Page 14 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

The history of Eloise continued (part 7)

This is part 7 of a multi-part his-
tory of the Wayne County Poorhouse
and Asylum, commonly known as
Eloise. In the height of the Depres-
sion, it was decided that the county
house after being an asylum, poor-
house, and sanitarium for tuberculo-
sis would also become a full-fledged
general hospital. In 1931 the old
poorhouse building, mostly built ceutical companies to test new drugs
around the turn of the century, and treatments. In 1931, "D" build-
would be renovated into the first ing, the Kay Beard Building, was
Wayne County General Hospital. It built to house offices and some men-
took the name William J. Seymour tal patient wards. This is the build- Patients participate in Music Therapy at Eloise. Photo courtesy of The Wayne Historical Musueum
Hospital, named after the medical ing that still survives today as the height of activity, patient numbers juries and handicaps that needed
superintendent at the time that haunted attraction on Michigan Av- and some might say quality of care care, therapies and treatments,
pushed for the hospital. A new floor enue. given at Eloise. The state, ever since while many returned with the invisi-
was added, as well as operating As part of the WPA program of the mid-1800s still hadn't been pay- ble injuries we know of today. Things
rooms and patient wards. This getting people working during the de- ing their fair share of the cost of like PTSD were little understood,
would be the only major hospital be- pression a new theater and assembly housing mental patients that should called "Shell Shock" at the time, and
tween Detroit and Ann Arbor, and hall was built from 1938-1940. This have been at state facilities. In the many soldiers found that they could
would also serve as a teaching hospi- building, called Gruber Auditorium, 1930s it cost $1.06 per day to house not integrate back into their normal
tal for doctors and nurses from could seat 700 and was used for a patient, and the state was only pay- lives here due to the things they had
Wayne State, Michigan State and movies, live shows, lectures and reli- ing $.95, leaving county tax dollars seen. Many ended up at Eloise in the
other local medical colleges. gious services. It was named for Dr. to pay the difference. This gap grew asylum side, the buildings had a ca-
Many doctors and nurses in the T.K. Gruber who at Eloise pioneered exponentially over the next twenty pacity of 2,600, but by the end of the
local area got their training and clin- the use of music therapy for psychi- years as costs grew wildly. war there were over 4,000 crammed
icals at Eloise at the beginning of atric patients, a technique still In the 1940s Eloise saw another in. Cracks were beginning to form at
their careers. The hospital would widely used today. huge influx of patients due to WW2. Eloise. Check in next month for the
also be a testing hospital for pharma- The 1930s and 40s was the Many returning GI's had physical in- continuation of the series.

14 · January 2025 · The Wayne Dispatch