Remembering a Hazen landmark
By Daniel Arens
From a hospital to a senior housing center, the Pioneer Park Home played a large role in Hazen’s history. Its legacy continues with the new Hazen Pioneer Apartments building that will occupy the site where this landmark building long stood.
In the Nov. 3 edition of the Hazen Star, we looked at the history of the building as the old hospital in town. This story looks at the story of the Pioneer Park Retirement Home.
Following the removal of the town’s hospital to its current location in eastern Hazen, the Hazen Memorial Hospital on the intersection of Main Street and 4th Ave. was refurbished as the Pioneer Park Retirement Home, opening in 1971.
For the next quarter of a century this facility served as the senior housing center in the community. It was not until 1997, when the new Senior Suites attached to the Sakakawea Medical Center was completed, that the iconic building ceased to be the home for senior citizens in town.
