Wolfeboro Historical Society Digital Archive Photograph Archive Huggins

On Jan. 9, 1907, a group of doctors met to discuss the unsatisfactory situation of doing major surgery in private residences. This led to fund-raising & the purchase of the former Rev. Theodore C. Jerome's homestead on South Main St., with a 2-story house and 14 acres (now the site of Kingswood High School). There is a stone marker in the woods between the school grounds & the 18th green on the golf course. First called Huggins Sanitarium, then Huggins Hospital prevailed; a major contribution came from Wolfeboro National Bank President James H. Martin and his wife, Mary, nee Huggins. The house was remodeled & opened as a 12-bed facility on Jan. 1, 1908. As the town grew, a larger hospital was needed. A new hospital was built in the present location in 1924. The site, a former dairy farm, was donated by George A. & Emma Carpenter, long-time benefactors of town projects. The hospital had 24 beds. In 1950, a large addition increased the capacity to 66 beds, and that configuration basically continued until a major remodeling and expansion in 2010.

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