers announced that local physicians were beginning a drive to open a hospital. They asked for funds from the Bulloch County Commission to help operate it, as much of the work would be for charity cases.
    In 1907, Dr. Robert L. Sample oversaw the building of Bulloch County’s first public health care facility. Situated on the corner of Siebald Street and Hill Street just west of the County Jail, it cost nearly $20,000.
    Called the Sample Sanitarium, Drs. Robert Sample and Frank Floyd, along with head nurse Miss Whitten, opened for business. The Bulloch Times reported May 13, 1908, that it had 30 patient rooms.
    According to local records, the fees for service were as follows: room and board ranged from $10 to $25 per week, payable in advance. Doctors’ fees had been set recently by the new Bulloch County Medical Association.
    On June 6, 1912, Dr. Floyd announced that he and Dr. L.W. Williams had bought the sanitarium from his former partner. The hospital’s name was now officially the Statesboro Sanitarium.
    Dr. F.F. Floyd was elected president, L.W. Williams was elected the secretary and D.E. McEachern the treasurer. A.J. Mooney, R.L. Sample and A.W. Quattlebaum served on the Board of Directors.
    On Dec. 22, 1918, Dr. Harvey Van Buren, the first black physician in Statesboro, opened the Van Buren Sanitarium for “colored patients.” Located on Elm Street, it was a large bungalow with
12 patient rooms.
    According to the newspapers, his facility was pressed into service as an overflow facility during the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918-19, when the illness ravaged Statesboro and the surrounding area.
    Between the years of 1924-1926, Drs. Floyd (F.F. and his son Waldo) sold stock to support the operation of the Sanitarium. Bulloch County’s 18 physicians promised to buy stock.
    They had hoped that the public would buy as much as two-thirds of the $15,000 in stock, but when that didn’t happen the Floyds closed down the sanitarium in 1927. It was sold at a sheriff’s sale to Frank Simmons.
    Rumors then circulated that Mrs. Williams’ husband (of Williams & Outland in Savannah and Statesboro) had bequeathed $2 million for a sanitarium to be built in Statesboro.
    Physicians A. Temples, his son Powell Temples and Dr. Brooks, both of Augusta, assured Statesboro’s citizens that they would reopen the sanitarium and operate the hospital themselves if need be. Meanwhile, another group of physicians, including Drs. A.J. Mooney, Whiteside, Cone and B.A. Deal, set in motion a plan to purchase the J.E. Brannen home on Zetterower Avenue for another sanitarium.
    Apparently, at the same time, the old John M. Jones place (then the residence of Dr. J.C. Lane) was being considered as a possible site for a new location by another group of citizens.
    The Sanitarium eventually was reopened in April 1928 by Drs. A.J. Mooney, R.L. Cone, and J.H. Whiteside. Mrs. J.D. Fletcher was the supervisor of nurses, and Mrs. J.A. Brunson was the hospital matron.
   
    Roger Allen is a local lover of history. Allen provides a brief look each week at the area's past. Email Roger at rwasr1953@gmail.com.