By David Cross

The late 1940s were prosperous times in Clinton County-one of the most prosperous eras in the history of the county. World War II was over and the Wolf Creek Dam project, which used Albany as its primary base of operations ,had recommenced after the close of the war, with trucks hauling rock around the clock from Cumberland Quarries to the dam site.

Dale Hollow Lake was a fisherman’s paradise with Wisdom Fishing Camp being the destination for what seemed like half of America on weekends, with photographs of large strings of smallmouth bass being posted in the Louisville Courier-Journal on a regular basis.

An oil boom, particularly in the communities of Decide, Highway, and Willis Creek, resulted in Clinton County leading the state in oil production and brought many out-of-towners to the various hotels and motels for extended stays.

These included the Log Palace Inn (“Phone 33”), operated by Ed P. Warinner and the Granville Hotel (“Phone 9019”), operated by Mrs. Alzora Smith.

Both places advertised that they were located at the junction of KY 35 and KY 90; the Palace was located where Advance Auto Parts is today, where KY 90 headed west; the Granville, still standing on the town square, was where KY 90 headed east.

During this time of prosperity, many advancements were made in the county.

The county courthouse had an addition built, with running water and public bathrooms.

The local VFW bought a tract of land on the west side of town for a meeting room and a real ball park to be utilized by the town’s outstanding independent baseball team, led by catcher Luther Conner.

By 1949 the county had two weekly newspapers, the New Era and the Clinton County News, which bought the former and consolodated the two publications in 1955.

There became sentiment in the community that a public, non-profit hospital was needed in the county.

Clinton County did have a small private hospital owned and operated by Dr. F.B. Hay and known as the Maple Hill Hospital.

At that time there was no hospital in the adjacent counties of Russell, Wayne, Cumberland, and Pickett.

Community leaders approached the fiscal court and they authorized a vote on a Hospital Bond Issue to pay for the building of a hospital. The vote held on November 6, 1949, was amazingly favorable, by amargin of 2610-102.

The Bond Issue would pay an estimated $106,494 on the hospital construction; govermnent funding sources would pay $212,986 of the estimated $319,480 total cost.

A site then needed to be selected, and on April 11, 1950 a 1.689 acre tract was purchased by the County of Clinton from Sue Perkins and Kathleen and Charles Futrell for the sole purposes of a public, non-profit hospital and county health department.

Another tract was acquired from the H.B. Hopkins Heirs on the same date. The Hopkins tract consisted of 2.696 acres. According to the March 23, 1950 edition of the Clinton County News, both tracts were being donated, free of cost, for the construction of the hospital.

In 1952 the property was conveyed by the county to the Clinton County Public Hospital Corporation (incorporators James A. Hicks, Norman Dyer, and J.O. Dicken), who leased the property back to the county.

The initial Board o f Directors of the Public Hospital Corporation was appointed by the fiscal court in April 1953 and consisted of N.L. Morgan Jr., Perry Cross, Doris Huff, KG. Sawyer, and Charles Futrell. Mr. Futrell had moved to Albany from Trigg County to teach Vocational Agriculture, and had married Kathleen Perkins, the daughter of Porter and Sue Perkins, who owned substantial property just west of town and had graciously donated a portion of the land for the hospital .

The 20-bed hospital was dedicated and opened in November 1953. Delmar Brown was the first Administrator, and Sconnie (Mrs. Porter) Beaty was the Director of Nursing.

Physicians in the 1950s included Dr. F.B. Hay, Dr. E.A. Barnes, Dr. S.W. Bristow, Dr. Joe Schickel of Burkesville, and Dr J. Peery Sloan of Jamestown, Tennessee.

Due to the lack of hospital facilities in nearby counties, many of the patients in the hospital were not from Clinton County.

Brown served as Administrator from 1953-55, and was followed by William H Kimbel (1955-57), Robert Todd (1957-58), and J.H. Worstell (1958-1960).

In April 1960, local resident Bob Johnson was named Administrator. He served until February 1961 when John M. Ray was hired by the fiscal court.

The hospital was plagued by financial problems in the late 1950s and into the early 1960s.

Medicare and Medicaid did not yet exist. The hospital was placed on a cash basis by suppliers.

