FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – On Thursday McLeod Health concluded a year-long celebration of 110 years of providing care to the region with a historical marker dedication ceremony at the Florence County Museum, and a commissioned choral symphony presented at the Francis Marion Performing Arts Center.
At 5:30 p.m., a marker from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History was unveiled on West Cheves Street at the site of the original McLeod Infirmary established by Dr. F.H. McLeod in 1906.
The marker was inscribed with the following:
McLeod Medical Center
The McLeod Infirmary was located here in 1906, inspired by the need to provide access to local medical and surgical care for the people of the region. Frank Hilton McLeod was born in Richmond County, N.C. in 1868 and graduated from the University of Tennessee Medical School. In 1891, he moved to Florence and chartered the Florence Infirmary. By the 1920s it was the third largest hospital in the state. In 1930, with the assistance of the Duke Endowment, McLeod Infirmary became a non-profit institution. A new building opened in 1935 and expanded capacity to 190 beds. Renamed McLeod Memorial Hospital in 1971, expansion continued when 14 blocks of Urban Renewal land were acquired just east of this location. The McLeod Regional Medical Center opened in 1979 with over 300 beds and improved acute care facilities.
Later in the evening, the Florence Symphony Orchestra, The Masterworks Choir, and Soloists performed “It Is Well – A Healing Suite”, a commissioned choral symphony at the performing arts center.
