Frederick Davis Patterson, M.D., born April 16, 1867, in Stewart County, Georgia, attended South Georgia Agriculture College in Cuthbert and graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1890. After practicing in Lumpkin for four years, he moved to Cuthbert in 1894, where he became known for both extraordinary medical skill and human concern, treating minor injuries as well as performing difficult surgical procedures with anesthetist Dr. Francis Martin of Shellman. He held office in and was honored by the American Medical Association, the Medical Association of Georgia, and the Second District Medical Society, which he organized. On this site, in this house, he established the first hospital in this section of Georgia in January 1916, with an operating room and four beds for inpatients. Joined by his nephew, Dr. J.C. Patterson, he moved the hospital to the Rumph House in October 1919, and they later bought an old two-story schoolhouse and moved the hospital there in December 1925. That building was destroyed by fire on the night of February 19, 1946, after which Dr. J.C. Patterson returned to the Rumph House and began construction on the present hospital, which opened on July 1, 1947.