Grand home would be turned into hospital

Posted 3 September 2014 at 12:00 am


By Bill Lattin
Orleans County Historian

ALBION – This was the residence of Ezra T. Coann, which was located on South Main Street in Albion.

It was built during the mid-1870s in the Second Empire style. Coann was very prominent in business affairs and a leading banker.

In 1912, Arnold Gregory purchased this house. It was turned into the first Arnold Gregory Memorial Hospital, opening in 1916.

In 1952, after the new hospital building opened, the old hospital and former Coann house was demolished. The space that once occupied Coann is now a parking lot in front of COVA (Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance).