Harrison House Childcare Center Set To Open by End of Year
By JOSHUA YOUNGQUISTCOOPERSTOWN
Bassett Healthcare Network’s long anticipated Harrison House Childcare Center is nearing completion, with leaders expecting the facility to open before the end of 2026. The project, made possible through a major partnership with The Clark Foundation, aims to address longstanding childcare gaps that affect both families and the healthcare workforce across the region.
Before the ribbon cutting on September 26, representatives from Bassett, The Clark Foundation, and the Cullman Child Development Center gathered with community members and the Mulhern family to reflect on the building’s history and future. The center is named for the original Harrison House, home of Dr. Francis F. Harrison, whose 37 year career at Bassett helped define rural healthcare in Otsego County.
“Dr. Harrison never lost sight of how important the delivery of quality rural healthcare is in this region,” said Jane Forbes Clark, president of The Clark Foundation and chair of Bassett Medical Center’s Board of Directors. “His family, his property, his house, his dedication to rural healthcare…are all so strongly intertwined.”
The new childcare center, to be located on Bassett’s Coopertown campus at 1 Beaver Street, replicates the historic exterior of the Harrison House, a detail deeply meaningful to the Mulhern family.
