Pokegama Lake Sanatorium is Up For Sale
- pinecitymanager
- Oct 20, 2021
- 1 min read
A piece of Pine City history is currently up for sale.
The Sanitorium located along Pokegama Lake Road, west of Pine City, was listed earlier this week for $99,900.
The building was built in the early 1900s during the tuberculosis pandemic by Doctor Henry Longstreet Taylor. The doctor was upset by the state government's response to fighting the disease and used his own money to build the hospital.
It cost patients anywhere from $30 to $50 a week to be treated outside of the Twin Cities, where they could breathe fresh Pokegama Lake air. The hospital was so popular, it even treated former Minnesota governor Harold Stassen.
Dr. Taylor's Sanitorium eventually closed in 1944 due to the staffing and supply shortages brought on by World War II. It later became a school for priests and a chemical dependency center before shuttering permanently.
Recently, the building has been a target of would-be urban explorers and vandals. In January of 2020, vandals even set the building on fire.
The now long-abandoned building is being sold along with a .72 acre parcel, so if you want to own a piece of history, you can contact Jim Peterson with Lakes Area Realty.
The sale of the Pokegama Lake Sanatorium highlights the growing appeal of historic and adaptive reuse properties in today’s real estate market. With its lakeside location and significant structure, this asset presents a unique value-add opportunity for investors willing to take on a full rehabilitation project, especially given its zoning flexibility and proximity to recreational amenities . Properties like this demonstrate how character-rich, underutilized buildings can be repositioned into niche residential, hospitality, or experiential developments that capitalize on both history and location.
What a fascinating piece of history! It’s amazing to see how the Pokegama Lake Sanatorium served the community in so many ways over the years. For anyone considering restoring or repurposing such a property, having a strong plan for upkeep and oversight is key, similar to the careful approach used in property management London.