Complex
gets historical marker
Eloise, a
former poorhouse and asylum that became one of the largest U.S. public health
care facilities, has earned Westland a state historic marker.
Reduced now to
just two buildings, Eloise once sprawled for 902 acres on both sides of
Michigan Avenue between Merriman and Henry Ruff roads. It housed 10,000
patients and employed 2,000 workers in the late 1920s.
"It was
huge," said Westland historian Jo Johnson, president of Friends of Eloise.
She announced
this week that the Michigan Historical Commission has approved a state historic
marker for the Eloise site, which once had 75 buildings and its own farm,
cannery, bakery, cemetery, employee housing, police and fire departments, and
trolley and train stations.
Started in 1839
as a poorhouse where people who couldn't support themselves were sent, Eloise
helped make a name for Wayne County because the facility was the only one in
the state with a medical complex that included a general hospital, infirmary
and asylum, Johnson said.
Eloise doctors
pioneered the use X-rays for diagnostic purposes, and psychiatric patients
underwent such treatment as "electroshock."
Author Patricia
Ibbotson charted Eloise's history in Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm, Asylum and
Hospital 1839-1984, a book that Johnson said helped raise more than $3,000
needed to order the state marker. Ibbotson worked in nursing at Eloise.
Friends of
Eloise this week will send a check to the state to order the historic marker,
and a dedication is expected in the spring.
Johnson, who
has helped compile Eloise's history, welcomed recent news that a state marker
had been approved. She considers it an important milestone.
"I feel
that most all of what's left of Eloise will be gone eventually, and it did
impact so many people," she said.
Even now, an
old smokestack on the site is being slowly dismantled.
"That smokestack stands out like a trooper,"
Johnson said Monday, addressing city officials during a Westland City Council
meeting.
Johnson
receives inquiries most weeks from people who either spent time at Eloise or
who had relatives that did.
"It's just
unbelievable," she said.
More than 7,100
patients are buried in the Eloise cemetery -- their graves marked only by
numbered blocks. Not everyone believes it, but some ghost hunters say that
certain areas of Eloise are haunted, such as the fourth floor of a building
named after current Wayne County Commissioner Kay Beard.
This week,
Westland historian Ruth Dale noted that the Eloise historic marker is one of
two recently approved for Westland's south end. The other is for Annapolis
Park, a neighborhood that became one of the first U.S. suburbs to welcome
African-American homeowners in the 1950s.
The historic
markers will become the only ones ever approved for Westland's south end, she
said, making the summer of 2006 significant. In all, Dale said, the city has
eight historic markers.
Meanwhile,
Johnson said anyone who wants to order Ibbotson's book about Eloise may call
her at (734) 522-3918. The cost is $20 plus $1.59 for shipping.
dclem@hometownlife.com | (734)
953-2110
Originally published September 21, 2006