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features
October 00
A Short History of Watts Hospital...
April Pridgen
George Washington
Watts was born in 1851 to
Gerard Watts, a wealthy entre
preneur from Hagerstown,
Maryland. Watts attended pub
lic school and later the Univer
sity of Virginia and received a
major in civil engineering. Af
ter finishing college, he worked
as a traveling salesman in his
father’s business, G.S. Watts
and Company, a tobacco whole
sale firm.
Watts came to live in
Durham after his father struck
up a deal with the Duke family
and purchased a share in their
tobacco business for his son at
a cost of $14,000. Watts
brought with him his wife, Laura
Valinda Beall, and their daugh
ter.
Before long. Watts be
came a big influence in city gov
ernment and was on the head of
many town committees. Watts
was always very sensitive to
health care. His younger brother
was a physician and his wife
suffered from a recurring kidney
disease that forced her to travel
to Johns Hopkins Medical Cen
ter frequently for treatment. Yet,
Watts made his resolve to build
a hospital in Durham in 1892
when he was hospitalized in
Baltimore. He found the staff to
be wonderful and wanted to
make the same quality care he
had received available to the
citizens of Durham.
So, along with the
help of town physician and per
sonal friend. Dr. Albert G. Carr,
Watts found a suitable location
for the hospital on the comer of
Buchanan Road and Main
Street. Using the money he
made from the tobacco busi
ness, he hired Rand and Taylor
architectural firm out of Boston
to draw up the plans. On Feb-
mary 21, 1895, Watts Hospital
opened its door and became the
first clinical medical teaching
hospital in North Carolina.
The original Watts Hos
pital consisted of 22 rooms, 18
of which were “free” rooms, or
rooms for patients who could
not afford hospital fees. Watts
contributed $50,000 to the hos
pital to help it run and make sure
affordable healthcare was pro
vided.
Between 1906 and
1908, the demand for a larger
hospital was very great. Watts
wanted to expand Watts Hospi
tal; however, the architects he
hired encouraged him to build a
new hospital instead that was
away from the center of the city.
On December 2, 1909, the new
and larger Watts Hospital was
dedicated. It was settled on
sixty acres of land outside the
city limits and cost Watts
$217,000 to constmct.
Yet, while the hospital
was being built, Watts’s health
was declining steadily. He was
diagnosed with stomach cancer
and he died on March 7, 1921.
In his will, he left the hospital
his 9,000 shares in the British
American Tobacco Company
and $200,000 to build a wing on
the hospital to honor his wife,
Valinda Beall.
After his death, the
board of trustees and John
Sprunt Hill, Watts’s son-in-law,
took over the administration of
Watts Hospital and strove to
operate it in a manner which
would have pleased the founder.
They maintained the high stan
dards of medical care that Watts
had implemented and worked to
bring new technology and ideas
to the hospital as well.
Competition arose
when Duke University’s teach
ing hospital was built in 1930.
Although many staff members
were anxious about having a
new hospital in town, it actually
was very beneficial to Watts
Hospital. Doctors and medical
students from Duke Hospital
often worked at Watts Hospital
and brought in new skills.
Over the years, the
hospital expanded constantly.
The hospital received grants
from the government and indi
vidual donors, such as the Hill
family who donated $20,000 to
help build Hill House. As the
demand for medical care in
creased, so did the government
funding to provide medical
equipment. By the 1960s, Watts
Hospital was thriving.
On October 3,1976, the
construction of the seven story,
$20 million Durham County
General Hospital was com
pleted. The local hospitals had
already met and decided that
this hospital should take over
in Durham. The merging of
Watts Hospital and Durham
County General Hospital was
never brought up in the meet
ing. So, on October 10, 1976,
the Army Medical Corps came
from Fort Bragg to help move
patients to the new hospital and
Watts Hospital closed its doors
after 81 years of service to the
Continued on page 5
Hiatts Hospital, 1921
Watts Hospital at the turn of the century