Cranberry Specialty Hospital

Cranberry Specialty Hospital was a hospital operated by Plymouth County which was operational from May 31, 1919 until 1992 in Hanson, Massachusetts. Originally opened as a tuberculosis hospital. By the 1960s the hospital became a center for people with terminal and chronic disease with a total of 68 beds. In 1992 the hospital shut down and relocated into the old St. Lukes Hospital in Middleborough, Massachusetts .^[1]

Cranberry Specialty Hospital of Plymouth County was dedicated on May 31, 1919 and opened as Plymouth County Hospital. The hospital opened to acclaim for its architecture and its modern treatment of Tuberculosis. It was one of the first new hospitals to feature a modern and state of the art heating system. An annex was built by 1922 that included additional rooms and wards for patients as well as an auditorium for patients and employees to enjoy. The hospital was also equipped with a large kitchen and a two slab morgue and laboratory. During the late 1980s the hospital struggled with finances, lack of admission, and inadequate treatment. The cost of maintaining the aging historic campus proved too much and in 1992 the hospital was shut down and relocated to Middleborough, MA where the new location would itself shut down before 2000.

Though most of the campus has remained closed since 1992, the Annex has been used by the Plymouth County Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the University of Massachusetts, 4-H, and is also currently home to the Hanson Food Pantry. The remainder of the property has fallen into a state of disrepair and is condemned. Plans to renovate the large hospital building fell apart after a string of devastating arson fires in the early to mid 2000s that destroyed entire wards, the auditorium, the kitchen, and nurses living area. In 2009 the Town of Hanson erected a perimeter fence around the main building to keep children, vandals, and ghost hunters out of the dangerous condemned buildings that also contain toxic levels of lead and asbestos.

The hospital was known for its Mediterranean Revival architecture, a rarity in rural Massachusetts.

References

Coordinates: 42°2′48.32″N 70°52′19.21″W / 42.0467556°N 70.8720028°W / 42.0467556; -70.8720028