Bennington celebrates local hospital’s centennial

The first graduating class from the new School for Attendant Nurses poses on the Putnam Memorial Hospital campus in 1948. Photo courtesy of “A Century of Caring.”
BENNINGTON — The story of Bennington’s hospital, which is marking its centennial this year, can be traced to mid-1800s California, where a young entrepreneur named Henry Putnam started building his fortune by selling bottled drinking water to those who had journeyed west in search of gold.
With an expanding busi