Page 10 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

The history of Eloise (part 3)

This is part three of a multi-part the county, that the University of
complete history of the Wayne Michigan came out to study it. Up
County Poorhouse and Asylum, com- until 1887 the buildings were heated
monly known as Eloise. By 1880 the in winter by 59 wood stoves that the
population at the County house was inmates had to maintain and stoke.
307 people, with 224 being consid- They also had to go cut the wood and
ered "Permanent" for one reason or haul it back to the county house. In
another. In 1881 the county hired 1887 a steam plant was built and ra-
the first permanent on-site doctor, diators installed to make it safer and
Dr. E. O. Bennett. Bennett was part theory, ideas of cleanliness to pre- more efficient. A schoolhouse was
of a new generation of doctors using vent the spread of disease, and bet- also built to educate the population
science and new understandings of ter treatment and surroundings of of children and orphans at the
human anatomy to actually try to un- mental patients began to take hold. county house in 1880, though by
derstand and treat mental illness. The 1880s also saw a lot of new con- 1887 most of the children had been
The good doctor removed the shack- struction, with a new administration adopted out to local farm families
les and dim cells, improved condi- building being built in 1887 that and the school closed.
tions, did all the medical and housed a chapel, fire department, of- In 1894 the county house wanted
surgical work himself and had much fices, store and post office. In 1886 to get its own Post Office, and to do Eloise Dickerson and her St. Bernard
success treating people so they could a gas lighting plant was built to pro- so you had to pick a name that is not to spread in the local lingo to refer to
be released. Remember that up until vide light inside buildings, intended used anywhere else in the US. They the place, with the railroad stop
this point doctors would only stop in to end the use of Kerosine lamps for submitted numerous names, all re- eventually changing its name, and
if they happened to travel by, and lighting. jected. The board then submitted the the streetcar stop. Eventually the
there was really no attempt at curing In 1894 a state-of-the-art electric name of the chairman of the board, name became so synonymous with
patients. plant was built, and the buildings Freeman Dickerson's, four-year-old the place that Eloise became the offi-
The later 1800s in general saw a were wired for electricity. For refer- daughter, Eloise. The name was ac- cial name until 1945. The real Eloise
worldwide boom in science and tech- ence, Wayne didn’t even get electricity cepted, and the Eloise Post Office at Dickerson lived until 1982 and died
nology, and doctors were applying until 1908. The electric plant was so the county house opened July 20, at the age of 93. Follow along next
these new tools. Things like Germ advanced, only the second built in 1894. Slowly the name Eloise began month for more.

10 · September 2024 · The Wayne Dispatch