Carlsbad Sanatorium Subject of ASU Exhibit
August 29, 2012
A brief history of the sanatorium will be provided by Charles Njemanze, director of San Angelo State Supported Living Center, and Dennis Gregg, assistant director of administration for the center, in a program that will run from 6:30-8 p.m. in the WTC on the second floor of Angelo State University’s Houston Harte University Center. The Friends meeting is open free to the public, and refreshments will be served.
As part of the program, the Friends group will present the Joe Bill Lee Scholarship for an outstanding student assistant working in the library or West Texas Collection and the Dr. Henry Ricci Scholarship in the field of nursing.
The new display will highlight the San Angelo area’s long history of tuberculosis facilities, starting in 1907 with Dr. Cornick’s Bungalows and other little-known accommodations. San Angelo’s warm, dry climate helped attract a variety of TB facilities to the area because those climatic conditions were thought to be optimum for patient recovery as opposed to more humid areas where tuberculosis rates were believed to be higher.
Featured in the exhibit will be a variety of photographs, drawings, poetry and historical information that puts that era of the region’s medical history in perspective. The Carlsbad sanatorium opened in 1912 and remained in use as a TB facility until 1969 when its focus changed to mental health and mental retardation.