Old Kings hospital on W. State St in Bristol is no more... :( (condos)

[Tennesseestorm]

For those of you that have not driven by, or seen it on the news/paper, the old hospital that was on W. State St. in Bristol Virginia is no more. Its just a big pile of rubble now. I think it was built around 1900. After 1953, it became a rest home for a while, but has been vacant since the 1980s. Its been said that since about 1985, it has been a home to vagabonds that had nowhere to go.

The owner was ordered to repair to demolish this. Plans were to restore, but I guess funds ran out. This was the Bristol hospital until 1952, (when Bristol Memorial Hospital was built) which ironically and SADLY was torn down in 1995 - why you ask? I have no idea. I remember watching it being tore down and video recorded it. It was kinda sad.

The latest Bristol hospital (Bristol Regional Medical Center OR Wellmont OR whatever they call it these days was built in the early 1990s and opened around 1993-94. Now the new hospital is WAY out on the west side of Bristol off of Interstate 81. It (the old Bristol Memorial) was a solid and beautiful hospital and was the one I was born in AND located where it was convenient for most all. They said it had staff infection, but I heard that it was not true. Then they tried to justify and say that the land was going to be a new city park, but it has been vacant and untouched since 1995! WHY are they just holding onto this land?

Well, here she is summer of 2007. The old Kings hospital... all that remains are memories, photos and a pile of rubble.... I for one would have loved to see this old structure restored back to her glory... like into a hotel, convention center, etc.

[jabogitlu]

Oh, wow. That was a beautiful building (moreso than the picture conveys, I think). How sad, looks like the city would've stepped in for preservation.

[rccrain]

They would've needed to do something back in the 70's or 80's. The building was too far gone.

Now the other hospital that was torn down in the 90's (which I was born in) would have been a great convention center, office buildings, church, school. Seems like staff infection could have easily been dealt with if the building was empty for a few months. (It dies without a carrier.)

[evaningstar]

Actually, one of the reasons the new hospital was built was space. The old hospital just was not big enough for our city and there was not enough room to expand. And as rccrain says, the old Kings hospital was way too far gone to repair. It was not structurally sound anymore and would have required basically being rebuilt from the inside. We are such a small town that the only place the new hospital could have went is on the outskirts, there isn't a property large enough in the middle of town to have supported it.

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by rccrain

They would've needed to do something back in the 70's or 80's. The building was too far gone.

Now the other hospital that was torn down in the 90's (which I was born in) would have been a great convention center, office buildings, church, school. Seems like staff infection could have easily been dealt with if the building was empty for a few months. (It dies without a carrier.)

Yes, it was torn down in the summer of 1995. I thought too it would have been perfect for the things you mentioned as well.... or even something like a hotel/condos. I think that part about staff infection was a excuse so the public would not get angry about the demolition of it. They tried to justify it by saying the land would be a park... what is it now? An empty field which it has been for the past 13 years.

Originally Posted by evaningstar

Actually, one of the reasons the new hospital was built was space. The old hospital just was not big enough for our city and there was not enough room to expand. And as rccrain says, the old Kings hospital was way too far gone to repair. It was not structurally sound anymore and would have required basically being rebuilt from the inside. We are such a small town that the only place the new hospital could have went is on the outskirts, there isn't a property large enough in the middle of town to have supported it.

Yes, my mom told me that the back of the old Kings building was in bad order... the foundation was ruined. What a shame. They should not have allowed it to go that far in disrepair. I never really thought about the old hospital being discounted because of space because I always heard it was because of that infection. If it was a space issue, they could have built up. Bristol is due for a major skyscraper anyway. I guess it was poor planning in the early 50s when they did not make the hospital large enough. It was a well designed and well built building and probably would have outstood the new hospital in terms of quality and structure. The new hospital looks like it was slapped together with glue.. and now even with it, they stopped at 5 stories... are they going to have to build a new hospital again in 25-30 years? They should have aleast went 10 stories high to prevent this from happening again 30-40 years from now. They could have built up more than out, that way if needed, the land/space would have been there to build out. I think the location of the new hospital is strange... its way out from town on the west side. I know space is kind of an issue, but they could have originally built "up" somewhere closer in town, rather than "out". Thats whay most cities do when they run out of space. I think it was poorly planned on the location, but thats just my viewpoint.

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Oh, wow. That was a beautiful building (moreso than the picture conveys, I think). How sad, looks like the city would've stepped in for preservation.

I used to wonder why they did not offer anything back in the 80s, but I guess the funds were not there, nor did anyone care back then. Only recently has the historic part of Bristol been getting the updates it needs.

[Phyllis Collie]

The old Kings Mountain was later turned into a Nursing Home. My Mother worked there when it was a hospital but that was before my time.

[Tennesseestorm]

Originally Posted by Phyllis Collie

The old Kings Mountain was later turned into a Nursing Home. My Mother worked there when it was a hospital but that was before my time.

Your right. It was after that it was abandoned and turned into shambles and later demolished. I see I posted this back in 2008 when it was torn down, wow it does not seem like it has been that long, but to no surprise, the lot still stands empty with no signs of anything happening there.