Paducah's Riverside Hospital was located at 600 North Third Street.  Before that hospital was built, The Marine Hospital had stood on the site. It had been built between 1848 and 1852. It was later destroyed by fire. The Riverside hospital was initiated in 1905 by Dr John Brooks at a cost of $30,000. Built of flemish bond brickwork to three stories, the hospital had an elongated central section flanked by two protruding end wings, that jutted out to the forefront. There were two Egyptian style columns near the entrance; and stone lintels over the windows added another design enhancement.  In 1907, Mayor James Smith  (who owned Whitehaven) authorized the construction of a driveway, fire escapes, a contagion wing, and a nurse's home at the facility. The next Mayor, Mayor Bailey, who was also a local physician, effected the addition of a new operating room, bacteriology laboratory, and obstetrical ward. As a result, in 1927, Riverside Hospital was recognized as a fully equipped community facility. In 1959, the Catholic Diocese of Owensboro, Kentucky bought the facility and renamed it Lourdes Hospital. In 1973, Lourdes moved to a new building on Lone Oak Road. The old Riverside Hospital building was used as a nursing home for a number of years before it was razed in very recent years.