Lafayette Ind. hospital closes, awaits next chapter in history
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A central Indiana hospital that has existed since the end of the 19th century is looking for a new chapter after its final unit moved to another facility.
Home Hospital sits on 24.5 acres in the heart of Lafayette. Terry Wilson, president and CEO of Franciscan St. Elizabeth Health, has been talking with potential buyers of the property for most of the year, but there's no deal yet, the Journal & Courier reported.
"The optimal use for that site is some type of mixed use, maybe get some housing back in with a use that creates jobs and blends with the park. We'd like to work with someone about creating a greenway from Columbian Park to Murdock Park to Sunnyside Middle School and link those areas," said Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski.
Residents have many ideas for the site, including housing for the elderly, a veterans' hospital or a juvenile detention center. Others would like to see it used as a teaching hospital or nursing school.
"Surely there is a lot of equipment that could be put to use," said Deb Turley, who lives north of the hospital.
Kevin Bol, a commercial real estate broker with F.C. Tucker in Lafayette, said it's likely the hospital structure would be torn down as part of a new development on the property. The building's age could make redeveloping the existing structure cost-prohibitive.
"The prospects, in my opinion, are slim at this point in time given the economic situation we've been in the last two to three years," Bol said.
Bol said one idea discussed was an extended care facility with a nursing home and a retail component.
"All of these old hospitals have been pieced together over the years," Wilson said. "We've had discussions about selling just pieces, but the talks we're having right now is about the whole piece, the contiguous hospital property."
The hospital's closing brings memories for many area residents, including Beverly Bryan, whose mother, Mary Elizabeth Harper, graduated from the Home Hospital School of Nursing in 1928.
Bryan said Harper was once doing private duty nursing for a new mother who suffered from an extreme case of postpartum depression and wanted to commit suicide. When her mother tried to stop the woman from jumping from a hospital window, Harper fell out instead.
During surgery for a broken bone, the doctor couldn't get Harper's bone to set with surgical nails, Bryan said. Instead, he sent an orderly to the hardware store to buy a huge nail that stayed in her leg until it healed.
"My mother kept that nail in a small box until her death, and now I have it," Bryan said. "My mother dearly loved Home Hospital. She died in 1990 and would be incredulous and heartbroken to know that it is closed."