As medical technology improved over the years, the board of directors at Kelley Memorial Hospital began to realize that the community needed a more modern medical facility.
In early March of 1962, the Williamsburg County Legislative Delegation announced members of the board for a proposed Williamsburg County Memorial Hospital. Board members were David S. Epps, Basil Ward, P.A. Thompson, A.W. Ragsdale, C.A. Coleman, H. Fox, and Jack McFadden, representing a wide area of Williamsburg County. Epps, who had chaired the Kelley Memorial Board, was also elected chair of the new board of directors.
Monies from the federally-funded Hill-Burton Act had already been approved for the construction of a new hospital in Kingstree.
By November, 1962, the proposed $1 million hospital was in the final planning stages. Local architects Clark, McCall & Leach had almost completed the blueprints. The site for the hospital between SC-377 and SC-527 had been secured. Hill-Burton monies would fund two-thirds of the cost of the hospital. The board still needed to raise $150,000, however. The hospital was described as a "60-bed hospital built on a 100-bed chassis."
The rest of 1962 was devoted to fund-raising. Dr. Michael Holmes of Kingstree and Merritt Morris of Hemingway led the fund-raising efforts throughout the county. Local civic organizations, including the Pilot Club and the Lions Club raised money for the venture, as did other organizations, with employees of Santee Electric Cooperative, the local Post Office and the County Courthouse, donating a day's pay toward the construction of the new hospital.
Ground was broken for the new Williamsburg County Memorial Hospital on April 22, 1963, and by the fall of that year, Gordon S. Crispin was named its first administrator. The hospital opened to patients in early 1965. A new wing was added in the early 1980s, named for Dr. Michael Holmes. In the early 2000s, the hospital's named was changed to Williamsburg Regional Hospital. It remained in operation until the Flood of 2015 forced it to close its doors and move into a mobile facility located in the parking lot. This unit served the community until MUSC Health-Black River Medical Center at Cades opened to patients earlier this month.
