Remembering the TB Hospital at Springville

The dreaded Tuberculosis (TB) germs have been around for thousands of years. This debilitating and contagious disease is caused by a bacteria that attacks the lungs and can lead to death. The writer George Orwell, the poet John Keats and Doc Holliday, the famous Old West gunfighter, all had TB and died with the disease.

It has infected millions of people throughout the world. Before effective drugs were discovered, those that caught the terrible bug didn't have many treatment options. Care was usually limited to rest, isolation, special diet and fresh air, which oftentimes required patients to move to drier climates. The lucky ones were placed in sanitariums.

Tulare County did not escape the terrible scourge either. In 1918, for example, there were 69 TB deaths recorded in Tulare County, while neighboring Kings County had 37. The two counties knew something needed to be done, so local health officials consulted with Mrs. E. L. M. Tate-Thompson, director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis at the California State Board of Health, for answers. She recommended building a sanitarium. Initially, the plan involved Tulare, Kings and Kern counties, but Kern eventually pulled out of the deal.

So Tulare and Kings joined forces to build a TB treatment facility - one that would be called the Tulare-Kings Joint Tubercular Hospital. The cost would be split with Tulare County paying 74% and Kings County paying the remaining 26%.

For two months, they searched for a suitable location on which to build. They eventually chose the 40-acre "old Elster homestead" in Springville. It seemed ideal "at an elevation sufficiently high and with excellent railroad and highway connections, making it easily accessible to both counties." Director Thompson also liked the location because it "was sheltered from the wind and there was no fog."

The construction project was put out for bid in July 1918, and it was awarded to S.G. Smartt for $16,574. The Bakersfield contractor began work in August. By early 1919, as the hospital was nearing completion, Thompson already declared that it was the finest hospital she had seen in California.

On June 6, 1919, the hospital was finished and Christine Henderson, the newly appointed superintendent of the hospital, hosted a grand opening with a tour of the grounds and buildings. She encouraged visitors to bring a donation to the hospital - one that would add to the "pleasure of hospital patients."

What visitors saw on tour was impressive. The new infirmary building was 195 feet long and held 32 beds. It had two wings, one for men and the other for women. At the end of each wing was a large sunroom for patients to sit and relax. Some of the rooms were specifically equipped to accommodate "very sick patients." The building had a nurse's office and "diet kitchen."

When the land was purchased, a nice home was already on the property, so it was kept and remodeled into an administration building. Inside was a large kitchen, a dining room, sitting rooms and a treatment room. The upstairs had quarters for the nurses and help.

The hospital complex was equipped with a modern septic tank as part of its sewer system. A freshwater spring on the property, previously used by the Elster family, provided "pure mountain water" to the hospital.

Patients seeking admittance were charged based on "what they can pay." Charges for indigent patients were paid by the state.

The hospital proved to be popular and never had a shortage of patients. Eventually, additional property around the hospital had to be purchased. In 1949, a new 140-bed infirmary was built at the Springville site. Also for a time, an additional emergency TB unit was operating at the old World War II Sequoia Field pilot training facility north of Visalia.

As effective antibiotics were found in the 1940s, death rates were reduced, but the disease was not eradicated.

In September 1970, the TB hospital in Springville closed. Today it still stands as a reminder of bygone days of medicine. The infirmary building is now Sequoia Dawn Apartments.