Edgecombe Sanitarium Explained

Edgecombe Sanitarium
Org/Group:	African American Doctors
Coordinates:	40.8184°N -73.9467°W
Location:	Harlem, New York City
State:	New York
Country:	US
Healthcare:	Private
Beds:	12
Opened:	1900s
Closed:	1900s
Other Links:	Hospitals in Manhattan

Edgecombe Sanitarium was a private hospital run by African American doctors in Harlem, New York City. It served patients "of considerable means" who did not want to be served at the primarily white staffed Harlem Hospital.

Godfrey Nurse was one of the doctors who founded the hospital. The hospital had twelve beds.^[1] It was started as the result of the Harlem Hospital having a primarily white staff.^[2]

In 1925, the nearby Booker T. Washington Sanitarium was merged with Edgecombe.^[2] In 1929, Edgecombe had treated 249 patients. Through fundraising, the hospital installed an x-ray machine.^[3]

Gerri Major was part of its Woman's Auxiliary.

Notable patients

• Jean Carey Bond was born at the hospital.
• Eloise Bibb Thompson died at the hospital in 1928.
• Rudolph Fisher died at the hospital in 1934.^[4]

External links

• Receipt from the Edgecombe Sanitarium, February 18, 1931 from the W. E. B. Du Bois Papers at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst archives

Notes and References

1. Book: Building a Healthy Black Harlem. Cambria Press. 9781621969686. Google Books.
2. Web site: Harlem's Hospitals . Digital Harlem Blog . 19 November 2019 . en . 31 May 2010.
3. Book: W. Douglas Fisher. Joann H. Buckley. African American Doctors of World War I: The Lives of 104 Volunteers. 10 November 2015. McFarland. 978-1-4766-6315-9. 253.
4. Book: Rudolph Fisher. The City of Refuge [New and Expanded Edition]: The Collected Stories of Rudolph Fisher. 3 November 2008. University of Missouri Press. 978-0-8262-6658-3. 30.