Former TB sanatorium to host open house

Brookdale Park Place, a retirement and assisted living campus in Spokane Valley that was once home to the last tuberculosis sanitarium in the state, is celebrating the 100-year history of the property known as Edgecliff Hospital with a holiday open house Saturday.

Edgecliff opened in 1915 as a sanatorium to treat the epidemic of TB in the United States. At its height Edgecliff could care for 210 patients, including children. It’s estimated that nearly 10,000 patients were cared for until the sanatorium’s closure in 1978, not including the outpatients.

Brookdale resurrected the community and the hospital building in 1990 after the 12-acre campus at 601 S. Park Road sat vacant for years. The senior living facility wants to celebrate the history and significance of Edgecliff with the public and share a recent $500,000 renovation.

The open house will commemorate the first Christmas celebrated at Edgecliff, that included trees with light and ornaments – “not an easy things to accomplish in 1915,” according to the news release. Santa also made an appearance.

The celebration starts at 4 p.m. and kickoff a year of events.

For more information, call Patricia Johnson or Sandy Batson at (509) 922-7224.