Dr. Fred Stone, Sr., Hospital
Encyclopedia
The Dr. Fred Stone, Sr., Hospital is a six-story brick structure in Oliver Springs, Tennessee
, USA. Noted for its castle-like appearance and eccentric, unplanned design, the building was home to a one-doctor hospital operated by retired U.S. Army physician Fred Stone, Sr. (1887–1976) in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Stone delivered over 5,000 babies while working at the hospital, and expanded the building room-by-room, floor-by-floor in his spare time. In 2006, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
for its association with the region's medical services history, namely the transition from rural country doctors to modern hospitals.
The grandson of a noted Claiborne County doctor, Stone spent his teen years drifting around the country before returning to East Tennessee to obtain his medical degree in 1916. Stone served as an American medical aide to the British Army during World War I
, and in 1918 was awarded the British Military Cross
. After travelling around the world, he returned to East Tennessee, where in the early 1940s he worked as an examiner for new Manhattan Project
employees at Oak Ridge
. In 1943, Stone purchased what was then a simple two-story building in Oliver Springs for use as a hospital, and spent the next three decades expanding it, adding multiple stories, hidden corridors, marble terraces, and a six-story central observation tower. In 1999, the building and its environs appeared in the film, October Sky
.
county line. The NRHP-listed Colonial Hall is located just across the street to the south, and the NRHP-listed Oliver Springs Banking Company building is located just across the county line to the east. A contributing property in the hospital listing, known as the "Hayes House" after its builder, is located in a partially-wooded lot adjacent to the hospital.
to homestead a small plot of land, and within a few years had joined several relatives in Oregon
, where he worked in hops
vineyards.
Using money he had saved up, Stone returned to East Tennessee
and enrolled in Lincoln Memorial University
Medical School in Knoxville, from which he graduated in 1916. He briefly practiced medicine in Loyston, Tennessee
, before joining the U.S. Army Medical Corps
at the height of World War I
. Stone was "loaned" to the British Fourth Battalion Regiment, and was awarded the British Military Cross
for actions performed at Bucquoy
in August 1918. After the war, Stone served in various places around the world, including the Philippines and India
, before retiring from the Army in 1937.
After retirement, Stone purchased a large plot of land in Claiborne County, where he began building a large stone mansion embedded into a cliff-side overlooking Bear Creek (the mansion burned in 1975). In 1942, Stone was hired by Stone & Webster
— the firm which built the Manhattan Project facilities at Oak Ridge— as an examiner for its new employees, a task Stone carried out from a makeshift clinic at the city's Elza Gate
. After World War II
, Stone devoted himself primarily to his Oliver Springs hospital, which he purchased in 1943, seeing patients at all hours of the day and expanding the building room-by-room in his spare time. He died in 1976.
to the west. A German-born physician, Henry Sienknecht, acquired a plot of land that included the later Stone hospital lot, and opened a general store which still stands near the hospital. When Sienknecht died in 1916, his daughter Ella and son-in-law Dr. Jesse Thaxton Hayes inherited the property. Around 1920, Hayes built a two-story clinic (the original section of the Stone hospital) on this property, and in 1924 he and his wife built a Bungalow-style house (the Hayes House) in the adjacent lot.
While inspecting the roof of his clinic in 1940, Hayes slipped and fell, and died shortly thereafter. His heirs sold the clinic and house to Charles and Alice Davis in 1940, and the Davises in turn sold the clinic (but not the house) to Stone in 1943. Stone immediately began expanding the building. He hired a brick-mason named Joe Chittum and mobilized idle nurses and relatives to mix mortar and aide in bricklaying. By 1946, the building rose five stories at its highest point. As the building continued to grow, Stone modified its design to fit around an old Maple tree growing on the lot, giving the building's northeast corner its awkward appearance. The building's central six-story tower, completed in 1949, briefly served as a Civil Defense lookout for the nearby atomic energy installations at Oak Ridge.
