Haverfield Hospital
Orville Snell Haverfield came to Montana in 1909, newly graduated from St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons. Haverfield set up practice in Hardin and eventually became county physician, health officer, and coroner. During the early years of his practice, Hardin doctors treated patients in a private residence. Better facilities were needed, however, and Haverfield began construction of a new private hospital. Completed in 1916, the structure demonstrates an institutional form of the Craftsman style that enjoyed great popularity during Hardin’s formative years. The cross-shaped building features a horizontal orientation, emphasized by low-pitched gable rooflines, wide eaves with exposed brackets and rafter ends, and bands of windows. The screened porches were enclosed in 1929 to add more rooms, and a modest Bungalow style cottage was moved onto the property in the early 1930s for use as a nurses’ residence. At the height of Haverfield’s practice in 1918, Hardin suffered a severe influenza epidemic. Haverfield permanently damaged his own health caring for patients and died six years later at the age of thirty-seven. His hospital continued to function, however, and eventually all four of the town’s doctors, including Haverfield’s brother, practiced here. The hospital served the community until the county hospital was built in 1958.
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