Broward General Hospital: the prequel

 

Broward General 1949, 505 SE 17^th St
Florida State Archives

By Jane Feehan

Since the 1920s hospitals in Broward County have been built, leased, sold and operated by different entities. The history of Broward General Hospital, now Broward Health Medical Center, exemplifies the balance of community needs and business dynamics we associate with more recent decades.

Its predecessor, located on “five beautiful acres,” was the Fort Lauderdale Memorial Hospital (telephone number 330). It was opened by Dr. Scott Edwards reportedly in 1924, though some accounts indicate a later date. The location of the 37-bed hospital was probably near downtown. It was not in Hollywood, the current city of the Hollywood Memorial Hospital; Hollywood Hospital was operating in 1937. (Addresses during the city’s early days were not as important to publish as they are today).

Memorial was leased by the Broward County Commission. That arrangement terminated in 1937 when it was sold to Medical Services, Inc. a private company. To start anew in another facility, physicians banded together that year to form the Broward Hospital Association. Headed by J.D. Camp and Ernst Bratzel, the association also included, among others, Robert Lochrie, Carl A. Hiaasen and George English (many names we’re familiar with today).  An initiative to establish a new hospital was approved by the county and moved forward with community and local government support.

The building chosen for a hospital was the Granada Apartments at 505 SE 17th Street. Designed by architect Robert G. Jahelka and owned by Nobel Jarrell of Goldsboro, MD, the three-story building (rendering above) with its wide and hospital-appropriate hallways sold for about $25,000. A loan for $15,000 was secured and a fund of $11,000 was raised for purchase and conversion of the building. That left $1,000 to complete the purchase. Another $25,000 was required to install an elevator and buy medical equipment.

The Fort Lauderdale News reported in 1937 that city pioneer John Lochrie, from a Pennsylvania hospital where he died, guaranteed funding required to complete the project “in order that recent hospital difficulties might be corrected.” It’s not clear the difficulties he referred to were at the end or beginning of the fund raising nor how much his contribution was.

Broward Hospital opened in early 1938 (telephone number 666) with 60 beds including those for newborn. Several wings were added in 1942 and 1948 raising the capacity to 142 beds. The North Broward Hospital District was formed in 1950 and disbanded the same year when an expansion request was denied (it was re-established). By 1961, the bed count was 468. Today, part of Broward Health, Broward Medical Center (1600 S. Andrews Ave.) provides about 700 beds and is part of a network of medical facilities throughout the county.

Copyright 2022. Jane Feehan

  

 Sources:

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, April 2, 1929

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 13, 1929

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 12, 1932

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Jan. 2, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 7, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, July 8, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Sept 21, 1937

Fort Lauderdale Daily News, Nov. 24, 1937

South Broward Tatler, June 4, 1937

Broward Health

Wikipedia

 

Tags: Broward Hospital, Broward General, Broward Medical Center, Broward General Hospital history, Broward Health, Fort Lauderdale history