Before
1914 when a hospital stay was recommended or needed a Person
County citizen had to travel first to Richmond Virginia and
later to Raleigh or Durham to receive treatment or care.
In 1914, Dr. Charles Nichols opened the first hospital in
Roxboro in his home.It had eight beds and an operating room.
Surgeons came from Durham. Dr.
Nichols died in 1918 and left the facility to his son, Dr.
Austin Flint Nichols who operated the hospital for two more
years until his private practice forced him to close.
Dr. G. W. Gentry, Sr. and Dr. W.C. Williams, an ear eye nose
and throat specialist, who practiced in Person County for
a short period opened the Gentry-Williams Hospital in December
1937. They purchased the Dan Andrews house on Depot Street
and converted it into an eighteen-bed facility with an operating
room. Dr. Gentry operated the hospital until 1945 when he
asked the county to take it over and the Gentry-Williams Hospital
became Community Hospital.
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