For the delicate, weakly child, Dr. Richmond suggested that mothers should keep “Rheumatic Lighting” in the house at all times.  It was also advertised as good for domestic pets.  For a headache, one could purchase Dr. Richmond’s “Liver Pills.” Sick headache, produced from indigestion, wind on the stomach, biliousness and nausea, will find prompt and speedy relief by a thorough cleaning out by the use of Dr. Richmond’s Liver Pills.”  All this for 25 cents!  For red, cracked bleeding hands, facial blemishes and any form of skin disease, Dr. Richmond’s “White Rose Cream” was the cure.   Dr. Richmond’s “Eye Salve” healed “every form of disease that afflicts the eye.”

The medical laboratory was mentioned in a March 31, 1893 issue of the Tuscola Review.  “His business has increased so rapidly that he found it necessary to erect a new building to keep pace with his already large and increasing business.  His new medical laboratory is one of the largest of its kind in the nation.  Today, he occupies the grandest building in the city, more commodious and inviting than any in the West.  His reception rooms are models of taste; the immense mailing department, the spacious laboratory for compounding roots and herbs, which has made the doctor famous all over the land; the great packing and store rooms, are all marvels of excellence and worthy of a visit from every person who comes to Tuscola.  The great printing department is one of the largest, best, and complete printing offices in Central Illinois, and will give employment to dozens of printers, binders and pressmen. The hum of numerous presses and click of type rarely cease.”

The S. A. Richmond Company was incorporated in 1899 to manufacture and sell medicines, to conduct a general wholesale and retail drug business, to own and run a sanitarium for the care and treatment of the sick, to own and run a florist business, to do a general printing business, and to conduct the manufacture of bottles.  The commissioners were Thomas R. Orr, Robert Kerr, and Edgar L. Hance.  The capital stock was $30,000, with 300 shares at $100 per share.  The place of business was changed from Tuscola to Chicago in 1906.  Richmond supposedly died destitute and left his widow and children to fend for themselves.

John W. Laughlin purchased the building August 24, 1900.   Mr. Laughlin was the grandfather of Mrs. Eugene Randolf of Tuscola.  She remembered her grandfather establishing the American Hindoo Medicine Company in the Richmond building.  He sold bottles of Wonder of India, Cough Cure, Corn Killer and Herb of India.  The company also made toilet articles, tooth whitener, Hindoo Cologne, and toilet soap. 

The Richmond/Laughlin building was razed late summer of 1915 and made way for the building of the new Jarman Memorial Hospital

Sarah A. Jarman Memorial Hospital - William F. Jarman, the principal founder of the Sarah A. Jarman Memorial Hospital, was born in Kentucky in 1843.  He was reared on a farm by his parents, who were considered to be of little substance.  His early schooling opportunities were meager, but as a youth he immigrated to Douglas County, where he worked as a farm laborer and in the winter months attended public schools in Camargo.  Jarman was considered very industrious and energetic.  With the savings from his days as a farmhand,  he was able to purchase a small store in Camargo.  He proved to have a mind for business and invested his profits from the store into farmland, eventually owning over 400 acres, along with other personal property.  While in his twenties, Jarman met and married Sarah A. Porter.  A number of children were born to this union, but all died in infancy, except a daughter, Nellie.  

Inflicted with a muscular disorder, Jarman was restricted to a wheelchair for the last 25 years of his life.  His wife and daughter lovingly cared for him until their deaths; Sarah passing in 1910, and Nellie three years later.  The deaths of the two main loves of his life led Jarman to call for a meeting with his good friend and attorney, John H. Chadwick.  He had decided to plan for his own passing since he had no family to leave his estate.  In his will,  he wished to leave 80 acres of land to the Christian Church of Camargo, of which he was a member.  The majority of the remaining estate was to be used to establish a charitable institution in the name of his late wife.

Chadwick suggested his estate be used to establish a hospital in Tuscola, in which the poor of Douglas County could be cared for at no expense as long as funds were available.  The hospital would carry the name of his late wife.  Jarman agreed to this proposition, with the understanding the people of the county would raise $40,000 for the construction of the building.  He would offer 160 acres of his prime farmland to support the hospital.  The proposition was published in the county newspapers and an effort was made to raise the funds.  When the fundraising effort fell far short of the goal, Jarman was disappointed.

