Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2014 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. =========================================================================== Report of the Board of State Commissioners For the General Supervision of Charitable, Penal, Pauper, and Reformatory Institutions. 1872-1873 (extract of instances of Newaygo County) [26] ...and one, Newaygo, a small shanty, without farm, in which two persons kept house; these appear to have been the only regular paupers in Newaygo county. =========================================================================== Report of the Board of State Commissioners For the General Supervision of Charitable, Penal, Pauper, and Reformatory Institutions. 1874-1875 [41] Newaygo. - The poorhouse is in good repair; the barn needs siding up. No facilities for bathing, except pails and tubs. Buildings warmed by stoves and wood fires. Ventilation, by doors and windows. Treatment of paupers: kind and humane. Food, the best the market affords. Clothing, good as needed for comfort. Our matron is a good nurse, and the sick have good care. No special accommodations for the insane and idiotic; good treatment is the rule in all cases. Children are sent to the Union School. We need a larger house, and better accommodations for bathing, ventilation, and accommodations for the insane and idiotic. =========================================================================== Joint Documents of the State of Michigan Vol. 2, 1899 [51] Newaygo. - [Superintendents have made no statement as to condition, hence we copy.] - Poor farm is located in the townships of Garfield and Sherman. Buildings in fair condition. No facilities for bathing. Buildings warmed by wood stoves and ventilated by doors and windows. Treatment of paupers is good. They have good, common food and com- fortable clothing. Care of the sick is good. No accommodations for the insane and idiotic. No children in poorhouse. =========================================================================== Abstract of the Reports Superintendents of the Poor State of Michigan, 1891 [42] Newaygo. - The poor farm is located in the townships of Sherman and Garfield. (Transcriber's Note: this is all that was written about the Newaygo County poor farm.) =========================================================================== Twenty-fifth Annual Abstract of the Reports of the Superintendents of the Poor in the State of Michigan. June 30, 1895 [49] Newaygo. - The poor farm is located in the townships of Sherman and Garfield, and contains 140 acres, 110 being under good cultiva- tion. Our poorhouse was originally a farm house, but we have built additions to it from time to time, and at present it is in very good repair. Have no special facilities for bathing. The buildings are warmed by wood stoves and ventilated by doors and windows. We have a good overseer, who has had charge of our county house for thirteen years, and the inmates are well treated in every respect. Food is good, consisting of bread, butter, meat, fish, tea, coffee, milk and all vegetables raised on the farm. Clothing good and comfortable, according to the seasons. The sick have proper medical treatment and proper attendants when necessary. Have no special accommodations for the insane and idiotic. The insane are always taken to the asylum. Children are kept in the poorhouse only long enough to prepare them for the State Public School. =========================================================================== Page 183 Biennial Report of the State Board of Corrections and Charities 1901-1902 NEWAYGO Poorhouse some two miles from Fremont - Originally a two story, frame farmhouse. The effort to adapt it to its present purpose has proved far from successful; it is inconvenient, lacks ventilation, has no bathing facilities, fire protection or fire escapes. The addition, made some two years ago, is no better equipped; its stairway is narrow and crooked. A detached building for the male paupers is in wretched condition, the floors are broken, the rooms are dirty, and the bed- steads are simply bunks of rough boards. =========================================================================== Page 142 Biennial Report of the State Board of Corrections and Charities 1907-1908 NEWAYGO Infirmary two miles from Fremont. A two story frame house recon- structed, not very satisfactorily to adapt it to present use; is in- convenient and lacks ventilation; has no proper bathing facilities, fire protection or fire escapes. The addition is equally faulty and has narrow, crooked stairways. =========================================================================== Biennial Report Michigan State Board of Corrections and Charities Vol. 23, 1916 [281] The situation relating to the Newaygo county infirmary was discussed, and Commissioned (sic) Loutit offered the following resolution: Whereas, it appears to the satisfaction of this Board that the county infirmary of the county of Newaygo is insanitary, is dangerous to the health of the inmates thereof, does not permit a proper separation and classification of inmates, and is wholly in- adequate for the purpose for which it is used, and Whereas, it is the further opinion of this Board that the con- ditions aforesaid can properly be remedied by the construction of a new and adequate building, or the procurement thereof, by said county of Newaygo, Therefore, be it resolved, That notice be served upon the county clerk of Newaygo county in accordance with the statute in such case made and provided, conveying our opinion as above indicated as to the conditions now deemed to exist, and the further opinion that a new building or department shall be provided for use as a county infirmary. Be it Further Resolved that such conditions shall be remedied and said new building provided on or before the first day of Sept- ember, A. D., 1917. Be it Further Resolved that the Secretary of this Board, and he hereby is instructed to send a copy of this resolution embodied in a notice to the county clerk of said county. STEWART HANLEY, Acting Chairman M. T. MURRAY Secretary =========================================================================== Proceedings of the 14th Annual Convention of the State Association of Superintendents of Poor and Keepers of County Infirmaries Held at the Court House, Flint, Mich., September 11, 12, 13, 1917 [99-100] Secretary Conrad: Newaygo County (calling for a report) Mr. Fry: I don't know hardly what to say. I attended the Association last year, together with my colleague, who has since resigned from the Board, and when he was here he did this job himself; but if you hear from Newaygo county, I have got to say something. We live about 40 miles north of Grand Rapids, on the Muskegon river, right in a little valley, and we are surrounded with very pro- ductive land. I had one of the greatest compliments