Sanitariums were the treatment of choice for the victims of tuberculosis from roughly 1900 until 1950. When antibiotics became available following World War II, the Tubercle Bacillus microbe became so easily managed that sanitariums across the nation, closed. 

Over the past fifty years, mismanagement in the use of antibiotics has provided evolutionary pressures, which have led to the creation of strains of multi-drug resistant TB microbes. Tuberculosis is on the rise and has become largest cause of death from a single organism in the United States. Global incidence of TB has skyrocketed from 2.5 million in 1990 to 5 million in 2004, and is the leading cause of death among people with HIV/AIDS. 

If trends continue and antibiotics become ineffective, will there be a sanitarium in our future? An important sanitarium, the White Haven Sanitarium, existed in White Haven from 1901 to 1956. Wayne Gower, a White Haven Area historian, is the Safety Manager at White Haven Center, an institution for the profoundly retarded. White Haven Center began its history as the White Haven Sanitarium. 

“This year, we were preparing for the fiftieth anniversary of the White Haven Center and we found a book about the history of the White Haven Sanitarium packed in boxes of some old stuff,” explain Gower. “We dusted it off and recognized that we found what we were looking for.” 

The book, The Story of White Haven Sanitarium, is sub-titled A Memorial to Dr. Lawrence F. Flick. Dr. Flick was the founder and the Sanitarium’s first president. After March 1, 1956, when the White Haven Sanitarium closed as a treatment center for tuberculosis, this book was written to provide a record and closure for an era. 

Dr. Flick, himself a consumptive—as they had called TB patients at the time, sought the fresh mountain air of White Haven to help recover from his disease. It is said that he helped pay his way as a railroad trackwalker. 

The Genesis of the Sanitarium began in 1895 as the Free Hospital for Poor Consumptives in Philadelphia. They placed fishbowls in public places to raise funds. 

Franklin s. Horn and the Coxe family - owners of vast coal lands in northeastern Pennsylvania donated 215-acres near White Haven. An additional donation by the Coxe family increased the property to 265-acres. 

The site was located on top of the hill overlooking White Haven with an entrance off old Rt. 940 by the Powerhouse Eatery. The Eatery was the powerhouse for the Sanitarium. It was donated by the DuPont family. Most of the buildings were destroyed by fire. The property is now the home of the Holy Protection Greek Orthodox Monastery. 

“It originally was a farm on a hill overlooking White Haven,” Gower explained. “It opened with just the farmhouse. The barn was converted into housing and the patients lived in tents. It developed into a large complex with an administrative building, separate housing for men, women, and children.” 

White Haven was selected because it was believed that TB was a result of air pollution in the cities. The treatment therefore was fresh air and fresh food. They had a high protein diet of fresh eggs from their chicken house and milk—which they were required to drink five pints a day. 

White Haven was selected because of the direct rail service from Philadelphia. Passengers on trains passing through White Haven are said to have closed their windows because they were afraid they would contract tuberculosis. 

Ironically, the trains going by deposited soot. Gower, who lives in his great grandparents 1865 home said, “I wouldn’t want to hammer in the attic of this house. You’d take a shower in soot from all the old coal ash.” 

Was the sanitarium treatment effective, Gower was asked? “If you got better, if was pretty much dumb luck,” he said.