Between 1908 and 1936, Bulloch County’s medical needs were served by the Statesboro Sanitarium, which closed in 1927 when community funding failed, reopened a year later with inadequate support, and continued for eight more years. In 1934, through the joint efforts of physicians and the mayor and city council, plans were made for a 40-bed hospital on donated land at East Grady and Donehoo St. at a cost of $50,000, but the final cost reached $84,000 and provided 50 beds. The hospital began serving patients in December 1936 and officially opened on July 1, 1937, under the management of an appointed citizens Hospital Authority. It was a two-toned brick, three-story Federal-style building with rigid symmetry, rounded arches, a decorative windowed cupola centered on the peaked roof, four Ionic columns supporting the central portico and triangular gable, inset marble ribboning beneath the windows, and a main entrance decorated with flat pilasters, corner rosettes, and an elliptical fan transom pediment. Over the next 50 years, the hospital expanded and modernized to serve a rising population; although red brick remained in use, later additions were modern in design, including a round nursing unit added in 1966. Its name was officially changed to Bulloch Memorial Hospital in 1976, and it grew into a comprehensive medical facility with 158 beds, 550 employees, 35 departments, and 40 physicians. Rising costs led to its sale to HMA in 1995, and in early 2000 a new facility was deemed necessary; the original building was demolished in July 2003, and Ogeechee Area Hospice occupied the site in 2005.