Dr. Herman Dismuke holding Brenda McCormick, whom he had delivered a year earlier, 27 April 1947
Ocilla’s first hospital, with 20 beds, was opened by Dr. Herman Dismuke* and Dr. Gabe Willis in 1914. It originally featured wrap-around porches. Jamie Wilcox Lovett and Cindy Griffin note that this was built by their great-grandfather, Robert Toombs Woolsey. It was made obsolete by a newer facility in the early 1930s and is now a private residence.
*Dr. Dismuke was the most beloved physician in Irwin County during his lifetime. He delivered thousands of babies, promoted modern health and sanitary practices through his work with the clinic at Irwinville Farms during the Great Depression and served as the county doctor.
Sandra Crouch Irons writes: My grandfather, Thomas A. Crouch, purchased this building to house his wife and family which included 7 children the first of which was born in 1898 and the last in 1911. I’m not exactly sure as to when he purchased the sanitarium, but I do have photographs of my father, Joseph P. Crouch, outside the back porch when he was about 12 which would have made the date around 1923. The sanitarium was never replaced around the 1930s because the Crouch family lived there. I am aware that my grandfather remodeled some of the interior, but the exterior remained basically the same until it was sold somewhere around the late 1980s/early 90s. I lived in and grew up in this house from 1954, when my father retired from the Marines and moved back to Ocilla, until I went to college in 1965. My husband, Stephen Irons, our daughter, Jennifer, and I continued to visit my parents and Aunt Joree who continued to live here until the house was sold.
Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown 
Where is This located in Ocilla?
Is this located out by the community house on 129 south of Ocilla . I havent seen an address on this at all.
It is on the same road as the Ben Hill Tech. 2 blocks of of Tifton Hwy. On the west side of town. The old high school is across the st.
No, it is by the headstart. Not sure of the name of the road, but if you are going to Tifton is it the last paved road on the right before the EMC.
My name is Sandra Crouch Irons. My grandfather, Thomas A. Crouch, purchased this building to house his wife and family which included 7 children the first of which was born in 1898 and the last in 1911. I’m not exactly sure as to when he purchased the sanitarium, but I do have photographs of my father, Joseph P. Crouch, outside the back porch when he was about 12 which would have made the date around 1923. The sanitarium was never replaced around the 1930s because the Crouch family lived there. I am aware that my grandfather remodeled some of the interior, but the exterior remained basically the same until it was sold somewhere around the late 1980s/early 90s. I lived in and grew up in this house from 1954, when my father retired from the Marines and moved back to Ocilla, until I went to college in 1965. My husband, Stephen Irons, our daughter, Jennifer, and I continued to visit my parents and Aunt Joree who continued to live here until the house was sold.
Sandra, thank you for sharing this. I will add it to the post.
Sandra, I don’t know if you will see this as the article is dated. My grandfather Thomas and your father were brothers. I’ve visited the house in the article and met your dad several times. In fact he gave me a watch that I still have. I enjoyed the bit of history you provided.
Sandra. My husband and I bought the house in 1993 from the Ben Hill Irwin Tec. Mr. Frank Crouch had donated it to the school but they never used it . Mr. Frank told us a lot about the house. He had a wood workshop in the original barn in the back yard. Where Dr Desmuke parked his horse buggy. That was the original Dr. He actually died on the way to Atlanta
from his appendix rupturing. He made house calls in the horse and buggy. His son Dr
Demure later built the hospital up town. When we lived there it was the Irwin
Co. Health Department. When we bought the house, it had sat there empty for 18 years.
We remodeled some of the rooms but tried to keep it close to the way it was..
It had a skylight up stairs so he could see how to operate. We lived there until 2002. In 1999. I think was the year, a storm went through and lightning struck the woodshed and it burned down. My husband Dusty Starr bought an old log cabin near Rochelle, Ga. And dismantled it and built it back where the woodshed had been. Our daughter was
married on the front porch steps of the house and had a beautiful outdoor wedding in 1994. They lived with us and our grandson was born in 1995. Growing up he referred to it as The Big House.
We sold it in 2002 to a family from Atlanta and they really let it get run down. The bank foreclosed on them and in last couple years it was bought by
a Dorminey family member from Fitzgerald and I was told they are remodeling it to be upscale apartments.
I can tell you a story Mr. Frank told us. The house originally had an upstairs balcony around the whole house. His father was a dry cleaner and came home one evening and the sons were playing around like they were going to throw their mother off the balcony and he got mad and had it torn off except for the front porch. You can still see the green part that was where it used to be. The rest of it is brick. I can say we loved living there. It was a beautiful old house.
That’s amazing. Asylums are my current preoccupation. I am going to have to run down some patient stories on this one.