The Waverly Hills Sanatorium

Back before the sanatorium was ever thought of, the land was purchased by Major Thomas H. Hays in 1883. The story goes that Major Hays needed a school for his daughters to go to, so he started a one room school house down on pages lane and hired a woman whose name was Lizzie Lee Harris as the teacher. Miss Harris loved her tiny school nestling against the hillside, and remembered her fondness for Scott's Waverley novels, so she named her little school house "Waverley School." Now Major Hays liked the peaceful sounding name so he named his property "Waverley Hill" and the Board of Tuberculosis Hospital kept the name when they bought the land and opened the sanatorium.

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium began with a two-story frame building, with a hipped roof and half timbering(see photo above). Construction on this building began in 1908, and it opened on July 26, 1910. This building was only designed to safely accomodate 40-50 tuberculosis patients. Tuberculosis was a very serious disease back then in the early times before antibiotics were discovered. People who were afflicted with tuberculosis had to be isolated from the general public and placed in an area where they could rest, stay calm, and have plenty of fresh air. That is why sanatoriums were built on high hills surrounded by peaceful woods to create a serene atmosphere to help the patients recover.
Tuberculosis was reaching epidemic proportions among the public in Pleasure Ridge Park Kentucky. The little TB clinic was being filled with over 140 people, and it was becoming very obvious that a much larger hospital complex would have to be constructed very soon!
This sanatorium would accomodate at least 400 patients. It was considered to be one of the most modern and well equipped facilities back in its day when it opened. Construction of this large sanatorium began in March of 1924. It opened on October 17'th of 1926 to administer patients! Waverly functioned as a tuberculosis hospital until 1961, when it was closed down to be quarantined and renovated to be opened again in 1962 as WoodHaven Medical Services. The facility remained a geriatrics center until 1980, when it was closed by the state.
http://www.waverlyhillstbsanatorium.com/

tuberculosis-TB is a common, life-threatening infection spread through airborne droplets from a sneeze, cough or even just talking.
Your immune system begins to attack TB bacteria two to eight weeks after you're infected. Sometimes the bacteria die, and the infection clears completely. In other cases, the bacteria remain in your body in an inactive state and cause no tuberculosis symptoms. In still other cases, you may develop active TB.

TB mainly affects your lungs (pulmonary tuberculosis), and coughing is often the only indication of infection initially. Signs and symptoms of active pulmonary TB include:

A cough lasting three or more weeks that may produce discolored or bloody sputum
Unintended weight loss
Fatigue
Slight fever
Night sweats
Chills
Loss of appetite
Pain with breathing or coughing (pleurisy)
Tuberculosis also can target almost any part of your body, including your joints, bones, urinary tract, central nervous system, muscles, bone marrow and lymphatic system.

When TB occurs outside your lungs, signs and symptoms vary, depending on the organs involved. For example, tuberculosis of the spine may result in back pain, and tuberculosis that affects your kidneys might cause blood in your urine. Tuberculosis can also spread through your entire body, simultaneously attacking many organ systems.