Edwin Shaw Hospital
| Edwin Shaw Hospital | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1908 |
| Construction Began | 1910 |
| Opened | 1915 |
| Closed | Sanitarium, 1960; Hospital, 2010 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Rambling Plan |
| Location | Akron, Ohio |
| Alternate Names |
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History[edit]
Construction began on the Springfield Lake Sanitarium in 1910 following the passing of a 1908 Ohio law that forbid tuberculosis patients from being treated in the same facilities as general medical cases and required counties to provide for their treatment. The Springfield facility was originally constructed on a one hundred acre parcel acquired by Summit, Stark, Portage, Columbiana, and Mahoning County commissioners. In 1915 the facility opened it's doors to seventy-two patients, a capacity later enlarged to 200.
In 1919 Summit County bought out the shares of the other four counties. Service further expanded in 1922 when Sunshine Cottage was opened to serve pediatric tuberculosis cases; the program continued to operate until 1947. In 1934 the facility was renamed in honor of philanthropist Edwin Shaw, a name that would stick with the institution to this day. In 1959 a law was passed allowing tuberculosis hospitals in Ohio to admit general medical cases and by 1960 most patients were of that nature. At this point Edwin Shaw gradually began the transition to rehabilitative services, eventually becoming Edwin Shaw Rehabilitative Institute after the hospital relocated to Cuyahoga Falls in 2009. Today, the original hospital complex still stands abandoned in the outskirts of Akron.[1]
