Blackburn Sanitarium

The Blackburn Sanitarium is significant within the context of healthcare development in the Klamath Basin. It is the first building in Klamath County to be constructed specifically as a medical facility, and it is one of the first buildings in the area to be heated geothermally. The Hot Springs subdivision was noted for several open geothermal springs at the time the Sanitarium was opened by hospital-developer Alex J. Lyle, who arrived in Klamath Falls from Minnesota in 1911. The heating system was devised by a pioneer plumber and steam engineer, Henry Boivin.  

Competition for Lyle’s enterprise came soon at the impetus of local medical men headed by Dr. Warren C. Hunt. Since the local economy flourished on lumber manufacture, and lumber companies contracted for the healthcare of their workers. Dr. Hunt and his partners opened Valley Hospital in 1914. This facility served its original function until 1965. Blackburn Sanitarium, along with Valley Hospital and the seven-story Medical-Dental Building of 1930 - the county seat’s first office building devoted to medical and dental practice – represent the history of healthcare in the Klamath Basin. Historically, the facilities were rounded out by early lying-in hospitals and interim surgeries located in houses of frame construction, and by Valley Convalescent Hospital, a complement to Valley Hospital, and by Hillside Hospital, a development of 1930 which eclipsed all previous facilities until, it too, was superseded. Hillside Hospital was decommissioned in 1963, and Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital was opened in 1965. 

Alex J. Lyle moved to Klamath Falls from Minnesota in 1911and began construction on the Blackburn Sanitarium. His concern was not only for the obvious medical needs of the community, but also his own need to make a living. This was definitely a business venture. Until the facility could be completed, he operated Samaritan Hospital in a house at 607 High Street in Klamath Falls, and this was his family’s residence after Blackburn opened. The Georgian Revival style building is located at the corner of Esplanade and Eldorado Streets on the edge of the Hot Springs area of Klamath Falls – just north of the main business area - and was completed in 1912. The vicinity in which it was built had numerous open geothermal springs. Newspaper account of the day told of countless people falling into them and being scalded to death. 

The facility was a thirty-six-bed hospital, and an addition in 1918 added two wards that provided space for twenty more beds. Lyle also purchased the county’s first ambulance in 1923, which he referred to as an “invalid car”. During this time, the lumber companies contracted with the hospitals for the healthcare of their workers, mostly single men, and there was a great deal of competition between the two largest hospitals in the area. In 1928 the Blackburn Sanitarium closed due to the ill health of Lyle and his death shortly after.

The Blackburn Sanitarium ran successfully in the days of keen competition stimulated by local industry from 1912 until its proprietor declined in health and closed it in 1928. In 1929, after Lyle’s death, the sanitarium, then known as Klamath General Hospital, was sold to Dr. Hunt, and public hospital service were consolidated to Valley Hospital. The old sanitarium commenced its present apartment house use shortly thereafter.  

Blackburn Sanitarium, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed January 2nd 2021. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/77849712.

Blackburn Sanitarium, Wikipedia. Accessed January 22nd 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Sanitarium.