Century-old former Butler County hospital building for sale
A piece of Butler County’s medical history is on the open market, and it can be yours if you have over $1,000,000 to spend.
The massive building at 700 South Main Street in Butler, which once housed Butler County’s first hospital, went up for sale on Tuesday, Dec. 2, through realty firm Clear Choice Enterprises.
“The History of Medicine in Butler County,” written in 2000 by Jean B. Purvis, paints a detailed picture of the old hospital’s history.
According to Purvis, the building opened its doors to the public as Butler County General Hospital on July 6, 1899, at a time when Butler County residents previously had few real places to go for treatment for illness or injury.
Prior to the construction and opening of Butler’s first hospital, the closest hospitals were Allegheny City Hospital in what is now Pittsburgh and Mercer Hospital in Mercer. These were both difficult to reach in the days when the automobile was in its infancy and barely any roads were paved.
A group of 80 women led the charge to construct a hospital for Butler County in 1897, establishing the Ladies’ Hospital Association. The group mounted a two-year campaign to raise funds for the construction and secured a site for the hospital along Main Street.
Pittsburgh-area philanthropist Andrew Carnegie donated $1,500 to aid in the construction of the building, which ultimately cost $25,000 to build by the time it was finished and ready to open.
According to local historian Bill May, the first patient to be treated at the General Hospital was James Whalen of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., who worked for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.
“He was the first patient at that hospital because he had his foot crushed at the railway station while he was unloading Buffalo Bill’s show,” May said. “The railway station sat where Snack ‘n’ Pack sits today. His descendants still live here.”
In 1904, a two-story annex was constructed to meet the growing demand for more beds.
What ultimately led to the replacement of the original hospital building was a pandemic flu that caused social distancing limitations and squeezed the medical system to the breaking point.
During the peak of the influenza epidemic of 1918, the hospital staff were especially hard-hit. Many of the hospital’s regular doctors had already been summoned by Uncle Sam to help the war effort, leaving the hospital short-staffed during the fall. Staff members that remained were just as susceptible to the disease as everyone else and, at one point, the hospital had to rely on temporary nurses from Harrisburg to provide care.
“What really did it was the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918,” May said. “During the pandemic, that hospital could hold only 25 patients, so they needed more space. There was a movement to build a modern hospital that could hold many more patients.”
Even without the pandemic, the old hospital building was simply too small to support Butler County’s growing population, as the county was quickly becoming an industrial center.
“In 1902, the Standard Steel Car works opened,” May said. “When it opened, it employed 3,000 workers and it created a huge boom in the population of Butler. So that was why they quickly outgrew the hospital.”
By the start of the new decade, both of these factors led to a push for a new hospital building. This finally came to pass on Feb. 18, 1925, with the opening of what was then called Butler County Memorial Hospital — since renamed to just Butler Memorial Hospital. Though the building on Institute Hill was substantially renovated and expanded over the following century, it has remained Butler County’s main hospital ever since.
In all, according to Purvis’ book, the old hospital received 22,930 patients, performed 10,419 surgical operations and delivered 1,209 babies. Much of the old hospital’s existence was during a time when mothers usually gave birth at home, and the first baby delivered at the old hospital — Edwin Howard — wasn’t born until October 1904, five years after it opened.
After the hospital moved, the building on South Main Street was converted into residential housing.
According to the real estate listing, the larger building consists of 15 units, while the smaller building can house “an additional five units depending on the design.”
Butler County property records show the building as being owned by Jonah Real Estate Holdings since October 2013.
