Smith Hospital in Hahira will be but a memory by the end of August.

Demolition on the property, now owned by Citizens Community Bank, will involve all but the portion of the former hospital once used as a nursing home.

D.K. Hollis Jr., chairman of Citizens Community Bank and president of CCB Bancshares Inc., said the property was purchased from the City of Hahira more than a year and a half ago.

The bank acquired the 41,000-square-foot property in 2008 for $326,750.

The original plan was to use the former nursing home facility as office space for the bank, but Gold Leaf Technologies has requested the entire space, Hollis said.

Once the rest of the hospital is torn down, the area will remain vacant for the time being.

The bank had considered building a new facility there, maybe even a new bank, but in this economic climate, Hollis said, the endeavor would not be feasible at this time.

The structure that will soon be inhabited by Gold Leaf Technologies will undergo minor renovations. The inside of the facility will be painted and refurbished and carpet will be placed in the building, he said.

The air conditioning, electricity and plumbing are all in working order, Hollis said.

The facility had previously been used as a storage space after it was vacated by the hospital.

In 2002 the hospital was vacated when it moved to North Valdosta Road in Valdosta and became Smith Northview Hospital.

Though Hollis would still like to find space for an operations center for the bank, he said that he will go back to the drawing board and explore various options.

“I don’t want to build a complete new bank building right now,” Hollis said.

Hollis estimates that the portion of the building that is coming down now could date back 100 years or more.

The company doing the demolition is saving as much of the heart pine used in the facility as it can and recycling a lot of brick, concrete and metal.

The hospital was founded by Dr. Raymond Smith in 1943. The medical facility spent 60 years in the city of Hahira.

In a story published by The Valdosta Daily Times in 2005 local folklore said Smith was conducting a house call, and while traipsing through the freezing country air the idea of forming a hospital came to him.

In 1943, three houses on Hahira’s Main Street were purchased by Smith. He added a brick veneer and connected them with walkways, thus Smith Hospital was born.

Dr. Jesse Parrott would join the staff in 1949 and Dr. Russell Acree would take up residence at the hospital in 1964.