Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital

08/31/2022

I gleaned these pages from another website. But they’re in the right place now.

08/13/2020

From a postcard.

08/04/2019

Before the unfortunate accident that made Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital infamous and notorious.

James Dean and His Porsche, September 30, 1955. *Sixty* years ago today James Dean met an early death while driving from Lost Hills to Paso Robles on his way to Salinas in the car shown here, a 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder. At the intersection of Highway 41/Highway 46, he hit a car driven by Donald Turnipseed of Tulare. Dean was killed almost instantly and his passenger, mechanic Rolf Weutherich was seriously injured. This color photo is reputed to be the last photo taken of Dean on his trip to Salinas. The other photo shows the totaled Porsche at a garage in Paso Robles.

05/10/2019

Just found this.

War Memorial District Hospital, on West 15th St. (Terrace Hill), opened January 1950 and closed February 1977. Having 32 beds, it was touted as the nation's "most complete little hospital."

12/16/2018

This is a photo of old Paso Robles looking west from the Capitol Hill area. The War Memorial Hospital would later be built on what would become known as Hospital Hill, which location I have attempted to approximate.

11/23/2018

Somebody must have some photos related to the hospital in their personal collections that they can upload. I can't find anything else online. By the way, if you ever Google this hospital, be sure to include "-Dean", (without the quotes), in your search line or you'll get inundated with links to a guy whose only connection was that he was pronounced dead there, James Dean.

09/13/2017

A relevant link of interest regarding the Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital and its founding and staff. Worth perusing.

My grandfather died recently. Condolences are appreciated, but not necessary. He's been "on the way out" for years, skirting the brink of death for at least the last year. Watching that gruff, stoic, wise old man slowly collapse into distant, cloudy dementia has been infinitely more tragic than the…

09/13/2017

The location of the former Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital is also known as Terrace Hill, and was a sort of "lovers' lane" for young Paso Roblans. So says my mom.

03/04/2016

I visited what I thought was the exact site of the hospital several months ago when I met a man living right next door and he informed me that his house is on the exact site, proving it by reference to the trees visible in this site's Profile Picture, which still exist today and are in his backyard. His family has been running the laundry on 13th street for generations. Very nice guy.

04/13/2015

Some historical background on the hospital from historyinslocounty.org:

In the post-war years, penicillin became widely available, tuberculosis patients were being cured by the streptomycin, and cortisone was used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. This progress in treatment options was paralleled by major healthcare support from the federal government. In 1946, Congress passed the Hospital Survey and Construction Act, better known as the Hill-Burton Act. The bill was designed to provide federal monies to build new hospitals or to modernize those which had not been upgraded since before the Great Depression. In return for federal funds, facilities agreed to provide free or reduced-fee medical services to persons unable to pay.

Dr. Fred Ragsdale tells how Paso Robles was able to use this funding to build its own hospital: "This was in 1946; some of us cast about trying to figure some way that we could improve the hospital situation and have a hospital in Paso Robles. Previous to all of that we had to go to the branch of the General Hospital in Atascadero.

"Dr. Wilmar developed the idea that we could form hospital districts, as there were sanitation districts, irrigation districts, and cemetery districts, so he figured why couldn't there be hospital district? He approached his local state senator, Chris Jespersen of Atascadero, about the idea, and Chris Jespersen…introduced legislation to establish hospital districts, and the legislature approved it.

"In 1948 Paso Robles outlined a proposed hospital district and had a vote to form the district, also with a bond issue of $200,000 with which to build a new hospital. Along with this we got $200,000 from the State Department of Health,…and also $200,000 from a branch of the United States Government, which was promoting such ideas at those times.

"And so, with the $600,000, we were able to build a hospital on what they called Terrace Hill."

The Paso Robles Veterans Memorial Hospital on Terrace Hill opened its doors on January 2, 1950. Its first patient, Kenneth Burke, was a Templeton dairy worker, had been injured when a cow fell off a truck onto his back. He was treated by Dr. Ragsdale, who made sure the event was recorded in the local newspaper.

The medical advances in the closing years of the 1940s would be multiplied in the 1950s. This decade, sometimes referred to by healthcare practitioners as "The Golden Years," would see healthcare standards in the County of San Luis Obispo keep pace with those taking place nationally.

04/13/2015

This link provides former location information on the hospital.

Site of one-time 32-bed community hospital, Paso Robles War Memorial District Hospital, founded by George Stephan and Robert Kuehl. That was the hospital where the 24-year-old actor James Dean ("Rebel Without a Cause," "East of Eden" and "Giant") was pronounced dead. Dean's Porsche Spyder had collid…