Page 12 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

1883 County Poor house. Photo courtesy of Burton Historical collection online images
The history of Eloise (part 2)

This is part two of a multi-part son (1864-1872). Up until this point places and left to wither away.
complete history of the Wayne everyone lived together at the county For a long time, it was considered
County Poorhouse and Asylum, later poorhouse, babies, elderly, poor, in- an embarrassment to have a child or
known as Eloise. After the first 35 sane, handicapped, etc. sibling with mental or physical defor-
people arrived in 1839 the popula- By the time of the Civil War there mities, and up until the 1950s it was
tion at the county house steadily were so many people living there that common practice to abandon these
grew. The former Torbert farm came it had become unbearable for the relatives at state and county asylums.
with a barn, two oxen and some sane inmates. In 1868 the county We also have several accounts in the
seeds so the able bodied were tasked built a separate brick asylum build- archives at the museum of babies
with creating a working farm. The 1858 due to the rapid growth hap- ing for the insane, separating them being left in a basket on the
idea was that the county house could pening in the county. out of the general population. This doorstep, perhaps born out of wed-
be self-sufficient, growing their own In 1865 a keeper’s residence was was 10 years after the first state asy- lock or to unwilling parents.
food and offsetting the cost, which built in front of the dormitory, mark- lum opened in Kalamazoo, but the The county house was also inte-
was paid for by Wayne County tax ing the first time the keeper lived on state only wanted women patients grated racially at first, but due to ris-
dollars. site full time. Before this the keepers and only those they deemed "cur- ing tensions around the civil war era,
By 1843 the old log cabin was would only be there during the day able". In this time there was still no a separate wooden building was built
sold for $2 and removed, and a new and go home to their own farms at understanding of mental illness or for Black inmates and was used
larger brick dormitory building was night. Remember that these keepers disorders, it was thought that these from around 1858-1880. After this
built on its site. This building was were just average local farmers who peoples fits and behaviors were a re- the county house was integrated
78x36 feet and had a basement with had their own farms to tend to. sult of a moral or religious issue with again. The pictures show the county
two cells and chains attached to the Some notable keepers from Wayne their soul. There were no medica- poorhouse and asylum as it looked
walls for the drunk and unruly. This include Ammon Brown (1839-41, tions, therapies or attempts to cure, around 1880. Follow along next
building was enlarged in 1856 and 1844-46) and Bradshaw Hodgkin- many were just put away in these month for the continuation.

12 · August 2024 · The Wayne Dispatch