Holy Cross Sanatorium
Deming, New Mexico
Description: Holy Cross Sanatorium
Other Names: formerly Camp Cody (U. S. Military camp, World War I)
Address: Northwest of Deming, Luna County, New Mexico
Type: hospital: sanatorium
Original Client: Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Indiana
Date: 1921; formally opened May, 1923
Condition: destroyed by fire, March 12, 1939, ruins of Sanatorium still stands
Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost and Gustavus A. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors: Joseph E. Morgan
Dimensions and Orientation:
Budget/Cost: $250,000 for conversion of the camp into a sanatorium
Foundation:
Wall Materials: stucco
Roofing Materials: unknown
Other Materials Used:
Remodeling and Additions:
Location of Drawings: Luna County Historical Society: blue prints relating to the conversion
Location of Documentary Photographs: Luna County Historical Society
Bibliography: El Paso Times, 50 Years of Progress Number, May, 1923, New Mexico Section, page 8, rendering; Dianne May, Holy Cross Sanatorium, Deming Headlight, Thursday, June 9, 1977, history of the sanatorium;
Holy Cross Sanatorium prospectus, n.d., copy in Deming Public Library.
Remarks: The Sisters of the Holy Cross took over the hospital buildings of Camp Cody as a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. At the time it reopened as a sanatorium, it was one of the largest such establishments in the world. The 19 buildings had a capacity for 400 patients.
The work of Trost & Trost is difficult to reconstruct, but certainly included electrical and engineering improvements. They probably constructed a new boiler house and central heating system, and very likely installed the radio inter-com systems in individual rooms.
Individual sleeping porches were very likely their additions. The breezeways between the patients’ dormitories may have been their work, and they may also have contributed to the landscaping, which was much admired in its time.
The sanatorium closed its doors in 1938 for economic reasons. In 1939, all but three buildings were destroyed in a spectacular blaze. Two other buildings were destroyed in a later fire. Only the foundations, cemetery, boiler house and steam channels remain.
Holy Cross Sanatorium was located on land that was known as Camp Cody. In 1917, the 2000-acre training camp was located outside of Deming, New Mexico was run by the U.S. War Department. The camp was named in honor of William ” Buffalo Bill” Cody.In 1922, the Deming Chamber of Commerce and Joseph A. Mahoney assisted with the purchase of 320 acre of land together with the government hospital buildings to the Sisters of the Holy Cross.
In September of 1922, architects Trost & Trost began general plans for the reconstruction of the hospital. Joseph Morgan served a contractor. The general plan of buildings comprised of an administration building with offices, dining halls, kitchen, bakery, an amusement hall, chapel and units to accommodate 150 patients.
A unit would accommodate 27 patients, consist of two large one-story buildings, parallel extending north and south with a wide court between. These buildings would connection the north side by the clinic, diet kitchen, chart and linen rooms. The patient rooms in each of the building would be on the east side, with private sleeping porches. A wide screened porch extends along the west side of each building, and at the south of each building was a large sun parlor.
The units were arranged in wards, every ward had room for four patients with sleeping porch quarters for four. The rooms and hallways of the units were plastered on the inside and were later finished in stucco on the outside.
Holy Cross Sanatorium was built chiefly for tubercular patients, built also provided other medical services. Five buildings were set apart for a general hospital with treatment rooms, X-ray and laboratory work and operating rooms.
Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990