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Located a half block west of the Mangum public square, the tan brick structure had its beginnings as the Border Hospital soon after statehood. Dr. Fowler Border had operated a small wood-framed hilltop hospital that was destroyed by fire. He re-built the hospital within the city limits about 1909. Dr. Border’s fame as a physician and goiter specialist attracted patients from a wide area, and he enlarged the hospital to meet the growing demand for his services. In 1915 Dr. Frank Harrison McGregor joined him, and the hospital was further enlarged to its present three-story, 32 bed capacity. Among the factors contributing to the closing of the hospital was the addition of iodine to the national diet in the form of iodized salt. Since minute quantities of this mineral prevented goiter formation, the surgical removal of the unsightly protrusions from the necks of sufferers was no longer needed. Thus the goiter patient load declined. The drought and depression forced large numbers of southwest Oklahoma people to seek livelihoods elsewhere, and the use of the hospital was still further reduced. The next occupants of the building were young women of the National Youth Administration (NYA) project. Mary McGregor, the wife of Dr. Frank McGregor, was their sponsor and house mother. It was active until World War II required the services of both the teachers and their students. In 1948 the Baptists purchased and operated the “Southwest Baptist Hospital” for 17 years before selling it to the City of Mangum in June 1965. The city moved the hospital facilities to a new location in 1967. The building remained vacant until 1973 when the city leased it for a 99 year term to the Old Greer County Museum and Hall of Fame. The Border-McGregor Hospital building and grounds provide a perfect place for the Old Greer County Museum and Hall of Fame for Old and Young Pioneers. All three floors and basement are filled with displays and artifacts of Old Greer County and are open to the Public.
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Designed by TimeMaster Will Sanders |
