Arioch Wentworth willed the City of Dover $100,000 to build a hospital. Construction of a 42 bed cottage style hospital was completed in 1906. The original hospital was made up of three buildings; a main two story structure flanked by two cottages. None of these building stand today.
In 1907, 307 patients were admitted. The number increased by about 20 each year. In 1917, hospital services were overwhelmed by the influx of wounded soldiers. The influenza pandemic of 1918 also created heavy demand. Grace P. Haskell, superintendent of the hospital for 30 years wrote "When the epidemic of influenza reached us it found the entire force of the hospital already greatly overworked....Of the twenty-one nurses in the hospital at different times, eighteen developed influenza, fortunately, not all at the same time and not all were seriously ill....The difficulty of controlling delirious patients reached a point beyond the experience of any of us." The number of beds in the small hospital were increased from 30 to 50 but even those were not sufficient. In 1919, Edward W. Rollins contributed $81,000 to build a nurses' home as a memorial to his beloved daughter in law, Gladys A, Rollins. When construction was completed the hospital had increased its bed space to75. In 1950 an addition to the original building created space for 33 more beds and additional services. In 1968 Mr. and Mrs. Francis S. Douglass willed $500,00 for the creation of a new building to replace the original structure. The hospital was renamed as the Wentworth Douglass Hospital, the name it carries today.
