Top Photo Left courtesy: Zula Loften
Top Photo Right courtesy: H.L. Bogan |
Greene County Arkansas
Paragould, Arkansas
Centennial Edition Section 4
Monday, August 29, 1983, Paragould Daily Press Section 4, Centennial Edition -3
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From Hospital to City Hall
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Top Photo Left courtesy: Zula Loften
Top Photo Right courtesy: H.L. Bogan |
| The Paragould Sanitarium opened its doors Feb. 1,
1909. (The original name is featured in the top
photo; the boy in the foreground, Arthur Duckett,
used his wagon to deliver take-in wash for his mother.) Designed by its founder, Dr. Graham Dickson, it was called "the most beautiful piece of architecture in Northeast Arkansas and one of the prettiest sanitariums in the South" in its promotional catalog. The sani-tarium, renamed Dickson Memorial Hospital in 1920, closed when Community Methodist Hospital was completed in 1949. In 1950, city hall was moved into the old hospital building and a few years later the city contracted H. L. Bogan to remove the top two floors, including the building's distinctive mansard roof. "They didn't have no use for them is the only reason I know." explained Bogan, who loaned the top right photo showing the start of decapitation work. "There wasn't nothing wrong with the building. It was just more building than they needed," he added. Above, city hall as we know it. |
When a new No. 1 fire station was built behind the old hospital in 1950, this fire bell came with it. Cast by the E. W. Van Duzen Co. of Cincinnatti and dated Dec. 16, 1896, it was, according to its inscription, "presented to the Paragould Fire Dep't No. 1 BY THE CITIZENS, R. W. Meriwether, Pres't. J.B. Avera, Chief." |
Transcribed by: PR Massey
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