January 13, 1944
Potter Emergency Hospital closes its doors soon, after something over seventeen years of service to this community.
Dr. C.S. Maxwell, who has been associated with the hospital continuously since the beginning, re-lived the early days of the hospital for us one day early this week. He went back to the time when the eastern half of the building only was in existence with the Post Office beneath, the second story unfinished.
The building belonged to the late J.H. Potter Sr. Dr. Maxwell, casting about for office space, approached Mr. Potter in regard to finishing the rooms to meet his requirements. The answer was, “No, but you go ahead and fix them as you want them, I will rent them to you, and the rent can go to pay for the improvements provided payment is not spread over a period of over four years.” This was the condition of the first lease. The second floor was designed to meet his needs, and on one side, steps on stilts were constructed as the only means of reaching the offices.
On the west side of the building was a small wooden structure occupied by Jim Potter’s grocery store. Mr. Potter planned to replace it with a brick building, which was to be built around the grocery store so that business need not be interrupted in the meantime. It was then that Dr. Maxwell again approached Mr. Potter and made the suggestion that he make the new building a two story one, to be used as a hospital. Thus the hospital idea evolved, and according to Dr. Maxwell, the name Potter Emergency Hospital was given, out of appreciation of the cooperation of Mr. Potter in making space available, and in other ways making it possible to accomplish things essential for its use as a hospital.
At the end of November, 1927, although installation of the heating plant was not complete, the first patient was entered – Walter Lewis, of Sea Level, and the first baby who saw the light of day in the new hospital was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Garland Gillikin, of Otway, who was born on November 29th. For those who like statistics, 685 people who were once babies can now point to the second-story rooms over B.A. Bell’s and Potter’s Pure Food Store as the place of their birth.
Among patients hospitalized during the first few days of the existence of the new hospital was W.D. Davis, of Harker’s Island, father of the late Mr. Leslie Davis, who was accepted on November 30th. His clothing had caught in a pin, on a fly-wheel of an engine; he was knocked down, suffered lacerations requiring fourteen stitches, and also a crushed foot. Cooch Taylor, seventeen-year-old son of John Taylor, of Sea Level, was also among the first cases. Others were Mrs. Whitfield Mason, of Norfolk, and Mr. Allan Mason, of Beaufort, who were injured in an automobile accident, and Mr. Clyde Peterson, of Davis, and Mr. Fulcher, of Sea Level.
The hospital has always been a private hospital owned by a corporation, but from the beginning it has had a contract with the U.S. Public Health Service to serve members of the Coast Guard, Engineering Department, Geodetic Survey, and other branches of the Service, as well as seamen from licensed boats, freighters, and fish boats, free of charge without their having to travel to Norfolk.
At the time of the opening, the hospital had ten beds, a diet kitchen, a modern operating room, and a steam heating plant. It was under the management of Dr. C.S. Maxwell and Dr. F.E. Hyde. Before the end of the first month, it was necessary to expand and add a room in the eastern side of the building to those used for the hospital proper.
The hospital now has fourteen beds in use. Dr. Maxwell, Dr. Laurie W. Moore, Dr. W.L. Woodard, and Dr. O.H. Johnson are associated in the hospital. Miss Margaret Hamilton, Superintendent, has been connected with it for fifteen years and has been operating it for ten; Miss Bernice Willis, Assistant Superintendent, has also been associated with it for fifteen years and has assisted in the operation of it for ten. Mollie Davis, cook, boasts of connection with it from the beginning, and George Sparrow, orderly, has been with it since the second month of its existence.
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JAMES HOLLISTER POTTER - For 91 years, 707 Ann Street was home to James Hollister Potter Sr. (1847‒1938) and Nancy Bell Murray (1846‒1922). (The home was inherited from his father, William Jackson Potter, who came from Anne Arundel, Maryland to work as a brick mason during the building of Fort Macon.) A seafood dealer, James was also involved in real estate; he helped finance the Post Office and Custom House on Turner Street, and the Potter Building on Front Street, which burned in 1958. J.H. Potter's son, J.H. Potter Jr., owned Potter's Pure Food Store and Potter's Toy Shop on Front Street; he also helped organize the Beaufort Fire Department.
DR. CLARENCE SCHUYLER MAXWELL (1876-1970), son of David Copeland Maxwell and Annie McGee, married Mary Adeline "Addie" Thomas in 1902. He served in WWI. The couple lived on Marsh Street, later on Pollock.
