68 C DOTHAN & HOUSTON COUNTY – Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow
ABOVE:
Dr. Earle F. Moody opened a small infirmary on North Alice Street in 1913. The first Moody Hospital was a small wooden structure with only a few beds. As his finances allowed, Moody added additional wings to the building. In 1919, he constructed the building seen in this photograph. It was in this location in 1949 that Moody administered the first doses of penicillin in Alabama history. LEFT:
Moody Hospital closed in the mid-1960s. Waid, Holmes, and Associates, a local architecture firm, purchased the site and kept their offices in the old hospital for many years. The building has been maintained remarkably well, no doubt thanks to its current owner, architect Robert M. Holmes.
LEFT: This postcard shows three palatial homes built
on the north side of West Main Street around 1910. The first home, with its two-story Greek Revival portico and balustrade, was owned by Phillip N. Spann. The second, a Free Classic Queen Anne home with Italianate design features and balustrade, was built for M. Steadman Spann by J.W. Baughman. The Brown family owned the home on the far right. With their third brother Henry, Phillip and Steadman Spann owned the highly profitable Spann Farm, 1,875 acres five miles west of Dothan known for producing a wealth of cotton. They also owned a general mercantile store in Brannon Stand near their fields. Originally from South Carolina, the Spann brothers ran a successful naval stores business in Fountain, Florida, before coming to Dothan in1914. [Courtesy of Dothan Landmarks Foundation, Inc.]