Founded in 1901, the Forney Sanitarium (hospital) was originally run in a small clinic on the top floor of Walter D. Adam's drug store. In 1910, doctors Eugene M. Fowler and David H. Hudgins moved the business to a large 2-story house on Cedar street, formerly the women's dormitory of the Lewis Academy.

In 1917, the doctors, along with other local physicians, Lonnie B. Sowell and Percival C. Shands, organized a group of shareholders to undertake the building of a $20,000 facility on Trinity Street. The large 2-story plus basement red brick building soon became a Forney landmark. The facilities included rooms for 25 patients, an operating room, a dining room and an X-Ray machine.

Other physicians employed by the sanitarium included Dr. W.M Bailey, a dentist, Dr. John L. Preston and Dr. J.S. Hamilton, and head nurse Harriet S. Bobo. Other staff included Addie McKinney, Ethel Clary, Lillie "Sandy" Sanders and Deana Bobbitt.

The Sanitarium closed it's doors in the 1930's and was later used as an apartment building before being torn down in the 1950's.