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mother. Leaving $100,000 for construction and $500,000 as an endowment fund, he apparently intended to change his will to provide more money for building the hospital. Unfortunately, Mr. Horton died March 10, 1918 before he made the changes.
November 25, 1918, a Board of Directors was formed to plan and build the Elizabeth A. Horton Memorial Hospital. Thomas Watts, Mr. Horton's friend and attorney, was chairman of this board. One step the board took was to get court permission to apply interest earned from the endowment fund towards the building fund, which was accomplished. Although largely unpublicized at the time, John H. Morrison donated about $200,000 to the hospital building fund. Mr. Morrison sought no publicity for his generosity, but it is unlikely the hospital could have been built without it. John Morrison, Eugene Horton's nephew and principal heir, inherited Webb Horton's mansion, now Orange County Community College's Morrison Hall.
On March 20, 1919, the hospital board purchased the Prospect Avenue site from Orange County at public auction for $10,000. This was approved at the county supervisor's meeting of April 11, 1919. This was the Children's Home property previously referred to. In 1924, Middletown architect David H. Canfield was hired to design the hospital. Early plans at that time called for an 80-bed capacity with provisions for increasing it as needed to 100-bed, "an administration building, a power plant and a nurses' home, and the main building, which will have two wings; one of which will house the Elizabeth Horton Memorial proper, and the other the assimilated Thrall Hospital."
In the winter of 1926, the contract to build the hospital was awarded to the Harold H. Smith Co. Ground was broken in the spring of 1927. The clemson Nurses Home and school was also designed by Mr. Canfield and built by the H.H. Smith Co. The hospital's boards had been considering remodeling the old Children's Home building for the purpose, but a note from Middletown industrialist George N. Clemson dated November 30, 1927, changed all that. In the eight-line note to Thomas Watts, Mr. Clemson praised the hospital board for their efforts, and stated his desire to participate in the project. He then noted he had been informed a nurses home estimated at $100,000 was needed."with the approval of your board," wrote Mr. clemson, "I will be pleased to provide the necessary nurses home." The Clemson Nurses Home was opened February 25, 1929. Besides providing rooms for the nurses, it also housed the clemson School of Nursing. Elizabeth A. Horton Memorial Hospital was opened March 12, 1929. Mrs. Christine Morrison had donated a brand new ambulance which was employed to transfer the remaining ten patients at Thrall to Horton.
Horton Hospital has grown greatly over the almost 60 years its been opened. The circular building was added in 1955 (to the right of the Horton unit), the Morrison Pavilion in 1963 (to the