New Sanitarium of Forty Rooms

Local Physicians Announce Plans for Modern Hospital

Riverside Flats Will Be Converted into Institution for Sick at an Early Date

Definite announcement is made that large expenditures will be made immediately for the establishment of a new modern private sanitarium, which, it is expected, will play an important part in furnishing adequate hospital facilities for Greater Knoxville. While it will be a private institution, one of the promoters asserted that it would be open to all reputable physicians and surgeons.

The new institution will be operated as the Riverside hospital and will be established in the Riverside apartments, a part of the estate of the late Col. B. R. Strong, on East Front Avenue. The property has been vacated and contracts have been awarded for the reconstruction and remodeling process which will be finished by July 1. Thousands of dollars will be expended in the project, which is to be designed especially to the suggestions of four leading surgeons and two specialists. A high class training school for nurses will be operated in connection with the new institution. Architects designing the plans for the improvements have arranged for the interior circular stairway to be removed and a modern electric elevator will be installed at a considerable cost. Two of the largest rooms are to be converted into private wards that will be equipped after the most elaborately arranged methods that have been approved in the United States and by some of the most eminent physicians and surgeons of foreign countries.

Forty Rooms

There will be forty large and commodious rooms in the institution and the operating rooms will be convenient to the rest of the apartments. The equipment for each room will be installed at a cost of $150. A contract has just been placed with one of the largest manufacturers of Chicago and the equipment will be constructed and rushed to this city to be installed at an early date.

Due to the fact that inadequate facilities have at times been experienced in Knoxville hospitals for the past year, it is stated the plans for the new institution were projected and the building was leased for a period of five years, with the privilege of purchasing it, before the plans for the institution were made public.

Promoting the new institution designed to improve the hospital facilities of Greater Knoxville are Drs. V. D. Holloway, Herbert Acuff, J. H. Kincaid, S. R. Miller, Albert T. Kern and Charles Huff Davis.

Speaking of the crowded condition of some of the hospitals at times, a physician said that more room was needed for the accommodation of the public. It is said to be a common occurrence for patients to be turned away from the institutions that are already in operation.

The commercial organization of the city will be glad to report to the outside world that Knoxville is keeping pace in hospital improvements as well as in every other way since the Greater Knoxville plans were consummated. A physician stated that new residents or people contemplated locating in a city always inquire about religions, educational and hospital facilities.

Need for Facilities

The new project was started after years of experience taught some of the leading practitioners that there was a crying demand for expansion. An enterprising and public spirited citizen who for years has devoted time and energy to improving facilities for humanitarian reasons, sad Sunday the dreams of enlarged facilities would soon be realized, much to the elation of the professional and scientific leaders of Greater Knoxville.

In connection with the Riverside hospital the architectural designs include plans for a modern diet kitchen and obstetrical department. A directress has been engaged from one of the largest eastern hospitals and will be here on the opening date.

One of the leading women of the city, who has been devoting time to getting the facilities of local hospitals increased, expressed delight that Knoxville institutions would soon be able to care for all of the afflicted people.

She said: “Knoxville’s urgent need for better hospital facilities is being met by six of our foremost physicians and surgeons in the plans for the establishment of a modern sanitarium and the location, while near the heart of the city, is ideal and noted for quietitude and overlooks the Tennessee river.”

Source: Knoxville Journal and Tribune – May 14, 1917 – Page 7

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Riverside Hospital Applies for Charter

Applications for charters were filed in two instances Friday before the county court clerk, the Lacy-Newman Co., and the Riverside Hospital being incorporated. The Riverside Hospital was capitalized at $12,000. Doctors Victor D. Holloway, Albert G. Kern, John H. Kincaid, Charles Huff Davis and S. R. Miller, being named as the incorporators.

Source: Knoxville Journal and Tribune – July 7, 1917 – Page 6

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Town Topics

Dr. Acuff Returns – Dr. Herbert Acuff has returned from Reading, Pa., where he spent ten days looking for capable assistants for the Riverside hospital, which is to be opened soon. A superintendent and a dietician have been employed and they will arrive soon to make the preliminary arrangements for the opening of the institution.

Source: Knoxville Journal and Tribune – July 17, 1917 – Page 5

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New Hospital Ready Sept. 1

Riverside Institution Is Nearing Completion

Modernly Equipped Building Has Forty Rooms and a Capacity for Fifty Patients

Preparations are being completed for the formal opening of the Riverside hospital, Knoxville’s newest general hospital, located on Riverside drive. Officials of the institution announced Thursday that the hospital would be ready for the reception of patients, Sept. 1, and the nurses’ training school, to be operated in connection with the institution, also will be ready for opening on the same date.

The training school and nurses’ home will be installed in the old home of Mrs. C. C. Heins, opposite the new hospital. Twelve or fifteen pupil nurses and four graduate or supervising nurses will be continuously on duty at the hospital.

The main hospital and equipment have been installed at a cost of approximately $50,000, and the promoters think it will be one of the best institutions that has ever been opened in the south, at least it will have some features that have not previously been provided for other institutions. The roof garden and sun rooms will add to the attractiveness of the place and will be conducive to health improvement. Electric elevators of the most modern design will carry the patients from the various floors to the roof garden.

Source: The Knoxville Journal and Tribune – August 24, 1917 – Page 10