By the time of Stone's death, the building, which originally covered 1036 square feet (96.2 m²), had grown to over 4000 square feet (371.6 m²). The building's subsequent owners removed the Maple tree and added fiberglass covers to parts of the roof to prevent water leakage. An architect named Charles Tichy eventually acquired the building, and began restoring it in the early 1990s. Several scenes from the 1999 film October Sky (which was set in a West Virginia mining town) were shot in Oliver Springs, including a scene in the alley adjacent to the hospital. The nearby Sieknecht store still bears the "Olga Coal Company" facade from the movie.
facade. Two dormer windows were added to the third story of this section's southwest wall in the 1980s.
The middle section rises to four stories, with various decks and terraces rising to five stories, and the central 20 feet (6.1 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m) tower rising to six stories. There are six doors at the northeast base (facing Stone Alley) of the middle section, some accessing the first floor, others accessing stairways leading to the upper floors. A brick between stories five and six in the tower is stamped with "1946," and a marble slab in the tower's open-air pavilion is stamped with "1949," giving some idea of the dates of completion. Along with the tower, the roof of the middle section consists of a series of irregular marble terraces, some accessed by exterior stairways, and some accessed by interior stairways.
The building's rear section rises to four stories, but the southwestern one-third of this section rises to three stories topped by a terrace (currently covered with protective fiberglass). Part of the rear section's northeast wall is recessed, as Stone attempted to build around a Maple tree growing on the lot. The walls of this section were set irregularly to accommodate the tree's branches.
Most of the building's interior rooms are small and simple. Fireplaces typically consist of brick or marble hearths with brick mantels. Some of the interior walls contain windows, revealing that they were once exterior walls. Most of the interior walls are plastered, although some contain clay tiles. Upper floors are accessed via wood or marble staircases, although the building contains a crude rope-and-pulley elevator. Aside from the two storefronts (which were rented as commercial space), the first floor was essentially a basement and garage. The second floor contained the clinic space and the Stone family's residential space.
. Two sets of dormer windows rise from the front of the roof (facing Roane Street). The first floor of the house contains a central living room, dining room, kitchen, and three bedrooms. The second floor contains a bedroom and an attic.
Oliver Springs, Tennessee
Oliver Springs is a town in Anderson, Morgan, and Roane counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Its population was 3,303 at the 2000 census. It is included in the "Harriman, Tennessee Micropolitan Statistical Area", which consists of Roane County....
, USA. Noted for its castle-like appearance and eccentric, unplanned design, the building was home to a one-doctor hospital operated by retired U.S. Army physician Fred Stone, Sr. (1887–1976) in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Stone delivered over 5,000 babies while working at the hospital, and expanded the building room-by-room, floor-by-floor in his spare time. In 2006, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
for its association with the region's medical services history, namely the transition from rural country doctors to modern hospitals.
The grandson of a noted Claiborne County doctor, Stone spent his teen years drifting around the country before returning to East Tennessee to obtain his medical degree in 1916. Stone served as an American medical aide to the British Army during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and in 1918 was awarded the British Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
. After travelling around the world, he returned to East Tennessee, where in the early 1940s he worked as an examiner for new Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
employees at Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
. In 1943, Stone purchased what was then a simple two-story building in Oliver Springs for use as a hospital, and spent the next three decades expanding it, adding multiple stories, hidden corridors, marble terraces, and a six-story central observation tower. In 1999, the building and its environs appeared in the film, October Sky
October Sky
October Sky is a 1999 American biographical film directed by Joe Johnston, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper and Laura Dern. It is based on the true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1 to take up rocketry against his father's wishes, and who...
.
Location
The Dr. Fred Stone, Sr., Hospital is located in downtown Oliver Springs, about a block away from the Roane-AndersonAnderson County, Tennessee
Anderson County is a U.S. county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2010 census, its population is 75,129. Its county seat is Clinton.It is included in the Knoxville, Tennessee, Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
county line. The NRHP-listed Colonial Hall is located just across the street to the south, and the NRHP-listed Oliver Springs Banking Company building is located just across the county line to the east. A contributing property in the hospital listing, known as the "Hayes House" after its builder, is located in a partially-wooded lot adjacent to the hospital.
