The Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium Historic District is a
United States Historic District south of
Booneville, Arkansas that was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in October 2006.
The district encompasses the former relocation center for Arkansans diagnosed with
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
and an administration building built in the
Art Deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
style in 1909. It is one of the largest and best-preserved surviving complexes of its type in the country.
History
The sanatorium was the relocation center for all white Arkansans with tuberculosis. By the time the facility was closed in 1973, it had treated over 70,000 patients. The main hospital, named the Nyberg Building after
Leo E. Nyberg, a former sanatorium patient and
state legislator who sponsored the bill funding the construction, was completed in 1941. The facility became known worldwide as one of the most successful and modern hospitals for the treatment of tuberculosis of its day.
The sanatorium complex was self-sustaining, with dormitories, staff entertainment buildings, a chapel, laundry, dairy, water treatment plant, independent telephone system, and even a fire department. At the height of its use, the complex employed nearly 300 staff members. At one point, the total population of the center was greater than that of Booneville, in the valley below.
With the introduction of more effective drug therapy, the patient population began to decline. Eventually the sanatorium was closed in 1973. The campus was then used as the Booneville Human Development Center, a state-run residential program for adults with mild and moderate
mental retardation and other
developmental disabilities which is what it remains today.
The main buildings were designed by the architectural firms of
Haralson & Mott of Fort Smith, Arkansas and
Erhart & Eichenbaum of Little Rock, Arkansas.
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See also
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References
External links
Article detailing life at the Arkansas Tuberculosis Sanatorium
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Hospital buildings completed in 1909
Hospital buildings completed in 1941
Hospitals in Arkansas
Tuberculosis sanatoria in the United States
Buildings and structures in Booneville, Arkansas
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas
Public Works Administration in Arkansas
Colonial Revival architecture in Arkansas
Art Deco architecture in Arkansas
National Register of Historic Places in Logan County, Arkansas
Hospital buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas