50 Years Ago

Monday, July 7, 1969 Harbin Clinic medical center opens Wednesday

The new Harbin Clinic building on Martha Berry Highway at Redmond Road will open Wednesday, officials announced. An open house for the public will be held within a few weeks.

The 34,000 square foot facility was begun in late 1967. The relocation and expansion is “a joint venture of the staff of the clinic to help meet the growing demand for medical services in the northwest Georgia area,” a spokesman said.

The contemporary structure was built on an eight-acre tract acquired from the Berry Schools. It is a one-story, U-shaped building with an exterior of off-white brick. Twin walks, separated by a planted island and passing through a brick-paved courtyard featuring a multi-level water fountain, lead to the main entrance.

The lobby of the building is designed around the open courtyard with glass-paneled walls and provides ancillary seating overlooking the courtyard.

Auxiliary entrances located around the perimeter of the building afford direct access to doctors’ waiting rooms from the parking areas.

Central clinic services such as laboratory, X-ray, physical therapy, business office, medical records, employee lounge and conference room are located in the center section just off the main lobby and give easy access to patients from the individual doctors’ suites. As the building is enlarged in the future, these services will be completely surrounded by doctors.

The building will provide office spaces for 20 doctors plus central services and a leased pharmacy to be operated by Enloe Drug Stores.

The Harbin Clinic was established as a 12-bed hospital in 1908 by two brothers, Dr. Robert Maxwell Harbin and Dr. William Pickens Harbin. In 1917 a new fireproof 40-bed four-story structure was opened and the original building was converted into a nurses dormitory.

In 1920 three additional stories and other enlargements were added to the main building at 104 East Third Avenue, raising the bed capacity to 75. It was operated as a hospital until June 1948.

Upon conversion to a clinic operation in 1948, overnight patient care was eliminated but clinical organization began with a staff of seven physicians. The clinic has grown with Rome with the addition of new specialties and doctors through the years.

Dr. William Harbin serves as clinic director.