Museum marks seven decades since B-A Hospital’s opening
By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
The board of the Boaz Legacy Museum presented the administration and members of the Marshall Medical Center South Healthcare Authority Board of Directors with a plaque commemorating the hospital’s 70th year of operation in the city.
Museum curator and board chairman Wayne Hunt recently made the presentation in the lobby of the hospital’s main entrance.
The hospital, then known as Boaz-Albertville Medical Center, opened its doors on April 24, 1956, but the effort to bring a medical care facility to the area had been on-going for some time. Among the items Hunt brought to show the hospital staff and board was a photo of display of the members of the hospital “governing board” formed in 1949.
The hospital, and the one in Guntersville, were built from funds raised through a 4-mil tax in Marshall County, and federal funds set aside for hospital construction, Hunt explained.
It would have been built sooner but for cuts to that fund made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Hunt read from a letter explaining that the 1954 budget didn’t include funding for the project because that hospital fund had been cut to its lowest level at the time. When the hospital did open, along “the newly constructed four-lane” (U.S. 431), the city worked to extend Brown Street to give access from the other side the hospital. At the time, Hunt said, Brown Street went as far north as Maple Street. With the new hospital being built, it was extended past Corley Avenue which connects to the hospital’s parking lot.
Even then, Hunt said, people were looking for a way to avoid U.S. 431.
What began as a 35-bed facility has grown to a 150-bed hospital and expanded its footprint as it has expanded its services over the years. At the time the hospital opened, Hunt said, it offered semi-private rooms at a rate of $6 a day without a bathroom, $7 a day with a bathroom. A private room cost $8 per day.
Marshall Medical Center South is part of the Marshall Medical Centers-Huntsville Hospital Health System.
Members of the Marshall Medical Center South Healthcare Authority Board of Directors gathered with hospital administrators and city officials as Boaz Legacy Museum Curator/Board Chairman Wayne Hunt and Boaz Mayor Tim Walker presented the hospital with a plaque commemorating the hospital’s 70 years of serving the area. Pictured from left: board member Phillip Bentley; Boaz Legacy Museum board member Bruce Sanford; board member Tim McRae; MMCS Chief Operating Officer Traci Stewart; MMC Health Systems President Chris Rush; board members Jesus Granados and Wayne Crews; Executive VP of Regional Operations for Huntsville Hospital Health Systems Sam Dean; board Chairman Roy Rollins; Walker; Hunt; board members Mike Alred and Stan Chaffin; MCHCA legal counsel George Barnett; board members Ty King, Jennifer Amos, Andrea Elrod and Liles Burke; Program Director Dr. Chandler Stisher and MMCS Chief Nursing Officer Kathy Woodruff. Photo by DONNA THORNTON l The Leader
