Health care has certainly changed since the end of World War II. At that time, many community hospitals in our region opened modern facilities. This month, the New York Health Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century proposed several hospital closures across the state, and hearings have been held in recent weeks.

Cobleskill was one of those communities that opened a community hospital. The Community Hospital of Schoharie opened its doors 50 years ago this past August. It is known today as Bassett Hospital of Schoharie County and is not on the commission’s list of closures.

Like many communities of some size across our region, Cobleskill had a history of small hospitals before the new facility was built. A practical nurse named Mrs. Folmsbee operated a maternity hospital with a few beds on North Street for a few years. An improved six-to-eight bed hospital replaced it, thanks to a Mrs. Hotaling on Harder Avenue. Just before the end of World War II, Frances Frosell opened the Elmhome on Elm Street, which was considered a bit more up-to-date.

But Cobleskill and Schoharie County wanted better health-care facilities. After World War II, the need for new hospitals, especially in rural areas, was growing because of the "baby boom."

Congress responded by passing the Hill Burton Act that provided funds for hospital construction in qualified rural areas. The state Legislature offered to pay a third of construction costs and operations if the new facility would be organized in conjunction with a county health department or laboratory.

By February 1948, a hospital fund committee was organized around Cobleskill. It was truly through a determined community effort that the funds were eventually raised to build the original part of the hospital. In the early 1950s, grade-school pupils contributed their pennies while school officials, savings institutions, churches, civic groups, fraternal and business organizations, individuals and families donated their time and money.

Ever since the end of World War II, interest in establishing a contemporary medical facility was heightened by Dr. Ward A. Oliver, who had recently returned to Cobleskill after serving in the U.S. Public Health Commission. Oliver arranged to have the state commissioner of health, Dr. Hollis Ingraham, make a presentation to the Cobleskill Rotary Club on the overwhelming need for a local hospital.

The proposal generated widespread interest throughout the county, which induced the Schoharie County Board of Supervisors to seek plans and estimates for a 50-bed hospital. Although the board liked the idea, it could not agree on a location and the project was abandoned.

Enter the private sector. Another committee of businessmen and professionals formed to get the necessary publicity to build a hospital in Cobleskill. John O’Toole, president of the Cobleskill Rotary Club, spearheaded the campaign to establish a hospital. The Cobleskill Development Corp. donated a large parcel of undeveloped land on a hillside off Main Street for the site.

Previous fundraising for the hospital hadn’t gone to waste. A new effort was launched and by 1954 about $412,000 had accumulated. The federal Hill Burton fund kicked in the additional $206,000 for construction.[an error occurred while processing this directive]