Cuenca Sanatorium, Ramsey County, Minnesota

The Cuenca Sanatorium site was later used for the Children's Preventorium of Ramsey County.

Cuenca Sanatorium was Ramsey County's first attempt to provide a hospital for consumptive patients in a rural setting. The St. Paul Anti-tuberculosis Committee paid $10,000 for the construction of a two-story building on the northeast side of Bass Lake (now known as Lake Owasso). It opened in January 1910. The building's first floor had two wings in addition to the wards in the main structure. It could accommodate 30 patients, but soon transitioned to caring mostly for children from ages 6 to 12. The medical director was Dr. Henry Longstreet Taylor, and there was no charge for care.

Unfortunately, the facility experienced several problems with sewage discharge into the lake. In 1912, the Anti-tuberculosis Committee asked the state's Board of Control to assume responsibility because of the problem. The commissioners declined, and the sanatorium closed. It reopened in July 1915 as the Children's Preventorium of Ramsey County, operated by a corporation formed by some St. Paul residents and funded by donations. In 1927, the building pictured with this article burned and was replaced by brick buildings. The Preventorium closed in 1953.

Source: Invited and Conquered, J.A. Myers, 1949, Webb Publishing. Also: St. Paul Dispatch, April 16, 1912, and the Ramsey County Preventorium archives at the Minnesota Historical Society. More information about Dr. Taylor can be found at MNopedia.