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All the United States Ohio Louisville Molly Stark Sanatorium
Molly Stark Sanatorium is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

Molly Stark Sanatorium

This former tuberculosis treatment facility now stands at the center of a public park.

Louisville, Ohio

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Kara Gerhart
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Back end of the hospital (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
Molly Stark Sanatorium (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
Molly Stark Sanatorium (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
Molly Stark Sanatorium (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
Front Entrance of the hospital (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
View pulling into the parking lot (2022)   Kara Skovira / Atlas Obscura User
  kuukisu / Atlas Obscura User
  kuukisu / Atlas Obscura User
  kuukisu / Atlas Obscura User
Full Aerial Coverage   Urban Investigator / Atlas Obscura User
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About

Opened in 1929, Molly Stark Sanatorium was one of 25 tuberculosis hospitals in Ohio. The main four-story Spanish Revival style facility wasn't the only structure to occupy the property; there was also a nurse's home, a supervisor's home, a children's hospital, and a power plant. Some 1,200 feet of underground tunneling connecting the buildings completed the hospital grounds, for now. In 1952, the west and east wings as well as the kitchen and laundry rooms were expanded despite the noticeable decline in deaths caused by tuberculosis.

In 1956, the name was changed to Molly Stark Hospital, and the facility began admitting patients suffering from other medical ailments. In 1975, a surge of staff resignations and financial decline put the hospital's future at risk. The decline in the patients and infrastructure would lead to its official closure in 1995.

After various plans proposed to the county by local developers failed, the county park board purchased the structures and grounds in 2008 for $1. What was left of Molly Stark Hospital and the land surrounding it was opened as a public park in 2009 and remains a public attraction to this day.

Update: As of December 2024, Stark Parks has received a grant to demolish Molly Stark.

Related Tags

Ruins Health Abandoned Hospitals Hospitals

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Please do not venture into the building. 

Community Contributors

Added By

Kara Skovira

Edited By

PushingUpDaisies, Naturaclaimed, kuukisu, Urban Investigator

  • PushingUpDaisies
  • Naturaclaimed
  • kuukisu
  • Urban Investigator

Published

December 15, 2022

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Sources
  • https://architecturalafterlife.com/2020/07/molly-stark/
  • https://www.cantonrep.com/story/news/local/louisville/2017/10/29/the-allure-molly-stark-history/17746650007/
  • https://starkparks.com/wp-content/uploads/MSP-Short-History.pdf
Molly Stark Sanatorium
8000 Columbus Rd NE
Louisville, Ohio, 44641
United States
40.884313, -81.248211
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