As part of this year's Juneteenth celebrations, the City of Palatka will unveil a historical kiosk marking the site of the Mary Lawson Hospital on the corner of South 9th Street and St. Johns Avenue on Saturday, June 22, at 1 p.m.
The Mary Lawson Hospital opened in 1918 in segregated Palatka to serve the city’s African American community members. Founded by its namesake, Mary Lawson, a registered nurse and funeral director, the 35-bed facility was renovated and expanded in 1922. Due to overcrowding at the city's white-only Palatka Hospital, it began treating both Black and white patients. Over the following decades, the hospital continued as an integrated facility in largely segregated Florida, with an integrated staff treating all patients regardless of race. For many years, Lawson Hospital was the only facility in Putnam County equipped for surgery.
Although the hospital closed in 1958 after the opening of Putnam Memorial Hospital in the city and the building was demolished in the 1960s, the marker to be unveiled on Saturday will commemorate this significant place and the extraordinary woman who founded it, where care was provided for so many people.
Mary Lawson’s granddaughter, former Palatka vice mayor and longtime community leader Mary Lawson Brown, invites the community to attend the celebration of the hospital and her grandmother, especially those born at the facility.
“Thousands of people, both black and white, were born under that same roof,” said Mary Lawson Brown, “That was something special in those times. I would like everyone with a connection to the hospital to come together to remember and celebrate what a special place it was.”
After the unveiling, Lawson Brown will host a community gathering on the site with speakers, an arts and crafts show, and a tour of the neighboring historic St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.