Published January 10. 2021 12:01AM
Carol Sommer
The Mitchell Isolation Hospital on Colman Street in New London was completed in 1914, thanks to a $100,000 donation by Annie Olivia Tiffany Mitchell. Today the hospital is gone, but its former nurses’ dormitory still stands on Walden Street.
In the 19th century, healthcare, such as it was, was provided in almshouses and private homes, but at the start of the 20th century, hospitals commonly filled that role. New London had several. They were badly needed because smallpox was still an issue, tuberculosis was common, and the 1918 pandemic was just ahead.
Annie Tiffany (1844-1937) was the daughter of Charles Lewis Tiffany, founder of Tiffany & Company, the famous jewelry empire. She came from a talented and wealthy family.