McCarty Hospital Then and Now

104 W Spruce Street

It feels weird to write about such a well-known building. What am I going to tell you that you don’t already know? For starters, McCarty Hospital was actually built by Nicholas Klaine in 1886 to serve as a hotel. You may remember that Klaine was a politician, judge, postmaster, and newspaper publisher. He also built the Cimarron Hotel, which looks very similar to the old hospital.

Construction of the three-story building with 30 rooms and a Mansard roof began in February of 1886.

Sallie Markham Davis previously operated the Markham House at a different location on Front Street and Klaine’s new hotel would use the same name.

Although a fundraising dinner for the Baptist Church was held at Markham House that April, it wasn’t fully completed and open for business until May of 1886.

At the time, the lot to the north of the Courthouse was far removed from “all dust and noise.”

It didn’t take long for the hotel to change hands. By September of 1886, William Edwards and Kate Walden were in charge of the Markham.

William States took over operations in January of 1887 and renamed it the Central Hotel. States purchased all furniture and fixtures. He also operated a free shuttle to and from “all trains.”

The 1887 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows the Central Hotel at what was then 303 Spruce Street. It lists the hotel as being two and a half stories rather than a full three due to the Mansard.

Management turnover continued with E. F. Raines taking charge in July of 1887. The Central Hotel changed hands numerous times and was refurbished by Mrs. J. Wells in late 1901.

In May of 1905, Doctors Thomas and Claude McCarty announced plans to remodel the old Central Hotel into a hospital. They added a fourth floor by digging out a stone basement level and installed an elevator. Work was completed in August of 1905.

Although several doctors had offices which were referred to as hospitals, the McCarty building was the first proper hospital in Dodge City.

The 1911 Sanborn was the first to show the newly enlarged McCarty Hospital with its new street address of 104 W Spruce Street.

In May of 1922, the Sisters of St. Joseph began managing McCarty Hospital, which was renamed St. Anthony’s. After SSJ assumed operations of the former Thompson-Pine Hospital, it became known as St. Anthony’s North the old McCarty Hospital was called St. Anthony’s South.

The new St. Anthony’s Hospital at Central and Comanche opened on May 28, 1926 and the old McCarty Hospital was closed. However, Dr. Claude McCarty still had an office in the building in 1930.

Meanwhile, commercial buildings were constructed nearby. M. J. Williams operated his REO dealership at 701 Central Avenue by 1928. The former hospital was demolished around 1931 and Williams Motor Company expanded its garage into that space.

The 1932 Sanborn shows the Williams Motor Co. building had been reconfigured to include a filling station on the corner.

W. T. Nicholson’s Super Service Station occupied the corner buildings by February of 1933.

It’s kind of amazing that Dodge City had a 24-hour repair service in the 1930s.

It seems strange that Nicholson claimed to occupy the busiest corner in town but we must remember that Central Avenue was also Highway 50 once upon a time.

By 1962, the Super Service building was vacant. That changed when the First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Dodge City grew out of its space on Gunsmoke Street. They constructed a modern building at Central and Spruce in 1965.

The institution’s name had changed to Landmark Federal Savings Association by February of 1985.

Then the 1990s happened and banking got weird. Multiple entities were created and merged out of existence. Landmark Bancshares, Inc. and MNB Bancshares, Inc. became Landmark Merger Company, which then became Landmark Bancorp around 2001. The institution is now known as Landmark National Bank and it continues to operate on the same corner.

Landmark’s drive-thru is in the spot where McCarty Hospital once stood. Here’s how it looks today:

I don’t want to make you feel old but the Landmark building is now eligible to be reconsidered as a contributing structure in the Dodge City Downtown Historic District. Time flies!

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