Fred Stone, Sr. biography
Fred Oscar Stone was born in Claiborne County, Tennessee, in 1887. His grandfather, Samuel Stone, was a country doctor, and accompanying his grandfather on calls as a child inspired Fred to seek a career in medicine later in life. At the age of 19, Fred moved to New MexicoNew Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
to homestead a small plot of land, and within a few years had joined several relatives in Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, where he worked in hops
Hops
Hops are the female flower clusters , of a hop species, Humulus lupulus. They are used primarily as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart a bitter, tangy flavor, though hops are also used for various purposes in other beverages and herbal medicine...
vineyards.
Using money he had saved up, Stone returned to East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
and enrolled in Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University
Lincoln Memorial University is a private four-year co-educational liberal arts college located in Harrogate, Tennessee.LMU's campus borders on Cumberland Gap National Historical Park....
Medical School in Knoxville, from which he graduated in 1916. He briefly practiced medicine in Loyston, Tennessee
Loyston, Tennessee
Loyston was a community in Union County, Tennessee, USA, that was inundated by the waters of Norris Lake after the completion of Norris Dam in 1935. Established in the early 19th century around a foundry built by its namesake, John Loy, over subsequent decades the community's location along State...
, before joining the U.S. Army Medical Corps
Medical Corps (United States Army)
The Medical Corps of the U.S. Army is a staff corps of the U.S. Army Medical Department consisting of commissioned medical officers – physicians with either an MD or a DO degree, at least one year of post-graduate clinical training, and a state medical license.The MC traces its earliest origins...
at the height of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. Stone was "loaned" to the British Fourth Battalion Regiment, and was awarded the British Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
for actions performed at Bucquoy
Bucquoy
Bucquoy is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:A farming village located 12 miles south of Arras on the D919 road, at the junction with the D8.-Population:-Places of interest:...
in August 1918. After the war, Stone served in various places around the world, including the Philippines and India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, before retiring from the Army in 1937.
After retirement, Stone purchased a large plot of land in Claiborne County, where he began building a large stone mansion embedded into a cliff-side overlooking Bear Creek (the mansion burned in 1975). In 1942, Stone was hired by Stone & Webster
Stone & Webster
Stone & Webster is an American engineering services company based in Stoughton, Massachusetts. Stone & Webster was founded as an electrical testing lab and consulting firm by electrical engineers Charles Stone and Edwin Webster in 1889. It was acquired by The Shaw Group in 2000. The company...
— the firm which built the Manhattan Project facilities at Oak Ridge— as an examiner for its new employees, a task Stone carried out from a makeshift clinic at the city's Elza Gate
Elza, Tennessee
Elza was a community in Anderson County, Tennessee, that existed before 1942, when the area was acquired for the Manhattan Project. Its site is now part of the city of Oak Ridge, Tennessee.Elza formed around a flagstop on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad...
. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Stone devoted himself primarily to his Oliver Springs hospital, which he purchased in 1943, seeing patients at all hours of the day and expanding the building room-by-room in his spare time. He died in 1976.
Structure history
In the early 1900s, Oliver Springs was a small mountain town focused primarily on a lavish mineral springs resort known as the Oliver Springs Resort Hotel and coal mining activities at the base of the Cumberland PlateauCumberland Plateau
The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and western West Virginia, part of Tennessee, and a small portion of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms "Allegheny Plateau" and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the...
to the west. A German-born physician, Henry Sienknecht, acquired a plot of land that included the later Stone hospital lot, and opened a general store which still stands near the hospital. When Sienknecht died in 1916, his daughter Ella and son-in-law Dr. Jesse Thaxton Hayes inherited the property. Around 1920, Hayes built a two-story clinic (the original section of the Stone hospital) on this property, and in 1924 he and his wife built a Bungalow-style house (the Hayes House) in the adjacent lot.