paid me last evening. One of our delegates here - I think he is in the room - hunted me out and wanted to know where I lived. I told him I lived in the valley, right in Newaygo. "Well," he says, "I am unfortunate enough to own 160 acres of land about five miles east of Newaygo," so you see our recommendation is good. However, we are not as bad off as Muskegon county yet, we are not so poor, because they have more poor people than we have. We have at present about 27 inmates in our little home. You have, undoubtedly, heard about the trouble we are having over our infirmary, some of you. It has been a jangle there for a good many years, and in order to complete the job our Secretary of Corrections and Charities kindly stepped in and helped us out. He came there and told us we had to build a new infirmary. That had been up before the people a good many times and they always voted it down. About three years ago they served notice on the board of supervisors that they should not occupy it any longer unless they made some pro- vision to repair it, in some way to make it so that it was sanitary and such a building as they would accept. Well, it ran along until last fall, I think it was, and the board came up there from Lansing, and I think they brought a part of the State Board of Health with them. Well, things didn't smell right, nor didn't look right, so they served notice on the county, I believe on the clerk of the county, that something had to be done, and unless the citizens of Newaygo county should vote to appropriate enough to build an infirmary they were going to take the inmates out and have them taken care of some- where else. So that set the fellows to thinking. Well, the proposi- tion was put up to the people and it was carried, and now we have got a hole in the ground for the basement; the basement is not all in yet. The contract says it shall be completed by the first of January, but owing to the scarcity of labor and this war proposition, it will hardly be completed; but, however, we have been granted a little lee- way; we are to do the best we can and get it in as soon as we can. We have now an average of about 25 to 27. Twenty-seven fills us up pretty thoroughly. Our building in the first place was a farm build- ing, and it has been added to; it is all wood, low ceilings, and it is a dangerous institution. After reading of that awful thing that hap- pened in Grand Rapids, I tell you we began to examine ourselves a little. Our lighting system is the "John D. Rockefeller" system. Every man that has a match and a pipe, you have just got to trail him around and see if he has not left something which is liable to cause a fire. Our inmates are mostly all old; why, we have had several patients there that were 92 and 93 years old and just ready to topple right over in the grave; they just lived. Of course, they have pro- nounced it unsanitary; but, believe me, we never had a disease or a contagion ever start from that institution, bad as it was. But it ain't the thing for an infirmary. Well, I am not going to take up your time. This is a sort of class-meeting and we want everybody to say something. =========================================================================== Biennial Report Michigan State Board of Corrections and Charities Vol. 24, 1917-1918 [213-214] A report was received from Prof. Edward D. Rich, State Sanitary Engineer, relating to the Newaygo county infirmary. The situation was fully discussed, after which Commissioner Loutit offered the following resolution: WHEREAS, It has been made to appear to this Board that the notice and order of August 2, 1916, with reference to the county infirmary of the county of Newaygo, has not been complied with, and that the time for compliance therewith has elapsed. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that said infirmary be, and the same is, condemned and its use as a county infirmary, or for the sheltering of inmates committed thereto under the laws of the state relating to the care of poor and indigent persons be, and the same is, forbidden and prohibited. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the secretary be and he hereby is in- structed to serve upon the proper authorities of Newaygo county in accordance with the statute in such case made and provided an order of condemnation of said county infirmary, which said order shall be in the following form and which is a part of this resolution: ORDER OF CONDEMNATION OF THE NEWAYGO COUNTY INFIRMARY WHEREAS, It has heretofore been determined by this Board that the county infirmary of the county of Newaygo was and is insanitary, dangerous to the health of the inmates, incapable of permitting a proper separation and classification of inmates, and wholly inadequate for the purpose for which it was and is used; and WHEREAS, It was the opinion of this board as aforesaid that said conditions might be remedied only by the construction of a new and adequate building or the procurement thereof by said county; and WHEREAS, Due notice was served upon the proper authorities in the premises by filing the same with the county clerk of said county on, to-wit: the second day of August, A.D., 1916, in which said notice the determination and the opinion of the Board as aforesaid was contained and set forth, and whereby it was ordered, directed and required that the conditions aforesaid should be remedied and said new buildings constructed or procured on or before the first day of September, A.D. 1917; and WHEREAS, It is now made to appear to this Board that said notice and order have not been complied with by the proper authorities of the county of Newaygo, and that the conditions aforesaid have not been remedied, and that no new building has been constructed or procured by said county for use as a county infirmary: Now, therefore, By virtue of the authority vested in this Board by statute and pur- suant to resolution of said Board, it is hereby ordered that the said county infirmary of the county of Newaygo be, and the same is, hereby condemned, and the use of said building as a county infirmary for the said county in any matter whatsoever, or for the sheltering and care of inmates placed therein under the statute of this state relating to the care of poor and indigent persons is hereby forbidden and prohibited. Dated at Detroit, Michigan, this twenty-fifth day of October, A.D. 1917. State Board of Corrections and Charities, By M. T. Murray. I hereby approve the above order of condemnation of the Newaygo county infirmary. Albert E. Sleeper, Governor of Michigan. Dated at Lansing, Michigan, this 2d day of November, A.D. 1917. On motion of Commissioner Fisher the resolution was adopted. =========================================================================== 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/ ===========================================================================