Kentucky Spirit Chasers

Hayswood Hospital’s beginnings date to the founding of the Wilson Infirmary, which was operated by May Peale Wilson from the early 1800’s to 1908. The infirmary closed shortly after Wilson’s death in 1908 and the building was demolished. In 1915, construction began on its replacement, the Hayswood Seminary. 

In August 1922, architectural firm Samuel Hannaford & Son of Cincinnati prepared plans for a $45,000 addition. Upon the completion of the addition in 1923, the facility was renamed to the Hayswood Hospital.

The complex was expanded with another addition in 1925 and 1971, expanding patient capacity to 87. 

The landlocked and geographically-challenged hospital closed in 1983 after Meadowview Regional Medical Center opened on the outskirts of the city. 

Hayswood Hospital was purchased by Ester Johnson of Classic Properties at a public auction for $42,000 in 1994. Johnson announced plans to renovate the building in 1999 although financial issues kept the project from progressing. Another of Johnson’s buildings, the former Maysville High School, was renovated into apartments and its success was cited as a model for what Hayswood could become given enough funding.

Classic Properties attempted to sell Hayswood Hospital to the city for $55,000 in 2000, but the city declined based upon the estimated one million dollars in cleanup costs. 

The city voted in November 2002 to apply for $200,000 in brownfield funding to do a study on cleanup of Hayswood. During the hearing, former City Manager Dennis Redmond stated that Hayswood qualified for brownfield funding which Johnson strongly disagreed with. The funding would have provided the city with $250,000 towards demolition of the building. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency began a preliminary survey of the hospital as part of Phase I of its environmental assessment on February 9, 2006. The agencies scoured the building and collecting samples and testing for various contaminants as part of Phase II  on July 26. The assessments concluded that it would take an estimated $5 million to remedy the building site for reuse due to its advanced deterioration. 

A private firm estimated the demolition cost at $1 million and another $1 million to redevelop the property. 

A $23,000 geological survey was completed at the hospital in mid-2008. 10 The purpose of the survey was to determine the effects of demolishing the hospital would have on the hillside and locations behind it. The City Commission applied for a $200,000 brownfield grant from the state of Kentucky later in the year in an attempt to reduce the costs of demolition.

On March 22, 2013, Tax Ease Lien Serving was granted an order by Judge Stockton Wood to auction off Hayswood during a Master Commissioner’s sale on April 26.  Tax Ease Lien Servicing held a lien against the owners of the property, E.D. Haye Inc., for defaulting on $5,984 in property tax payments in 2008 and 2009. E.D. Haye’s owner, Esther Johnson of Classic Properties, filed a motion for default and summary judgement and asked for an order to sell.

On the morning of the auction, the county learned that the plaintiff, Tax Ease Lien Servicing, had petitioned the circuit court to have the property removed from the sale.  The company was evaluating its options related to the property, noting that they were aware of its deteriorated condition and potential environmental issues that could impact the cost of re-mediating the lot.