While inspecting the roof of his clinic in 1940, Hayes slipped and fell, and died shortly thereafter. His heirs sold the clinic and house to Charles and Alice Davis in 1940, and the Davises in turn sold the clinic (but not the house) to Stone in 1943. Stone immediately began expanding the building. He hired a brick-mason named Joe Chittum and mobilized idle nurses and relatives to mix mortar and aide in bricklaying. By 1946, the building rose five stories at its highest point. As the building continued to grow, Stone modified its design to fit around an old Maple tree growing on the lot, giving the building's northeast corner its awkward appearance. The building's central six-story tower, completed in 1949, briefly served as a Civil Defense lookout for the nearby atomic energy installations at Oak Ridge.
By the time of Stone's death, the building, which originally covered 1036 square feet (96.2 m²), had grown to over 4000 square feet (371.6 m²). The building's subsequent owners removed the Maple tree and added fiberglass covers to parts of the roof to prevent water leakage. An architect named Charles Tichy eventually acquired the building, and began restoring it in the early 1990s. Several scenes from the 1999 film October Sky (which was set in a West Virginia mining town) were shot in Oliver Springs, including a scene in the alley adjacent to the hospital. The nearby Sieknecht store still bears the "Olga Coal Company" facade from the movie.
Design
The Dr. Fred Stone, Sr., Hospital can be roughly divided into three sections— the "front" section, containing the original 1920 structure built by Hayes, the "middle" section surrounding the tower, and the four-story "rear" section. The original 1920 structure measured 28 feet (8.5 m) by 37 feet (11.3 m), and consisted of a typical shop front with a recessed entrance flanked by two windows. In 1943, Stone extended it from 37 feet (11.3 m) to 43 feet (13.1 m) to include a second shop front, with its own window and entrance, and united the two shops with a stepped-gabledCrow-stepped gable
A Stepped gable, Crow-stepped gable, or Corbie step is a stair-step type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building...
facade. Two dormer windows were added to the third story of this section's southwest wall in the 1980s.
The middle section rises to four stories, with various decks and terraces rising to five stories, and the central 20 feet (6.1 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m) tower rising to six stories. There are six doors at the northeast base (facing Stone Alley) of the middle section, some accessing the first floor, others accessing stairways leading to the upper floors. A brick between stories five and six in the tower is stamped with "1946," and a marble slab in the tower's open-air pavilion is stamped with "1949," giving some idea of the dates of completion. Along with the tower, the roof of the middle section consists of a series of irregular marble terraces, some accessed by exterior stairways, and some accessed by interior stairways.
The building's rear section rises to four stories, but the southwestern one-third of this section rises to three stories topped by a terrace (currently covered with protective fiberglass). Part of the rear section's northeast wall is recessed, as Stone attempted to build around a Maple tree growing on the lot. The walls of this section were set irregularly to accommodate the tree's branches.
Most of the building's interior rooms are small and simple. Fireplaces typically consist of brick or marble hearths with brick mantels. Some of the interior walls contain windows, revealing that they were once exterior walls. Most of the interior walls are plastered, although some contain clay tiles. Upper floors are accessed via wood or marble staircases, although the building contains a crude rope-and-pulley elevator. Aside from the two storefronts (which were rented as commercial space), the first floor was essentially a basement and garage. The second floor contained the clinic space and the Stone family's residential space.
Hayes House
The Hayes House, located in an adjacent lot southwest of the hospital, is the National Register listing's only other contributing structure. The Bungalow-style house, built by Dr. J. T. Hayes in 1924, is a one-and-one-half store brick structure with a green-painted tiled hip roofHip roof
A hip roof, or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope. Thus it is a house with no gables or other vertical sides to the roof. A square hip roof is shaped like a pyramid. Hip roofs on the houses could have two triangular side...
. Two sets of dormer windows rise from the front of the roof (facing Roane Street). The first floor of the house contains a central living room, dining room, kitchen, and three bedrooms. The second floor contains a bedroom and an attic.