Angel Medical Center’s mission of providing health care to the community can be traced back to 1923 when Dr. Furman Angel returned to Franklin to set up a clinic in some rooms on the second floor of the old Cunningham Building, which later became Macon Furniture Mart. To further the cause, in 1924 he purchased the Cope Elias house located on the present hospital grounds and started Angel Hospital. The Cope Elias house served as the hospital until 1926 when a new hospital building was completed. Subsequently, the Cope Elias house served as a residence for nurses until it was destroyed by fire several years later. The growth and demand for hospital services was so intense that in 1927 a new wing was added to the hospital.

Dr. Edgar Angel (“Ed”), Furman’s younger brother, joined the staff of the hospital in 1932 and the name was changed to Angel Brothers Hospital. In 1940, the hospital underwent several additions and enhancements including the purchase of the hospital by Ed who incorporated and changed the name to Angel Hospital, Inc. In 1956, the hospital was again enlarged making it a fifty-six bed hospital.

Dr. Joseph W. Kahn along with wife Dr. Amelia Bauer Kahn, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Ernest W. Fisher joined the medical staff of the hospital in 1946. Dr. Kahn and Ed carried a large portion of the surgery load for many years. Dr. Fisher, a native of Swain County, combined a modern medical knowledge with a native understanding of the people in providing health care until 1981. Dr. Doralea R. Harmon devoted her career to serving the community from 1966 until her retirement in 1993. These pioneering physicians served tirelessly to provide the community with therapeutic services for many years.

Before his death in January 1966, Ed recognized the need for a new facility and that a community effort was necessary to obtain government funding. He began the process of selling the hospital to the community, an undertaking that was not completed until after his death. The Angel family donated a portion of the value of the hospital, the A.B. Slagle estate generously gave the hospital the land now known as Mill Creek, and the community as a whole raised the remainder of the funds through donations to purchase the hospital from the Angel family. The community raised over $1,000,000 in a project known as “Operation Heartbeat” to provide matching funds for federal government grants and Hill-Burton loans. The hospital was then incorporated as a nonprofit organization with a self-perpetuating board of trustees under the name of Angel Community Hospital in November 1967.

The new addition to the existing hospital cost approximately $6,000,000 to construct and was opened in 1974. At that time, the old building with parts dating back to 1926 was demolished with the exception of the 1956 addition. The new building provided a total of eighty beds; fifty-nine inpatient beds, nine intensive care beds, and twenty-one psychiatric beds.

Over the years, there have been numerous changes and additions to the hospital to update the buildings and remain current with technology. In 1991, a new two-story building was added to the back of the hospital to house the surgical suite and the intensive care unit. The front of the hospital was renovated in 1996 with a new addition to provide needed space for the business office, medical records, cafeteria, laboratory, and administration. In 1998, more space was added to the back of the hospital to accommodate the growing demands for outpatient medicine, same day surgery, and surgical areas of the hospital. The emergency department moved into a new addition in the back of the hospital, and the radiology department was moved to the former emergency area that was renovated as part of the addition during 2002.

The name of the hospital was changed to Angel Medical Center, Inc. in 1996 to recognize the progress and accomplishments in health care that the hospital has made over the years. Angel Medical Center is a full service, acute care, nonprofit hospital. With recent construction and equipment purchases, the community now benefits from the full complement of services provided to residents of Macon and surrounding counties. The doctors, staff, and volunteers reflect its mission “Dedicated professionals providing compassionate and superior health care to all.”