The opening chapter of Show Me a Kindness reveals that Marthanne babysits the children of a doctor who works at the Central of Georgia Railway Hospital. Actually, Marthanne used to work there herself in the hospital kitchen. As a result of the stock market crash, Dr. Killingsworth can no longer afford to keep Marthanne on as a sitter, but before letting her go, he re-secures her position in the hospital kitchen. Dr. Killingsworth believes he’s doing Marthanne a great favor, but really he has set off a series of circumstances that sets Marthanne off on her journey.
Even though the hospital doesn’t emerge as a scene until later in the story, its existence is integral throughout the novel. Readers might be interested to know that the Central of Georgia Railway Hospital was an actual medical facility in Savannah, Georgia. While it made a great difference to thousands of railway employees in the 20th century, it has also enabled me to develop a protagonist, present her with obstacles, and give her encounters with important secondary characters.
When I launched the novel on February 7th, I gave a lecture at Senior Citizens, Inc. of Savannah, an organization which now resides in the former Central of Georgia Railway Hospital. The building now celebrates its 90th anniversary, and in honor of that milestone, my lecture examined the building’s history and how it figures into my story, and I share some of that information in today’s blog post.
The Central of Georgia Railway Hospital came to be as the result of a ten-year endeavor spearheaded by Dr. Craig Barrow, who joined the Central of Georgia Railway and Steamship Company in 1917. After taking a hiatus from the railroad to serve in World War I in the medical corps, Dr. Barrow returned to the company, with the idea of developing an employee benefit package consisting of three main perks:
- A pension system
- Group insurance protecting employees and families in the event of death or disability
- Health care provided by a hospital department
Dr. Barrow wanted this health care arm of the benefit package to include a physical facility for the railroad’s employees.
To fund the medical plan, the railway deducted 75 cents a month from each employee’s pay, and that “premium” entitled employees to treatment by the hospital department. Participation in this plan didn’t prevent employees from seeking medical treatment elsewhere, but the plan covered only treatment by doctors and hospitals under contract with Central of Georgia.
In this way the hospital department could provide medical care to employees and their families, but interestingly enough, it also provided treatment to passengers and, oddly enough, railway trespassers.
If you think about it, those provisions made sense because much goes on with a railway that we don’t see. For many jobs, employees put their safety at risk. We might at first think about porters, conductors, or ticket sellers at the depot, but the railway also employed engineers, machinists, people who laid and repaired the tracks. With so many moving parts and with many people exposing themselves to extreme heat and open flames, it makes sense that the company think about the employees’ health and safety.
And because the railway was such an extended operation, the hospital department included more than just the building and its staff. Central of Georgia also employed physicians in more remote locations so that railway employees in other cities could receive medical benefits. Those living in Augusta, Millen, Athens, Atlanta, Griffin, Macon and other cities could consult doctors contracted with the railway. Contract physicians also provided care in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Birmingham and Eufaula, Alabama. So in this way, Central of Georgia’s health care network was a precursor to the medical care networks we access today.
It took a lot of persuasion, but eventually, in 1925, the company voted to build the hospital in Savannah. After a competitive bid process, the railroad contracted with Schmidt, Garden, Erikson Architects of Chicago to design the building. Companies from across the country bid to construct the building, but Schmidt, Garden, Erikson selected Claussen-Lawrence of Augusta, GA for the job. Sub-contractors across Georgia bid to supply various materials and labor, and some of those companies were local. For instance, Byck Electric provided the electrical work and wiring. At the time, their work came in at the price of $14,472.00.
Construction began late in 1925 with a plan to complete the building in March of 1927. But as happens with many building projects of this size, obstacles arose along the way. The documents I’ve read don’t delve into the details of those delays, but I have found letters revealing that the slow-down frustrated and embarrassed Dr. Barrow, which is understandable, considering that this endeavor was his idea and he had dedicated so much time persuading the railroad to invest in this major undertaking.
Eventually the hospital had its grand opening on July 1, 1927. The railroad’s employee magazine, Right Way, dedicated almost all its content to promotion of the hospital, and in the August issue, the magazine published a lengthy article naming the hospital’s entire staff and photos of the facility’s equipment. The magazine touted it as a state of the art institution.
And for the next 36 years, the hospital remained in operation. Of course, in late 1929, like everyone else, Central of Georgia suffered some financial hardship, and it eventually ended up in receivership. But in spite of the company’s challenge, but the hospital persisted, and on its tenth anniversary, the hospital was promoting its upgrades, such as a portable X-ray machine and an in-house pharmacist.
World War II brought unprecedented business to the railroad, but it remained in receivership until 1948, and even after that, mergers and acquisitions altered the company’s structure, and the hospital struggled to sustain itself.
Those structural changes continued through the 1950’s, and by 1963, Central of Georgia became a subsidiary line of Southern Railway. Consequently, Right Way announced the closing of the hospital. On October 1 of that year, Warren G. Candler Hospital bought the building and the Mary Telfair Hospital. The organization changed its name to Candler General Hospital. In 1980, Candler General moved into its current location on DeRenne Avenue, and Senior Citizens, Inc. acquired this building.
And then I decided to write a story…
