Eudowood Sanatarium
| Eudowood Sanatarium | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Construction Began | 1894 |
| Opened | 1896 |
| Current Status | Demolished |
| Building Style | Cottage Plan |
| Location | Towson, MD |
| Alternate Names |
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History[edit]
Founded in 1894, it opened its doors two years later in a three-story rowhouse on Hoffman Street and Park Avenue and accommodated six patients. Established by a group of female volunteers, it was the first free hospital for the treatment of TB patients in the nation and was also a pioneer in indigent treatment. The severity of tuberculosis was highlighted in a 1908 article in The Baltimore Sun that said, “Every 24 hours, 18 or 20 young men and women are compelled to lay down their lives in sacrifice to the disease.”
The sanitarium quickly outgrew its original home, and by 1899 had moved into a yellow three-story frame mansion on an oak-studded 55-acre lot off East Joppa Road. The mansion had once been the home of the Stansbury family, who had occupied the property since the 1600s. The hospital expanded rapidly and outgrew the old Stansbury mansion, with cottages built on the property in 1902. Through the 1930s, buildings were added, including a residence for nurses, a medical building, and an infants’ ward. Patients at Eudowood were encouraged to keep physically fit by working on a farm on the property.
After World War II, with costs rising, establishment of state TB hospitals and better drug treatment, Eudowood’s days were numbered. Part of the property was sold in 1959. It was developed into Eudowood Plaza, which opened in 1962 and whose commercial tenants included a Montgomery Ward store, F.W. Woolworth store, a Food Fair market, and national clothing and other retail chains. In 1964, the board decided to finally close the hospital, which had dwindled to 70 patients, 46 of whom were children. At its closing, those remaining were sent to Mount Wilson and the old Baltimore City Hospitals. Today, not a trace of the old hospital remains. The site became Towson Marketplace and is now called Towson Place.
Images of Eudowood Sanatarium[edit]
Main Image Gallery: Eudowood Sanatarium
