One of the Tar Heel State’s most historic treasures sits within steps of the bustling urban center of the state’s capital city. This abandoned hospital in North Carolina, once known as the one of only two hospitals between Atlanta and Washington that provided high-quality care for African Americans, is a sobering sight. Today, St. Agnes Hospital in Raleigh is a beautiful and haunting relic of its former self and a somber place to pay respects to those who passed through the doors and to those that didn’t pass back out those same doors.
The hospital's ruins are located in the southwest corner of the campus of Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh.
Established in 1867 as a college for recently freed slaves, Saint Augustine's University remains a private, Christian college with an enrollment of around 1,000 students. The campus is a beautiful break from the asphalt of the nearby city center.
And over on the far corner of the land sits part of the remains of the three-story stone building once operated at St. Agnes Hospital.
The hospital, itself, was established by Sarah Hunter, wife of one of the first overseers of the college. It was named for the first major donor's late wife, Agnes Collins. Her widower donated $600 of the $1,100 needed to get the first rendition of the hospital off the ground.
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The facility soon outgrew the small space it occupied and work began to raise the funds needed to build what we see today.
It was a 75 - 90 bed facility featuring three floors of patient rooms. The stone was reportedly quarried right here on the 120 acres owned by the University (originally named Saint Augustine's Normal School).
Little else is widely publicized about St. Agnes Hospital.
When that happened, patients were reportedly transferred over to the (now defunct) WakeMed Facility.
Have you ever visited this abandoned hospital in North Carolina? Please be aware that even though the majority of the images seen in this article were captured in early 2021 and seem to have no barriers between the public and the stone structure, the most recent 2021 Google images map shows there is a new fence surrounding the entire property. No doubt it is to protect the public.
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