Today, Harrodsburg Road, also known as South Broadway, is home to Saint Joseph Hospital, but until 1945, this site was the second location of High Oaks Sanitarium. Dr. R.C. Chenault originally opened High Oaks Sanitarium in 1887 at a different South Broadway location and it moved in 1912 to the current-day Saint Joseph Hospital site Chenault previously served as superintendent at Eastern State Hospital and would operate High Oaks until his death in the 1890s.
A pamphlet advertising High Oak’s services suggested that the original South Broadway site was ideal for recuperating from mental disorders and addiction:
“High Oaks is situated in the suburbs, elevated above the city proper and contains 12 acres of ground, and the lawns are beautifully shaded and handsomely improved with large native forest and other shade trees, and an abundance of all kinds of fruit trees and plenty of pure water.”
The pamphlet describes the property as containing a three-story brick structure, detached cottages, and was, “one of the prettiest and most desirable in Kentucky.” Patients at Chenault’s High Oaks ate fresh fruit and vegetables and were served dairy products from cows who lived on the property.
After the death of Dr. Chenault in the 1890s, his widow appointed Dr. George Sprague and Dr. Silas Evans as operators. Letters from Sprague to other physicians speak to the services the institution provided. For $60-$200 a month, patients could stay in either the large brick structure or private cottages. The institution was limited to 20 patients. Sprague and Evans operated the South Broadway location until 1912, when property was sold to the Burley Tobacco Company. Sprague became the primary director of High Oaks and moved the institution to this site on Harrodsburg Road.
The Harrodsburg Road site was larger than the South Broadway location. The hospital had 35 beds and according to the American Medical Association Directory, was for patients with “nervous and mental” disorders as well as “narcotic and alcoholic” addiction. Like the South Broadway location, the site was outside the city and advertised it’s garden-like surroundings The Harrodsburg Road location sat on 14 acres of land.
In 1945, the property was sold to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth who operated St. Joseph. The sisters opened Our Lady of the Oaks hospital in the High Oaks building until the original structure was demolished in 1958 for the construction of the current-day Saint Joseph Hospital.
This image is of the Our Lady of the Oaks Hospital operated by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth prior to the construction of the current-day St. Joseph Hospital structure. The building pictured is the same one used by Dr. Sprague as High Oaks Sanitarium until 1945. Image from http://www.asylumprojects.org
References:
Chenault, R.C. Lexington Sanitarium: High Oaks, 1890. View the pamphlet from University of Kentucky.
Wright, John Dean. Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass (Lexington, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 1982).
“A New Sanitarium,” Lexington Leader, December 3, 1905, Section 2, P. 1.
“New Burley Warehouse to be the Largest in the World,” Lexington Leader, July 24, 1912, p. 1.
“New Sprague Sanitarium,” Lexington Leader, July 24, 1912, p. 1.
A Medical History of Lexington, Kentucky 