Charles J. Armstrong, Ursil A. Ferguson and John M. Hopkins had to be a bit relieved in August 1917, after the Otsego County Board of Supervisors approved some lengthy work they had done in recent months. That work was for locating a site and building plans for a county tuberculosis hospital, once located near Mount Vision on today's county Route 11, now a private residence.
Other committees like this one had been appointed in 1911, 1912 and 1914, but each time had failed to get the board's approval for such a hospital.
Tuberculosis was a fairly common and often deadly infectious disease in the early 20th century that didn't discriminate against age, race or income. Around this time the approach to fight the disease was made on a county-to-county basis.
Some counties were a bit slow in establishing a tuberculosis hospital, but a good reason why the effort to get a hospital built in Otsego County succeeded was because New York state had passed a law in 1917 requiring each county with a population of 35,000 or higher to build one within a year.
Armstrong, Ferguson and Hopkins were appointed June 26, 1917, and immediately went to visit other hospitals in counties further along in construction or completion. They found Chenango County's project best in their search. Between June 26 and July 13, the committee looked at 22 possible sites and narrowed the search down to three, finally deciding on Mount Vision.
The committee recommended the purchase of 20 acres of land on the farm of Louise Hayden near the hamlet, for $3,000. Also approved was construction not to exceed $37,000. The state Health Department came to inspect the site and gave the thumbs-up for the location and building plans.
At that time, Otsego County was one of 22 counties that didn't have a tuberculosis hospital. At the time of completion in July 1918, Otsego took pride that they were the first of those 22 to open their hospital.
About 300 turned out on July 3 to dedicate the hospital, a three-story structure about 600 feet back from the road with a great view of the Otego Valley and a capacity of 30 patients.
The main speaker at the dedication was Abraham L. Kellogg of Oneonta, Supreme Court Justice. Kellogg was characterized by the various speakers as the "father of the project."
"This hospital spells progress," Kellogg said. "It is most timely because the first patients you may doubtless have are those boys who come back suffering from tuberculosis from overseas""those boys who today stand in the trenches to preserve the liberties which we enjoy today whether they have tuberculosis or not, until the Germans are driven back to the Rhine."
Kellogg, of course, was referring to World War I.
Dr. Frank L. Winsor became the first and only superintendent of the Otsego County Sanitarium. Winsor was one of the best-known citizens of Otsego County ever since he opened his medical office in Laurens in 1894.
State tuberculosis hospitals started replacing county sanitariums. New York state built one in nearby Oneonta, called the Homer Folks Tuberculosis Hospital. This institution, named after the secretary of the State Charities Aid Association, opened Dec. 18, 1935. It was capable of handling 250 patients, covering a nine-county region. The hospital is now a Job Corps Academy.
There were fewer cases of tuberculosis by 1940, and it was that year the Mount Vision hospital was closed.
On Monday: A tourist excursion train gets its debut in Arkville.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.
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