The Albert Baldwin Health Resort, also known as St. Joseph's Sanatorium in later years, was a Trost & Trost designed hospital on Grand View Drive. Erected in approximately 1905, it was probably El Paso's first large Sanatorium designed to battle the Tuburculosis pandemic. It was built by David Baldwin, who named the hospital after his father. The "Resort" accepted its first TB patient in 1907, according to Russell W. Van Norman, an early 1970s El Paso historian and VP of the El Paso County Historical Society. Dr. Charles Hendricks became the medical director that year. In 1910, the hospital was purchased by Dr. R.B. Homan, and one year later was renamed the Homan Sanatorium. At the time of the name change, New Orleans Doctor John C. Crimen purchased an interest in the business, having been a former patient. (Hendricks went on to open the Hendricks-Laws Sanatorium in 1915, a magnificent Mission style building, designed by Gibson and Robertson, that stands today -- see https://www.facebook.com/TrostSociety/posts/2504329299685121).
By 1924, the flood of people seeking the healthful southwestern climate to battle TB had become colossal. Hendricks had opened his huge facility, while Dr. C.W. Coutant and H.F. Vermillion remodeled the recently vacated Mt. Franklin Country Club to create their own huge Southern Baptist Sanatorium (another Gibson & Robertson design: see https://www.facebook.com/TrostSociety/posts/3166535166797861). The little Homan needed to grow to accommodate the incoming patients, so Homan and Crimen opted to build a new hospital.
The new Homan Sanatorium was built at the corner of Cotton and Erie (now Murcheson) Streets. They hired prolific El Paso architect Otto Thorman to design the magnificent structure, with the Jennings Construction and Engineering Company as the contractors. The structure, completed in early 1925, overlooked the desert providing a beautiful view for its patients. Each room on its four stories had a large window. The structure is concrete and steel, with no wood used except for doors and door jambs.
It was built with 104 private rooms, completely furnished with writing desks, comfortable chairs and magazine tables. There were no curtains provided, to allow the sun to shine in. The building also provided a roof garden for sunbathing.
By the late 1930s, advancements in the treatment of Tuberculosis plus economic issues forced the hospital to become a general healthcare facility, and in 1937 it was renamed Southwestern General Hospital. The building is in wonderful condition today, operated by the award-winning El Paso LTAC (Long Term Acute Care) Hospital.
Note: The Texas Historic Commission marker at the property names William Wuehrmann as the architect. Nevertheless, we have found primary documentation that names Thorman as the designer. This documentation is in an article in the February 15,1925 El Paso Times (pg 21), and also in several print ads placed in period newspapers by the Hospital.
The Trost Society gives special thanks to Society member Moe Melendez III, who provided much documentation and research for this article.
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Research provided by Mark Stone and Moe Melendez III; Text and modern photography provided to Sketchclub.net by Mark Stone, citing newspaper articles accessed at newspapers.com.
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph by Moe Melendez III |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/05/2020 |
