With the hospital's original endowment, a simple charge: "Serve all persons of the community regardless of race or ability to pay...and make it a brick building."

In 1910, Judge Francis Flagg Putney donated $25,000 to the Ladies Hospital Aid Society of Albany to establish a hospital to serve the citizens of Southwest Georgia.

The judge's endowment came with three stipulations:

• That the hospital be named after his mother "Phebe" Putney.
• That the hospital serve all citizens of the community, regardless of race or ability to pay.
• That the hospital be a brick building in order to withstand the greatest threat to structures at the time - fire.

The little hospital on the plains of Southern Georgia opened its doors on August 1, 1911, beginning a tradition of healing and community service that would grow into one of America's great not-for-profit community medical centers.

In the nearly ten decades since, the hospital's service area has grown to a population of over 300,000, and Phoebe has grown to a population with it into one of America's most progressive community hospitals.

With growth, the goal has been to bring the most advanced medical talent and technology - at a level generally found only in major population centers - to the citizens of Southwest Georgia.

But some things haven't changed. As Phoebe has grown to become a major regional medical center, the 3,800 members of the "Phoebe Family" have remained dedicated to Judge Putney's original mission of service to all.