The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was one of the first sanatoria in southwestern Louisville, Kentucky. It officially opened its doors in 1910 to house tuberculosis patients. The primary goal of the hospitals' construction was to aid in the containment of the tuberculosis outbreak that had ravaged Jefferson County. After tuberculosis was eradicated, the hospital was closed down in 1961.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium's History

In 19010, Kentucky, specifically Jefferson County, was confronted with a potentially fatal situation when a tuberculosis outbreak raged throughout the county. As a result, a proposal to build a separate hospital to deal with the outbreak was approved, and by the fall of the same year, a temporary wooden sanitorium was built. Apart from an administration building and two open-air pavilions that could accommodate 20 patients at a time, the hospital didn't have much. Temporary cabins on the left side of the administration building housed doctors, nurses, and other support staff. two years later, all the patients and their doctors were vacated to help create room for the construction of permanent buildings at the site. This was not an easy task but within 3 months, the building was complete and enrolled 40 more patients on top of those who were already there. A year later an expansion was done to include a 50-bed capacity children’s ward. By the end of the modifications, Waverly Hills Sanatorium could host more than 400 patients. 

Closure and life after abandonment

In 1943 an antibiotic medication called streptomycin was introduced which decreased tuberculosis cases. The gradual decrease made the need for a huge hospital useless. The remaining patients were transferred to Hazelwood Sanatorium in Louisville. Waverly Hills shut down in June 1961. In 1960, the building was reopened as Woodhaven Geriatric Center and used as a nursing home for the aging. Overcrowding and understaffing shut the town after 22 years of operation.

J. Clifford Todd purchased the hospital in 1983 with the intention of converting it into a minimum-security prison, but the plans were met with strong opposition from the locals. In 1996, Robert Alberhasky purchased the building with the intention of erecting the world's tallest statue of Jesus Christ, but the plans were halted due to a lack of funds. Private investors currently own the entire sanatorium. Tours of the storage facility are available. Visitors to the sites are strictly taken to the storage which is the only safe building to tour. The rest of the buildings have faced a tremendous amount of beating from vandals and mother nature. A fraction of the main building is almost falling. As for those buildings that still stand, fear of asbestos and lead poisoning have forced the owners to close and restrict their exploration.