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On May 7th at 4pm we opened our newest
Sharon Historical Society Exhibit:
This exhibit celebrates the history and
contributions the hospital has made to our community
in the past century.
Sharon Hospital 1909-2010
The first Sharon Hospital opened on December
10, 1909 in a rented brick house owned by Otto Tiedeman
on Calkinstown Road.
The new hospital opened on April 10, 1916,
with 16 beds, 3 nurses and an operating room. The first
operation—an appendectomy—was performed by Dr. Chaffee
on April 11.
In 1922, the hospital purchased the adjacent
“Kenny” home to serve as a nurses’ home. When the building
opened in 1923, the total number of beds expanded from
16 to 25. Maternity was located in the Nurses’ house.
Beginning in the early 1920s, fund raising
was begun to expand the hospital’s already cramped quarters.
The Sharon Hospital Auxiliary organized a series of
street fairs and events raising $10,700.
A three-story fireproof addition was added between
1928 and 1930, adding a waiting room, nurses’ room 8
bed ward, full maternity department, and a new operating
suite.
In 1945 the trustees appointed a building committee:
Dr. Byron Stookey, Mr. Heathcote Woolsey and Mr. Lyman
Rhoades. After the purchase of additional land to the
north, the building began to take shape and opened its
doors in 1948 at a cost of $799,405.13.
In 1949, the new Chaffee Pavilion was added at the
cost of $800,000. This addition expanded the hospital’s
bed capacity to 50.
In 1957, the new Harry Payne Bingham Wing and the Ford
Wing were opened to increase the capacity to 68 beds
in projects costing more than $200,000.
In 1963 construction begins on Sharon Hospital’s largest
expansion project, a $2 million project financed without
any public fund drive, thanks to bequests from the estates
of Herbert R. Fransioloi, Muriel Alvord Ward, together
with a Federal grant under the Hill-Burton hospital
construction program. The hospital serves 3,000 patients
in this year—the most yet.
On August 1, 1965, formal dedicatory ceremonies were
held to open the Fransioloi Building, the Berry Unit,
and the Ward Unit. These projects provided facilities
for pediatrics, obstetrics, gynecology, post-operative
recovery, fracture room, emergency rooms, administrative
offices, gift shop, improved kitchen and laundry equipment.
Also completed was the renovation of the Ward C. Belcher
Pathology Laboratory. Bed capacity was increased to
92.
Between 1972 and its completion in 1976, a major renovation
project included improvements to and expansion of the
Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Room. The Laboratory
and Radiology moved to their new wing and present location.
The new North Wing opened on April 29, 1995, adding
four new operating suites, rehabilitation services including
cardiac, a chapel, a new kitchen and employee dining
room, and a new medical/surgical unit. The lobby was
renovated and expanded and improvements were made to
the physical plant.
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