South Carolina Sanatorium

Front: At this site in 1915 the state Board of Health opened a tuberculosis hospital known as the South Carolina Sanatorium. The 200-acre campus was part of the state-owned State Park property. It sat on higher ground and consisted of several wooden buildings including staff housing, offices, and screened-in patient quarters meant to allow for healthful air circulation. The campus also included an active farm. Reverse: Initially a white hospital, in 1920 the Sanatorium added an African American division called Palmetto Sanatorium. By 1938 the campus served more than 500 patients and had 19 buildings, including a multistory brick hospital for white patients. Starting in the 1940s, advancements in antibiotics gradually reduced U.S, tuberculosis rates. This campus was repurposed over time for other medical services, and the hospital closed in 1983.