Cozy lounge at Henderson Point sanatorium in 1924
This circa 1924 photo pictures the cozy lounge room at St. Luke’s Private Sanatorium on the beachfront at Henderson Point in the vicinity of Pass Christian.
The sanatorium, which a newspaper story called a “neurologic” hospital, was owned and operated by Dr. Benjamin F. Gallant.
Gallant, the former superintendent of Charity Hospital and the medical director of Belvedere Hospital in New Orleans, bought the 18 acres of the land that was then occupied by the Pass Christian Club.
The plans were to convert the standing structures and to build several cottages to accommodate 100 patients.
The sanatorium, which specialized in mental disease and general practice, began receiving patients in September 1924.
All seemed to go well. The Daily Herald on Jan. 4, 1926, reported that the petition of the stockholders of St. Luke’s Private Sanatorium for the dissolution and surrender of the charter had been granted.
The reasons for the sanatorium’s failure were not mentioned. There were 250 shares of stock in the concern, Gallant owning 246 and the other stockholders one each.
In 1928, Gallant tried to buy the Kings Daughters Hospital in Gulfport. His offer was turned down.
In 1931, the doctor and his family moved to New York.
Murella H. Powell, a local historian, writes the weekly Flashback column.
Do you have a local photograph to submit to Flashback? It can be of any subject or event in the Coast’s distant or recent past. Please send a description with your name, address and daytime phone number to Flashback, the Sun Herald, P.O. Box 4567, Biloxi MS 39535; or call 896-2424; or email living@sunherald.com.
This story was originally published July 9, 2016 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Cozy lounge at Henderson Point sanatorium in 1924."