 In the summer of 1916, a typhoid fever epidemic swept through Tuscola.  More than 100 people were stricken with the disease, which came in a very virulent form.  The fever claimed an estimated 30 lives, including the mayor, city librarian, and several other prominent citizens.  In the midst of the epidemic, Chadwick went back to Jarman to inform him of the situation.  He suggested that Jarman reduce the required amount of donations for the construction of the hospital to $10,000.  The future founder agreed to the lesser amount a few days later.  Chadwick happily agreed to the task and in several weeks had raised pledges totaling $12,259.50.  All three banks verified the donors to be solvent.

Directors were elected in Tuscola on July 21, 1916 for the business of managing the hospital for the first year:  W. C. Hackett, Dr. C. L. Hine, C. C. Jones, J. M. Fuller, Dr. W. C. Blaine, J. F. Helm, H. C. Jones, Mrs. E. Y. McCarty, Josie R. Goff, W. W. Reeves, A. W. Wallace, William Iles, Frank H. Jones, S. B. Ervin, J. C. Van Voorhis, G. C. Jeffers, Jesse Ellars Hackett, and Blanche Caraway. A charter was procured on July 27, 1916.  The decision was made to locate the hospital on block eleven of Winston’s Addition to the town of Tuscola.  On August 30, Jarman stayed true to his word and conveyed a quarter-section of land east of Villa Grove to the hospital.  Jarman also decided to leave another quarter-section of land to the hospital, assuming certain terms could be met.  An operating room, sterilizing room, and anesthetic room would be named in his daughter’s honor and a suitable permanent Memorial placed in or adjacent to said rooms, properly announcing the fact.

It was William Jarman’s hope to see the Sarah A. Jarman Memorial Hospital completed during his lifetime.  Unfortunately, his dream was unfulfilled.  He died on March 1, 1917, before the building’s completion.

James P. Moorehead of Tuscola was the general contractor for the hospital which had a capacity of 30 patients.  It was considered to be state-of-the-art in all safety and artistic characteristics.  The hospital accepted its first patient on April 1, 1919.  In the first two years, over 1,100 patients were admitted.  Of those, only 23 deaths had occurred, which was deemed to be a “splendid” record by Chadwick.

In the summer of 1919, subscriptions were solicited for the purpose of purchasing an X-ray machine and laboratory outfit for the hospital. The city and township of Newman procured the X-ray machine and the laboratory was secured from the citizens of Tuscola and the surrounding area.  Upon the completion of the purchases, Sarah A. Jarman Memorial Hospital was deemed to have the finest equipment of the time.  Churches, societies, and individuals furnished the office, solariums, dining room, kitchen, and rooms for patients.  This was a sign of the deep interest of the people of Douglas County to support the new hospital.  Many additional donations were forthcoming, and a steady supply of food was under the management of the Board of Lady Managers.  A nurse’s home was also purchased and furnished for the use of nurses employed by the hospital.

From the 1895 Saturday Journal a recommendation appeared:  A Professional Nurse.  To those who may need the services of a professional nurse we would say that Miss Ella Poole, of this city, has just graduated with special recommendations from the Maternity Hospital, Indianapolis, one of the most celebrated in the central states.  Miss Poole was born and raised in Tuscola and those who know her disposition to thoroughly master all she undertakes will readily grant that she will make a most excellent person to care for the sick.  In addition to this she is of an exceedingly jovial temperament, intelligent, agreeable and companionable, and will lighten sorrow and drive away gloom wherever she goes.  For further recommendations, she refers by permission to Doctors Martin, S. T. Spees and Rice, of this city, or to Dr. Louis Burkhardt of Indianapolis.  Miss Poole will remain permanently in this city.  Residence: 104 East Pembroke Street; address, post office box 321, Tuscola, Ill.  We take pleasure in commending her to our readers as a young lady of amiable disposition, pleasant address and refined and cultured ways.  “This institution has already proven itself to be a great blessing to the community.  With such an array of earnest friends behind it, its future is assured,” Chadwick commented.

By the mid 1970’s the condition of the “old” hospital did not make it economically advisable to repair or remodel it to meet state requirements and the need to consolidate county health services in one location was more pressing than patient care, according to Garland Strohl, hospital administrator.  A more modern addition had been attached to the old structure. 

On June 1, 1990 Douglas County Memorial Hospital, nee Sarah A. Jarman Memorial Hospital, was closed for good.  Jarman attracted only about 20 per cent of the healthcare market in Douglas County.  The other 80 per cent went elsewhere.  The County had been subsidizing Jarman’s losses to the tune of $400,000 per year from the general budget, plus $350,000 per year in retirement benefits for hospital employees and insurance.