In the early 1900s, Jefferson County was severely stricken with an outbreak of tuberculosis. There were many tuberculosis cases in Louisville at the time because of all the wetlands along the Ohio River, which were perfect for the tuberculosis bacteria. In the early part of 1911, the city of Louisville began to make preparations to build a new Louisville City Hospital. n August 31, 1912, all tuberculosis patients from the City Hospital were relocated to temporary quarters in tents on the grounds of Waverly Hills pending the completion of a hospital for advanced cases. In December 1912 a hospital for advanced cases opened for the treatment of another 40 patients. In 1914 a children's pavilion added another 50 beds making the known "capacity" around 130 patients. The tunnel was an entrance and exit for the workers of the sanatorium. It was built on the first floor with the rest of the building. The corridor is 500 feet to the bottom of the hill and has a set of stairs on one side, which were the stairs used for the workers. However, at the peak of the disease, the sight of the dead being carried away through the tunnel lowered the patient morale, increasing the number of deaths per day. Therefore, the sanatorium tried transporting the dead bodies as secretively as possible to increase the morale and lower the death rates. -info from wikipedia