From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
Northern Maine Sanatorium, Presque Isle, Me. 3k
This is a panoramic picture the the Northern Maine Sanatorium, Presque Isle, Maine, one of three TB sanatoriums in the state. In 1915, the state passed a law to provide for the care and treatment of tubercular persons in three state-operated state sanatoriums. The state took over the private hospitals in Hebron and Fairfield and built a new facility in Presque Isle. The sanatoriums were given geographical designations -- Western Maine Sanatorium, Central Maine Sanatorium, and Northern Maine Sanatorium. The state capped patient bills at $5 per week.
The era of state-operated tuberculosis facilities in Maine lasted from 1915 until 1969. From the time the state took over in 1915, the Central Maine Sanatorium was designated as the facility where surgeries were performed and where patients with more advances cases of TB were sent. Presque Isle took patients of all types and performed surgery because of the difficulty of transporting patients from northern to central Maine. Hebron and Presque Isle both closed in 1959.
3k"Northern Maine Sanatorium, Hospital, Buildings, Water Tank Tower, Waterway, Aroostook River