In January 1962 an all-new fiscal court took office consisting of county judge Earl Huddleston and magistrates Kenneth Wisdom, Leo Edwards, T.J. Davis, Eugene Piercey, and Baker Wood.

The new court proceeded to fire Hospital Administrator John Ray, who had been hired by the previous fiscal court and replaced him with local resident Frank Summers.

Ray contested his firing, both on the premises and in Federal Court.

Ray and Summers were for a short period of time both on the hospital premises and both acting as Administrator, a condition which the court found seriously threatened the well-being of the patients of ths hospital.

After confusion for several days, Ray was jailed for six hours for contempt by Judge Huddleston. Ray filed suit in United States District Court over his ouster and his jailing, but in reported decisions issued in 1963 and 1964 the Court ruled that his firing, and his incarceration, were proper.

The same fiscal court, with full knowledge that the hospital had become embroiled in county politics, determined that the county should be out of the hospital business, and on July 16, 1964 Clinton County War Memorial Hospital, Inc., was organized, with five directors.

Each magistrate was given the opportunity to select a board member for the new non-profit corporation.

Interestingly and commendably, a majority of the magistrates selected people from out of their district.

The appointees were Clayton Smith (who lived in Gene Piercey’s district), and four men who lived in town: J. Fredrick Smith, Harley Cross, Perry Cross and Dr B E. Eads. Of this group, only Dr. Eads, who resides in Somerset, remains alive today.

Harley Cross also served as Administrator for a short time in 1964, and was succeeded by John Weaver who served 1964-66; Cross served again from February 1966 until April 1967, at which time he was succeeded by Floyd Rednour, who served until May 1968. Jimmy Hoover succeeded Rednour and served as Administrator until 1975.

Tommy Bertram was appointed to the Board in 1968 and served 48 years. Keith McWhorter began his term on the board in 1969, serving 47 years.

Additional rooms were built on to the western end of ths hospital, greatly enhancing the hospital’s ability to offer care to patients.

Bryson Smith, the son of Fredrick Smith, had a goal of returning to Albany after college and managing the hospital.

After he received a degree from Western Kentucky University, he was first hired as Deputy Administrator to Jimmy Hoover, and then was hired as Administrator in July 1975, until his untimely death at age 38 from cancer in 1988.

During his administration the hospital constructed a 5,000 square foot expansion in 1986.

Dr. Randal Flowers, former Administrator of the Cumberland County Hospital, was initially hired as Deputy Administrator during the illness of Bryson Smith, and was hired as Administrator after Smith’s death, a post which he held until 2008.

After the retirement of Flowers, local resident J.D. Mullins was hired to serve as the administrator and continued in that capacity until the facility was purchased earlier this year by Commonwealth.

Currently, Eric Hagan, who is a vice-president with Commonwealth, is serving as the Interim Administrator.

In 1989, the name of the hospital was officially changed to Clinton County Hospital, Inc. by action of the board of directors.

During this time additional surrounding properties, including the Cash Building, were purchased and the $14 million, three-story expansion of the hospital occurred.

That expansion project resulted in the facility that exists today and was basically the construction of a new hospital adjacent to the old hospital facility.

The hospital continues to utilize portions of the old building for offices, surgery, kitchen facilities and outpatient services. The current hospital has 42 beds with support services.

Due to the many changes in health care, rural hospitals have suffered hard times in recent years, and Clinton County Hospital was no exception.

As rural hospitals struggle to remain open, the board of directors of Clinton County Hospital were fortunate to find a buyer for the hospital facility in Commonwealth Health Corporation of Bowling Green, which also own the Franklin, Scottsville, and Cavema hospitals.

The CEO of Commonwealth, Connie Moreland Smith, is a native of Clinton County who has risen from a floor nurse to the head of the multi-million dollar non-profit corporation, and her roots here undoubtedly contributed to the acquisition of the hospital – a move that did remove local control, but in the current healthcare climate was undoubtedly the best course for the future of the hospital, and for health care in Clinton County.

The local hospital is now far removed from the small facility that opened its doors in the early 1950s, and the county was fortunate then and is fortunate now to have the local hospital as an asset, both as a provider of health care as well as its economic impact. Many communities larger than Albany and Clinton County have no hospital, and the creation and survival of the local hospital is a credit to the community as well as the various board members over the years who had a vision of Clinton County having a quality hospital.