Broadoaks Sanatorium

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Broadoaks Sanatorium
Opened 1901
Closed 1955
Current Status Closed
Building Style Single Building Plan
Location Morganton, NC
Architecture Style Neoclassical
Peak Patient Population 50



History[edit]

The Broadoaks Sanatorium was opened in September 1901 by Dr. Isaac M. Taylor I, Dr. John McCampbell, and Mr. Felix Scroggs, all of whom had worked at nearby Broughton Hospital.

Dr. Taylor served as the hospital’s superintendent until his death in 1921. The sanatorium was one of only two private hospitals in North Carolina during the early twentieth century and was located in the town of Morganton.

Broadoaks treated “patients with nervous diseases of all kinds, mental diseases, including the insane and mild type, selected congenital defectives, epileptics whos minds have become impaired, the aged with senile degeneration of the brain, needing special care not possible at home, and drug habitués. Violent and noisy patients, the very untidy and those otherwise disturbed, are not properly placed in a small institution, and will not be received.”

The sanatorium had beds for 50 patients and sat on a “high hill commanding beautiful views of the mountains.” The hospital is a single building, a converted mansion that was expanded to house the growing patient population.

In 1924 a fire killed four patients and destroyed the north and east wings of the hospital. Rescued patients were moved to Broughton Hospital.

After Taylor’s death in 1921, the sanatorium was ran by Dr. James Vernon until its closure in 1959. Today the building is privately owned and is a national registered landmark in the historic Valdese Avenue District of Morganton.


Dr. Isaac M. Taylor I[edit]

Dr. Isaac Montrose Taylor I was born in New Bern, North Carolina, in 1857 and earned his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, part of Columbia University. He worked as a physician at the State Hospital, Morganton (now Broughton Hospital) from 1886 – 1901, before opening Broadoaks Sanatorium in 1901. He served as the president of the board of medical examiners of North Carolina from 1915 – 1916. His great-grandson is musician James Taylor. Dr. Taylor died from a heart attack in 1921.