Riegel Hospital
Why it's listed
Built in 1934 by the Trion Company, Riegel Hospital is a long, symmetrical, two-story brick building on Allgood Street in the Trion mill community of northwest Georgia. It was named for Benjamin D. Riegel, the company's president. Colonial Revival details include a balconied entry portico with fluted Doric columns, brick quoins, keystone lintels and a flat roof with a parapet. Inside, double-loaded corridors and arched openings define the plan, and the second-floor operating room, nurses' station and patient rooms remain intact. An ambulance garage and storage building survive behind it. The hospital served mill employees and the wider area, with a segregated section for African-American patients until the mid-1960s. It operated until 1975, when patients moved to the county hospital. It is significant as the town's only hospital, an example of mill-owner paternalism, and a rare surviving small institutional building of its era.
Significance in brief: It was the only hospital in the Trion mill community and reflects the mill owners' paternalistic concern for workers' health and welfare. It is also a good, intact example of a Colonial Revival institutional building of the 1930s. It is a rare property type, one of only 45 hospitals in the statewide survey and one of seven in a town setting.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 02000079, listed February 20, 2002. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 194 Allgood St., Trion |
|---|---|
| County | Chattooga County |
| Listed | February 20, 2002 |
| Reference number | 02000079 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1934-1945 |
| Architect / builder | W.W. Cox |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals/Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
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| Areas of significance | Architecture, Health/Medicine |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Parts of the building have been used as medical offices since the hospital closed in 1975; the function list also includes vacant/not in use. Alterations include dropped ceilings, bricked-in windows and a frame addition. |
| Acreage | 1.7 |
| Coordinates | 34.54197, -85.31274 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For a publicly owned building or structure, listing mainly matters when federal funds, permits or licences are involved: projects then go through Section 106 review so effects on the property are considered. Listing also strengthens applications for preservation grants and, for leased income-producing uses, can enable the federal rehabilitation tax credit.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 02000079.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.