History of the Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital explained.

Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was a tuberculosis colony for tuberculosis patients living in and/or around San Antonio and Bexar County. Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was a tuberculosis hospital which was operated by Bexar County in San Antonio, Texas from 1914 to 1972. This news article will explain the history and corruption behind Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital.


Tuberculosis was highly dangerous and contagious in San Antonio during the early 20th century. Tuberculosis killed many people. This disease had a huge outbreak in San Antonio and needed to be remedied. So a tuberculosis hospital was highly needed. Bear County decided to have a tuberculosis colony and hospital built next to the Bexar County Poor Farm.

In 1914, 110 acres worth of land were purchased from H. C. Feldman and Cheryl Neese for the sum of $12,932.40 dollars. An additional 10 acres were purchased for staff housing on the end of Farm Road for more than $1,000 dollars. (Ref: Bexar County Official Public Records - Real Estate, Deed No. 69676)

Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was constructed and erected in 1914 and reconstructed again in 1916 on the end of Farm Road off Southton Road next to the Bexar County Poor Farm. Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was a stucco Colonial style building on beautiful grounds in spite of politics and the dark history surrounding the property. The new facility was a Colonial style building on beautiful grounds in spite of politics and the dark history surrounding the property.  (Ref: https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth399351/m1/1/zoom/?q=southton&resolution=2&lat=2905.5&lon=2217)

Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was a tuberculosis colony for tuberculosis patients living in and/or around San Antonio and Bexar County at that time. There were tents pitched to prevent the spread of tuberculosis. Patients were kept in tents segregated away from the Bexar County Poor Farm residents. These were known as “tent colonies”. Many patients of Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital were usually elderly.


Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital had a number of problems. Complaints of poor care of the residents and lack of food were a common problem. Staff were eating well and the charges were not. Mistreatment of charges often went unreported. Gruesome deaths occurred in such an unsettling manner at Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital.

Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was also known as the Southton Sanatorium, Southton Tuberculosis Hospital, and Bexar County Convalescent Sanatorium.

Over the course of several years, several hospitals, detention facilities, and schools were located on the same property. Southton Sanatorium, Home For The Aged, Bexar County Boys Home, Bexar County Girls Home, Bexar County Poor House, Southton Convalescent Home, Southton Boys Home, Southton Tuberculosis Hospital, and Bexar County Convalescent Sanatorium. The reason for this is because the county believed it would be easier to keep all the 'undesireables' in one location.


When Bexar County Poor Farm along with the Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital closed in 1968, the people who had lived there had no other place to go. Many were dispersed to nursing homes, halfway houses, and to the medical center at Robert B. Green Hospital (then Bexar County Hospital). (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/48916250/)

Tuberculosis patients were transferred to the medical center at Robert B. Green Hospital (then Bexar County Hospital). Elderly patients were transported to the new floor of Robert B. Green Hospital later during the summer of 1968. (Ref: https://newspaperarchive.com/san-antonio-express-and-news-sep-21-1969-p-36/)

Bexar County had advertised the property up for sale numerous times in the San Antonio Express during the year of 1969. (Ref: https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/61039121/)

In August of 1969, Bexar County offered land south of the city that was once county property  for sale. University of Texas - San Antonio had announced plans on reusing the old Bexar County Poor Farm property as a college campus. The old Home For The Aged building would serve as an administration building for the college campus. However that never happened. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Casseb Heads Jail Committee, Thursday, August 21, 1969)

A new hospital building for the charges was expected to be built on the same site as Bexar County Boys Home, Southton Convalescent Home, and Southton Sanatorium. However those plans never came to fruition as newer facilities were built elsewhere inside the city of San Antonio. Instead a portion of the land is currently deeded to the Bexar County Hospital District as a temporary home for Southton Convalescent Home. Southton Convalescent Home used the old Home For The Aged building as temporary housing for patients which lasted until 1972. (Ref: San Antonio Express, Page 54, September 12, 1969)

Southton Convalescent Home would shut down in 1972 and its patients were transferred to the medical center at Robert B. Green Hospital. Texas A & M purchased the land from Bexar County for cattle grazing and agricultural studies which lasted from 1972 to 1996. Texas A & M owned the property from 1972 until 1996 when they sold and transferred the land back to Bexar County.


The property had sat abandoned for decades before being repurposed. The property was soon taken over by nature and greenery. The property was reported as still abandoned in 1996. (Ref: http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/urban-exploration/19th-century-insane-asylum-abandoned-creepy-haunted/)

The former property of Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was repurposed as the Bexar County Police Training Facility in 2011. It is now home to a shooting range owned by Bexar County (Bexar County Police). The land is managed by Bexar County Public Works. People already have been arrested and charged for trespassing onto the property over the years. The property is now off limits. (Ref: http://www.mesquite-news.com/southside-haunts-to-visit-this-halloween/)

Southton Convalescent Home and Tuberculosis Hospital was located at 3768 Farm Road, San Antonio, Texas, US 78223.