Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2017 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== A History of the Northern Peninsula of Michigan, Vol. I by Alvah L. Sawyer Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago - 1911 [401-402] UPPER PENINSULA INSANE HOSPITAL About a mile and a half south of Newberry is the imposing collection of buildings which stands for the Upper Peninsula Hospital for the Insane and is the only institution of the kind in the state built on the cottage plan. Its administration building is large and imposing in its simplicity, as is shown in the illustration, and, with the fourteen cottages in which the patients find their homes, almost forms a large quadrangle; the figure will be complete, as noted beneath the view given, when the original plan has been perfected. The buildings, farm and unimproved lands owned by the state and devoted to this purpose, now cover an area of 680 acres, or forty acres more than a square mile. The interior of the quad- rangle around which the administration building, amusement hall and cottages are built is perhaps 800 by 500 feet, and the structures are connected by a long porch, so that the visitor may visit every room in the hospital without going out of doors. The lofty, picturesque site of the hospital is ideal. It is far enough removed from all city noises as to be a place of quiet and rest; the air is pure and bracing and patients are supplied with the purest of artesian water. A macadamized road leads from Newberry to the institu, and the roads about the hospital are well kept, and the grounds adjacent to the buildings are tastefully planted with rose bushes, hedges, plants and shrubbery. Eight of the cottages are occupied by the male patients (484 in number) and six by the women (340). In pleasant weather, all patients not incapacitated are taken for exercise, a walk of a mile or two daily being found sufficient to keep them in good health. In inclement weather the connecting porches are used for promenades. Many amusements are provided. The men have their billiard tables, checker boards and other games; the women, phonographs, music boxes, etc. Each week the hospital band gives a concert; weekly dances are also held; and occasionally a theatrical troupe gives a performance for their benefit. The well cultivated hospital farm produces the vegetables used by the patients, as well as the hay, grain and fodder for the large herd of Holstein cattle and drove of hogs, which the hospital maintains for milk and meat. The hogs are kept in a cement building and the cattle barns have cement floors and troughs; so that their quarters are cleaner than many houses. The milkers don white clothes and keep them under lock and key when not in use. As many patients as are physically fit are given employment on the farm and about the barns and laundry, experience having proven that this is conducive to better health, keeps them con- tented and aids their recovery. An obseiver facetiously adds: "Many of them are good workers, and others give evidence of their sanity by shirking all the labor possible." There is a conservatory which provides plants for the flower beds about the grounds in summer; also a deer park, with a herd of deer, that is a source of great delight to the patients. It is needless to say that this splendid institution, which has the care of these eight hundred unfortunates, does not run itself, and, without mentioning names, too much cannot be said in commendation of the faithfulness and skill of the admini- stration officers and the fine corps of attending physicians and trained nurses. About $140,000 are anually expended in the maintenance of the hospital, and the value of the property is about $600,000. The state legislature of 1893 fixed upon the location of the Upper Hospital near Newberry, and in 181)4 the erection of the buildings was commenced on a 560-acre tract donated by the Peninsula Land Company and the people of Luce county. The insti- tution was opened for patients November 1, 1895, the first to be received being transferred from the hospital at Traverse City. =========================================================================== If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access more of our growing collection of FREE online information by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/ ===========================================================================