Set atop a scenic hill on Bedford Avenue, this beautiful property was home to the ugly reality of tuberculosis.
During the first half of the twentieth century, tuberculosis posed a grave threat to public health in the United States. The disease was easily transmitted through actions as simple as coughing, sneezing, singing, or even speaking and caused symptoms such as weakness, fever, chest pain, and, at worst, death. For people who lived in cities, the risk of tuberculosis was especially high; poor air quality combined with people living in close proximity to one another created an ideal breeding ground for infection.
Pittsburgh’s infamous smoky air and densely-populated neighborhoods made its residents highly vulnerable to tuberculosis. By 1905, the disease had climbed the ranks to become the city’s third leading organic cause of death, accounting for 9% of all fatalities. Pittsburgh’s eminent public health crisis set into motion a domino effect of responses. In December of 1906, concerned members of the community formed the Pittsburgh Society for the Prevention and Treatment of Tuberculosis, providing community outreach and treatment throughout the city. The city’s first sanitarium opened just two months later, occupying the McConway House, a converted private home, on Bedford Avenue. By 1908, the two groups had joined forces to form the Tuberculosis League of Pittsburgh; that same year, this league would establish the city’s leading sanitarium, the Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh.
If it were not for a few quirks, passersby could easily mistake the Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh for a city park. The property sits atop a hill overlooking the Allegheny River, high above the factory smoke of the central city. Wooded areas surround the buildings on three sides, with a grassy lawn central to the property. With conventional medicine lacking the resources to treat tuberculosis with drug therapy, fresh air was one of the preferred methods of care. In the hospital’s earliest days, five open-air shacks accompanied the McConway House. Patients of all ages could take respite in these shacks year-round; even in the colder months, people would bundle up in jackets and scarves to lay in the open front buildings and breathe in the cold, crisp air.
As tuberculosis continued to sweep through Pittsburgh, the hospital quickly outgrew its humble beginnings. In 1909, the Tuberculosis League built a two-story consumption dispensary fitted with two consultation rooms for preventative screenings and skin tests, a treatment room, an operation room, and two recovery rooms. The construction of this building kickstarted nearly two decades of expansion, all with the aim of providing better care for the city’s sick residents.
With each expansion, the hospital became a bit more specialized. In 1917, the League completed construction on the Women’s and Children’s Building, which featured a unique open-air school where ill children were able to continue their studies in the fresh air. The Christmas Seal Building, named after the Tuberculosis League’s annual fundraising sale of package labels, housed infected World War I veterans. Construction on a Men’s Pavilion finished in the early 1920s, followed by the construction of another treatment ward in 1927.
However, the hospital served a broader purpose beyond providing a haven for the sick. Healthcare professionals and medical students also found a home at the Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh. The Power and Service Building provided an on-campus residence for the men and women who fought so tirelessly against the relentless disease. The building was fitted with amenities such as a laboratory and library. The 1927 ward served as a teaching hospital for medical students from the University of Pittsburgh. Here, at the Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh, the next generation of doctors and nurses would diligently study the prevention and suppression of the disease. The League constructed a second, four-story residence hall for nurses in 1949, which would be the last structure built on the site.
Before long, the incidence of tuberculosis throughout Pittsburgh began to drop dramatically. By 1925, just 544 people died from the disease, accounting for just over 5% of all fatalities. Ten years later, that number further decreased to 370 people, representing 4% of all deaths and a significant decline from the 1905 total of 9%. With its preventative screenings, tuberculosis tests, and treatment programs, the Tuberculosis Hospital of Pittsburgh was instrumental in this decline.
As understanding of tuberculosis grew, new treatment options emerged. In 1944, a significant milestone was reached when three scientists developed the first tuberculosis antibiotic, streptomycin. This groundbreaking drug reduced the need for extended quarantines and long hospital stays, thus allowing patients to recover in the comfort of their own homes. Outpatient treatment became a priority for the hospital; examinations for these patients grew 21.5% in the years between 1907 and 1946. Ultimately, the rise in outpatient care led to a decline in the number of patients receiving treatment at the hospital. Due to this decline, the Tuberculosis League officially closed the hospital’s doors in 1955, selling the three hospital buildings and Nurses’ Residence to the State of Pennsylvania. These four buildings would later become the Western Restoration Center, a mental health treatment facility.
Unfortunately, the Western Restoration Center also shut its doors in the 1980s. Citizens of Pittsburgh moved for the sanitarium to be memorialized, and in 1993, the hospital was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, in recognition of the site's historical significance. In the time since, the site has been home to a daycare, a city health center, and, most recently, senior living apartments. Despite these changes, the facility’s designation as a national historic site cemented its significant contributions into the city’s history, underscoring its enduring importance in the difficult fight against tuberculosis.
