The Americus Colored Hospital was established in 1923 by Dr. W. William Stuart Prather. Dr. Prather, a white physician who operated the Prather Clinic on Jackson Street, was keenly aware of the need for an adequate public hospital for blacks that would provide much needed health and medical care to African Americans in Americus and Sumter County.

Relying on a network of friends, he purchased the property using $30,000 of his own funds and went on to galvanize both the Americus Negro Business League and the Americus Junior Welfare League, now the Junior Service League, to raise additional funds to equip and operate the facility.

Upon its opening, the Colored Hospital was the only medical facility in South Georgia where black medical professionals could train, practice, and serve people of color. The hospital operated from 1923 to 1953, and was associated with 33 medical doctors of color, two dentists, two pharmacists, six registered nurses, 18 nursing professionals, and a Nursing and Midwifery School.

In addition, the hospital provided a mobile health clinic, a well-baby clinic, pre-natal care, and a cancer clinic. Located directly behind the hospital building, was a working vegetable garden that supplemented the hospital food source for its residents. The facility was a vital lifeline for a poor and marginalized African American community needing quality healthcare.

It was also a stabilizing institution that unified and sustained them during the horrendous Jim Crow era and provided opportunities for minority healthcare professionals. In turn, these professionals became community leaders, and laid the foundation for a growing and prosperous black middle-class. From the mid 1920’s to 1942, Americus-Sumter County had the largest concentration of black professionals, businesses and landowners in the state of Georgia. This included medical professionals, educators, iron works engineers for the railroad, and farmers.