My journey through West Virginia a few days ago took me by the former Morris Memorial Hospital for Crippled Children in Milton. I had been wanting to conduct aerial photography of the site for some time and see how much progress had been made in converting it into the Grand Patrician Resort & Spa, which will include a 100-room hotel, a nine-hole golf course, stables and horse trails, an indoor and outdoor swimming pool, a grand ballroom and conference center, a 250-seat wedding chapel, a restaurant, sports fields, and room for 80 condominiums, 22 single-family home lots, and 26 duplex units.
The Morris Memorial Hospital was built in phases from 1936 to 1941 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) for children stricken with polio. After it closed as a children’s hospital in 1960 after treating nearly 10,000 patients, the facility was converted for use as a nursing home.
