An abandoned hospital building from the time of the tuberculosis pandemic.

In the early 1900s, Jefferson County was devastated by an outbreak of tuberculosis—known as the “White Plague”—which prompted the construction of a new hospital. The sanatorium opened in 1910 as a two-story building that could accommodate 40 to 50 tuberculosis patients. The hospital closed in 1961 due to the success of the antibiotic streptomycin and the declining need for such a facility.