Local architect Arthur L. Pillsbury designed the Colonial Revival building.

As sunlight and fresh air were thought to be the best treatments for tuberculosis at the time, the rooms at the sanatorium featured large windows that were kept open for much of the year.

[5] The latter organization was spearheaded by Florence Fifer Bohrer, who was also the sanatorium's first secretary and went on to become the first woman elected to the Illinois Senate.

[5] During the 1920s, a separate cottage was built in the back, for the purpose of racially segregating patients.

Improved treatments for tuberculosis gradually reduced the sanatorium's patient population over the following decades.