Jefferson Tuberculosis Sanatorium

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The Jefferson Tuberculosis Sanatorium was a series of medical facilities constructed by the Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Jefferson County for the treatment of patients infected with tuberculosis, often also called "consumption". In the early 20th century, the prevailing treatment for infection was sunlight and fresh air.

The Red Mountain tuberculosis camp in 1912

At the urging of Reverend George Eaves and health officer Robert Harkness, an Anti-Tuberculosis Association of Jefferson County was established in 1910 and erected an infirmary, originally consisting of canvas tents on Cahaba Road in what is now English Village. The project was supported by the Birmingham Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Board of Lady Managers for Hillman Hospital (which did not admit infectious patients), the Graduate Nurses Association, and various public and private organizations.

The camp on Red Mountain acted in tandem with a dispensary in downtown Birmingham. The dispensary investigated reports of new cases, referred incipient cases for treatment, and monitored former patients recovering at home. The camp itself was initially open only to white patients. It accepted its first patient in August 1910 and treated 78 people over the course of its first year, reporting good results.

A junket of 20 officials from the Society, the City of Birmingham, and Jefferson County inspected the camp, then treated 22 patients, in October 1912 and noted numerous deficiencies. Association president Sidney J. Bowie hoped the trip would convince the city to increase it's monthly appropriation from $100 to $400, and the county to increase theirs from $400 to $600. The camp was described as "very crude", with some patients "strolling along the veranda" while others were "reclining in chairs in their tents." The dining room and kitchen were found to be "very clean." The matron-in-charge of the main building demonstrated how she managed with only a cistern of cold water filled by a hand-pump, from which only weekly baths for patients could be afforded. Mayor Culpepper Exum immediately pledged to have a gasoline powered water pump provided at his own expense. It was hoped that additional funds would also allow for installation of a water heater, a septic tank, and a pantry properly secured from rats.

A framed building, called the Red Mountain Sanitarium, was completed in 1914. The society treated both white and Black patients at the sanitarium.

In 1921 the Association relocated to a newly-donated 45-acre site off of Montgomery Highway in Shades Valley. A new facility, now called the Davenport Building was designed by architect Bem Price. The anticipated budget for the building was around $110,000, but when it opened on June 3, 1925 it was reported that $250,000 had been spent. A "Third Main Building" was completed adjoining it in 1937.

In the 1940s, wide distribution of antibiotics provided a more reliable treatment for tuberculosis, though the disease remained a leading cause of death in the county well into the 1950s. Donald Comer Jr wrote of a Sunday afternoon visit to the sanatorium with the Alabama Boys School Industrial Band in 1948. He observed that "there is some division of the patients— those confined to bed are in one building and those who were further along with recovery are in another building and then the Negro patients in another."

The former tuberculosis sanitorium was repurposed in 1973 as Lakeshore Hospital, now the Lakeshore Foundation's Lakeshore Rehabilitation Hospital.

References

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