Lima Tuberculosis Hospital aka Ottawa Valley Hospital.
Lima, Ohio, USA.
Winter, 2007.
The Lima Tuberculosis Hospital.
Tuberculosis is a disease that has been killing people since ancient times. The strain of bacterium that causes Tuberculosis has been found in bison 17 000 years old & humans 4 000 years old. In olden times, Tuberculosis was known as Consumption because of its symptoms; including bloody cough, fever, loss of skin pigment (pallor) & long relentless wasting. These symptoms led people to believe the person was being 'consumed' from the inside.
In 1839, after it was identified as only a single disease; it was named Tuberculosis by Johann Lukas Schonlien. It was an infectious disease that transported from person to person through sputum (basically anything that you cough up). Along with the aforementioned symptoms, Tuberculosis causes fatigue, night sweats, loss of appetite & consequently a loss of weight.
In 1904, Tuberculosis was killing 1 person in every 550. The abundance of people dying, coupled with the fact that people realized this was an infectious disease led to research and attempts at finding a cure.
It would be a long time before they found an effective treatment. In the meantime, persons that had Tuberculosis were treated with sanitarium stays and rest.
It was around this time that Ohio decreed that each county had its own Tuberculosis hospital to isolate the contagious persons.
Lima Tuberculosis opened in 1911 to wage its 50 year battle on the disease. Patients were to remain at Lima TB for a 3 to 5 year period.
Tuberculosis is not much of a concern anymore in industrialized nations. Modern chemotherapy and antibiotics led to the reduction in the need for Tuberculosis hospitals.
A fall in Tuberculosis cases led Lima Tuberculosis began to allow non-Tuberculosis patients in January 1960. It was renamed at this time to Ottawa Valley Hospital and continued operation until 1972.
Several plans for the property have surfaced since, but the building remains in a solitary state amongst the Ohio forest.
This is a better picture of the Lima Tuberculosis Hospital.
It was difficult to get a picture that conveyed the entire building because of its \_/ shape.
The former entrance to Lima Tuberculosis.
The hospital grounds once included the main building (above), a dormitory for nurses, men's residence, staff cottages and a swan infested pond.
Aside from the main building, most of the other buildings / features have met their demise.
...there was this other small heating building.
Dziamaarsky was obsessed with it because he thought it was where they burned bodies; even though I kept telling him there was a body fridge for storing bodies until the coroner picked them up.
Looking up the heating building's smokestack.
The main building was quite gutted. A large, easy abandoned building in a small town will do that.
It will also do this; copious amounts of ugly, toy graffiti.
The roof was quite unexciting. It had a nice view of the woods & would make for a good spot to drink in the summer / autumn...but it was winter and we needed to get to the basement as the February sun was setting.
I did enjoy getting more shots of the building shell from the roof though.
We headed downstairs.
The sun setting on our Ohio day.
Myself taking more shots of the building shell.
The first and second floors didn't have much left over from the 35 years of abandonment.
Lima Tuberculosis consists of two older buildings that are connected by a newer central building.
The older end buildings were in quite bad condition & this part especially showed that.
Look at the bend on those supports; we found that quite strange.
More pictures of said collapsed east wing, this one from the basement.
Speaking of the basement; it featured the most left over items.
Washer / Dryer.
The basement kitchen.
Another entrance in the basement.
The highlight of the basement - the body fridge.
I'm not really a morbid person, nor do I have any type of obsession with death; but I wanted to get in here just for the experience.
It was definitely strange when the door was closed, quite a somberly experience.
Lima Tuberculosis is pretty bare. The buildings are quite empty & it would make for a boring experience for anyone used to Detroit.
That being said, I enjoyed it tremendously. I really enjoyed the look of the building and the feeling of being out in the woods by a building that looked like it belonged in Eastern Europe. Lima Tuberculosis made it worth putting up with Kayla & Dziamaarsky annoying me for 3 hours on the way there.
Navi.
Sources: 1. Ohio Trespassers
2. IllicitOhio
3. ForgottenOH
5. Wikipedia
6. Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia