By Isabel Morse Maresh
February 28, 1991
The first Waldo County Hospital opened in the early part of this century in the David Pierce residence and stable on Primrose Hill in Belfast. The property reportedly was a gift from Charles Frederick after his wife's death in 1901.
The residence was specially retrofitted for a hospital and was managed by the Waldo County Hospital Association, with assistance from the Women's Hospital Aid. In 1904, Miss Hall, a trained nurse from New York, was head nurse. Mrs. Charles Rankin, formerly of Liberty, was the matron.
Doctors Small and Johnson of Belfast and Dr. Millet of Searsmont were the surgical staff the first year. Nearly all the doctors in the county were interested in the hospital.
The buildings were situated on the top of Primrose Hill and looked out over Penobscot Bay and the distant hills.
The hospital reportedly was light and airy, and the private rooms were home-like, large, and beautiful. The operating room was claimed to be one of the finest in New England, fully equipped with large side windows for light. In the early years, there were four surgeons on call.
The nurses in the training school got six months training at Bangor's Eastern Maine General Hospital, making them eligible for the state exam.
About 1919 it was voted to close the hospital, according to an article in a Portland newspaper. The rooms and wards had become rundown and frazzled, the china was broken and supplies were low.
It was at that time that the Women's Hospital Aid came to the rescue. In two years the operating rooms, electric laundry, and other areas needing repair were renovated in every detail. The doors were open for rich and poor alike, and charity work was done.
Mrs. Cecil Clay, president of the Women's Aid, wrote letters in an untiring effort to raise money for the successful renovation. Many donations were received.
One of the later contributors to the installation of an elevator in the hospital was Donald Walker of Liberty, who bequeathed money for a fund for ailing people from his and other local towns.
The hospital on Primrose Hill served its patients well until the need for a larger hospital arose. In 1958 its doors finally closed and the staff and patients moved to the new hospital.
All that remains of the former Pierce home on the hill is a tall, lone chimney overlooking the bay.
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