Sawyer Sanatorium at White Oaks Farm

Doctors Charles Elmer Sawyer and his son, Carl Walker Sawyer, opened Sawyer Sanatorium on White Oaks Farm in 1911. Built to provide physical and emotional healing in a unique environment, the complex incorporated six patient bungalows, houses for the two doctors, offices, a large dining and social hall, and treatment buildings. An enclosed quarter-mile-long cloister connected these buildings around a large courtyard. Each bungalow, given botanical names such as “Ivy” and “Rose,” contained individual patient rooms, a communal living room, and bathing facilities. Hydropathic and electropathic treatments buildings were added later. A shady ten-acre knoll on the farm featured a grove of white oak trees that served as a picnic area for patients. Over the years, the facility also hosted local and national social and political events. (Continued on other side)

[Side B]: (Continued from other side) Charles Sawyer — a close friend of Warren and Florence Kling Harding — served as their personal physician until the president’s death in 1923. Returning to Marion, Florence Harding lived at Sawyer Sanatorium, receiving care from the Sawyers until her 1924 death. Warren Curtis Sawyer, son of Carl Sawyer, graduated from Medical School in 1935 and joined the staff as the third generation of his family to practice at the sanatorium. In May 1963, the facility shifted emphasis from hospital to nursing and convalescent home and changed its name to White Oaks Farm. It closed in 1970. Between 1968 and 1970, federal grants and a donation by Cleo and Dorothy Ludwig enabled the City of Marion to purchase 114.8 acres of the property. Sawyer-Ludwig Park opened in 1971.