Dosher Memorial Hospital

Dosher Memorial Hospital is a non-profit, community hospital located in Southport, North Carolina. The hospital serves the township of Smithville (Southport, Bald Head Island, Caswell Beach, Oak Island, and The Players Club at St. James) and surrounding communities of Brunswick County. Opened on June 2 1930 as Brunswick County Hospital, the hospital changed its name in 1939 to J. Arthur Dosher Memoral Hospital to honor its chief surgeon, Dr. Julius Arthur Dosher.

Established as a township owned hospital under Article 2 of the NC General § 131-4, Dosher Memorial Hospital is overseen by a publicly elected Board of Trustees. The hospital is licensed for 36 acute and 64 skilled nursing beds, and focuses on outpatient surgeries and procedures. Dosher Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

Hospital tax
In 1976, Smithville Township voted 1,866 For and 344 Against to create a hospital tax district and to levy a 30-year tax of 4¢ per $100 assessed property valuation. This maneuver was intended to protect the hospital from hostile decisions by the county to close Dosher and build a new hospital in Supply, North Carolina. The election was challenged by opponents of the hospital but was allowed to stand by the North Carolina Supreme Court.

In July 1978, it was revealed that another election had to be held in order to make changes in the bond issue. The people of Smithville Township were asked to vote once more and passed a new $3.2 million bond issue with 1,790 in favor and 79 opposed.

The hospital tax expired in 2000 and the community was asked to renew the tax of 4¢ per $100 valuation for capital improvements, renovation, and new construction. Again, the community voted in favor of the tax.

Dr. Julius Arthur Dosher


On April 30 1878, Julius Arthur Dosher was born to Mary Ann Pinner and Julius Dosher of Southport, NC. Dr. Dosher graduated from the Maryland College of Pharmacy in 1900 and the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1903. He returned home from college to set up a medical practice. Later that year, he married Grace Kennard. They had one daughter, Little Grace.

In 1919 Dr. Dosher was named Acting Assistant Surgeon in the United States Public Health Service and served in Southport at the Quarantine Station, a position he held until he retired in 1937. Located on pilings in the Cape Fear on the shore of Bay Street across from the Brunswick Inn, the Quarantine Station was a shelter used for screening sailors aboard incoming ships. Dr. Dosher and his nurse treated sick sailors and disinfected the men and their vessels.

In 1936 Dr. Dosher was elected to the American College of Physicians and Surgeons, an honor comparable to the Distinguished Service Cross in the Army.

On January 10 1939 Dr. Dosher died at the age of 60 from complications related to pulmonary tuberculosis that he acquired in 1937.