History of Tyrone Hospital
In 1931, Harvey M. Gray and his wife Ada made a generous $150,000 benefaction that gave citizens of Tyrone the opportunity to have a dependable and accommodating economy, as well as the opportunity for dependable and accommodating healthcare.
Mr. and Mrs. Gray made this endowment hoping to bring a hospital to the Tyrone community. Over the next 14 years a few attempts were made to turn Harvey and Ada’s dream into a reality; however, the Great Depression, shortly followed by World War II, prevented these efforts from ever resulting in anything concrete.
Eventually, in 1945, a group of men and women formed a committee to put the plans in motion, and suddenly great things began to happen. By August 19, 1946, as a result of a petition signed by 25 incorporators, Judge George G. Patterson of Blair County signed the decree that officially made the Tyrone Hospital a corporation.
However, it was going to take far more than a petition, a legal document, and a committee to build a hospital. The cost for construction alone was estimated to be $450,000. With the $150,000 already donated by the Grays, it meant the community still needed to come up with the remaining $300,000.
The Community Steps Forward
The Tyrone Chamber of Commerce provided free office space for a project headquarters as well as some free office equipment. Various business firms donated supplies. In November of 1946, two hundred volunteers (a town record at the time) got together and began soliciting on the hospital’s behalf. Church groups, service clubs, fraternal organizations, industries and their employees, as well as various sports and theater groups all made contributions. An over-sized thermometer was placed in front of the Blair County National Bank to track the campaign’s progress. By the end of the fundraiser, $388,760.81 had been raised, exceeding the $300,000 goal.
The Tyrone Hospital Auxiliary, an organization of community volunteers who spearheaded various activities and programs aimed at supporting the Tyrone Hospital, was organized in 1947. This group played an important role in funding the construction of the hospital, and continues to raise money on the hospital’s behalf today.
Groundwork began in 1948 on the 16.73 acre piece of land donated by the Water Department of the Tyrone Borough. Contractor Russell C. Burket provided free excavation work; the Adolph Engelman family donated land to build the access roads, and the Kiwanians, Rotarians, and groups of Hi-Y boys volunteered to prepare the area for construction.
The project encountered difficult times in mid-1949, due in part to a large rise in construction costs. About a third of the building was still incomplete, and half of the equipment remained to be purchased.
At this time, the hospital board put together an application for the Pennsylvania Hospital Plan, which would allow it to have approximately one third of its construction costs covered by federal funding. This turned into a yearlong, up-hill battle of rejections. Finally, in March of 1950, John W. Newlin submitted an appeal on behalf of the hospital to the Central Regional Planning Committee of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg that proved Tyrone deserved federal funding. The original decision was overturned and Tyrone was approved for the grant. However, as part of the grant approval the community needed to raise an additional $167,000. This second campaign was another success with $184,709.85 raised.
In 1951, Fred Waring, popular musician and native of Tyrone, proposed that he and his band (Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians) visit Tyrone to put on a benefit concert for the hospital. On Tuesday, September 25, 1951, at Gray Memorial Field, the band performed on a custom-made stage in front of approximately 11,000 people. This concert raised $33,517. There was enough money to bring the project to life again. If it wasn’t apparent before, it certainly was now — the people of Tyrone WANTED this hospital.
The Hospital Opens
Finally, thanks almost entirely to the people of Tyrone, the Hospital officially opened its doors on September 20, 1954. Nearly 60 years later, the hospital continues to provide top quality healthcare to Tyrone and the surrounding area.
The Tyrone Women’s Club, founded by 35 women in June of 1954, has played a key role in raising money for the Tyrone Hospital. The same year it was founded the Women’s Club and the Tyrone Service League began cosponsoring annual fundraising dances. In the early 1960s, the Service League disbanded, leaving the Women’s Club solely in charge of the dances as well as the other fundraising efforts. The dance tradition, discontinued after its 42nd year in 1990, was revived in 2006 and has continued yearly since then.
The Women’s Club continues to raise money for the Tyrone Hospital. The group has helped fund the building of the Hospital’s outdoor solarium, the renovation of the emergency/triage area, and the purchase of digital mammography equipment.
In 1979, the Tyrone community and hospital staff raised nearly $700,000 to aid in keeping the Tyrone Hospital at the forefront of the medical community. This money was used to give the hospital its first major addition, providing the facility with a new wing, a new emergency room, a new operating room, and a physical therapy room.
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