HISTORICAL TRIVIA 1936-1940 - Fulton County Public Library

WOODLAWN HOSPITAL
Founded 1905 by Dr. W.S. Shafer
The News-Sentinel, Feb. 25, 1936
On Thursday, November 2, 1905, the doors of Rochesters first
Hospital were swung open for the purpose of administering medical and
surgical aid to all who desired hospitalization services. This hospital,
which was known as The Woodlawn, was founded by the late Dr.
Winfield Scott Shafer. It became a reality only after years of planning
and personal sacrifices made by the Shafer family.
During the first few years of its existence, numerous obstacles
and hardships were encountered and surmounted, as a dubious public
was reluctant to take advantage of the services of the small institution.
However, under the founders economic management and through his
unfailing faith in belief that the hospital had an important duty to
perform in this community, public confidence was established and the
clientele of the instituton extended into the rural areas as well as the
city. From these earlier years, on through the regimes of the founder
and his son the late Dr. Howard O. Shafer, the old Woodlawn Hospital
kept pace with the public demands, undergoing an ever constant process
of improvement.
In the embryo days of Woodlawn, Dr. W.S. Shafer and his family
resided in the down stairs section of the stately old frame building while
the facilities of the hospital were confined solely to the upper floor of
the structure. The building which was once the private residence of the
late Judge Sidney Keith was situate in a beautiful grove of stately oaks
and maples, with an abundance of lawn which made the setting most
ideal for the convalescents.
The Dr. W.S. Shafer while primarily being wrapped up in the
interests of Woodlawn, possessed that home-spun friendliness which
kept him in close touch with all his patients and friends, whether their
calls for service came from the city or from far corners of the county.
This humanitarian trait in the physicians make-up made his duties
doubly arduous and finally brought about a general break down of his
rugged constitution.
In reviewing briefly, the interesting career of Dr. W.S. Shafer, it
may be stated he possessed a keen sense of humor and was never too
busy to converse on the various topics of interest to his patients, and
before departing from a professional call he would leave his patient in a
most cheerful mental attitude through the administration of a goodly
dose of dry, subtle humor. He was a most proficient and skilled M.D.
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