USA > Michigan > Genesee County > History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions, Volume I > Part 87
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
wrapped in cloths, did the work of running off and caring for the lye, which was manufactured into potash.
Later on he became interested with Flint P. Smith in the saw-mill and together they erected some twenty dwelling houses in the city.
He was one of the earliest stockholders in the W. A. Paterson carriage factory, and later helped to organize the Union Trust and Savings Bank, of which he was a director for some years.
He was a shrewd and careful business man who pointedly expressed his opinions and neither gave nor cared to receive flattery.
He later invested his money in bank stock and bonds and mortgages so that when he passed away; there was little, if any, shrinkage in his investments.
He was a man who was kind-hearted and liberal, gave to the poor, not ostentatiously, but in a quiet and reserved manner. His life, although known to but few, was char- acteristic of the manner in which he disposed of his property at the time of his death, wherein he not only remembered the city, but all the churches, many of the poor and his old employees.
His wife, who died a few years before him, was a woman of most lovable char- acter and sweet disposition, and their home was one of the most pleasant in the city, where they enjoyed entertaining their friends in a simple, yet hospitable manner.
On October 10, 1907, just two weeks previous to the laying of the corner stone, the treasurer of the hospital board received from the executrix of the will of James J. Hurley the following cash and property in settlement of the bequest : Cash, $44,261.05 ; land contracts, $2,380.00; real estate (includ- ing the hospital site at a valuation of $5,000), $6,970.00; a total of $53,611.05. Later, this sum was augmented by interest payments and profits on sale of real estate, to $54,974.92.
Mr. and Mrs. Hurley were of the Catholic faith, and their charities and benefactions extended along many lines.
It was through the philanthropy of James J. Hurley that Flint's munici- pal hospital was founded; but many other public-spirited citizens have fol- lowed his good example and have contributed various sums to increase its usefulness and capacity. The following is a complete list of donations to Hurley Hospital up to July 1, 1916:
Total realized from the James J. Hurley estate, including interest
and rents and including the land at a valuation of $5,000.00 as it
appears on the hospital books.
54,974.92
Total realized up to July 1, 1916, from the Stockdale estate (in- cluding interest on certificates of deposit) 46,852.03
Woman's auxiliary board (including gifts of linen, etc.)
5,439.56
Crapo estate (Woman's Ward Memorial Addition)
5,601.32
Buick charity ball
247.96
Presbyterian church
21.86
Westminster Guild
67.97
Mrs. George M. Dewey (for elevator)
1.145.00
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Union thanksgiving collections
13.64
First Congregational church
5.81
Flint Vehicle Workers Mutual Benefit Association 200.00
Fred A. Aldrich (for purchase of instruments)
1,000.00
Dr. W. J. Kay
50.54
Estate Adele Youngs 200.00
Dr. J. C. Willson (furnishing nurses' home)
1,000.00
N. J. Berston, Sr. (eye, ear, nose and throat room)
406.70
J. D. Dort 1,500.00
G. D. Flanders (piano) 135.00
Charles S. Mott
15,026.45
Total
$133,888.76
The names of many citizens and organizations making contributions to the hospital do not appear in this list, as their donations are included in the amount credited to the woman's auxiliary board. Among the larger donations given through this channel, however, are the following :
J. D. Dort $1,000.00
F. P. Smith 100.00
W. O. Smith 500.00
E. W. Atwood 100.00
Matthew Davison 100.00
Edward Manierre
100.00
Westminster Guild (Presbyterian church) 100.00
First Baptist church
100.00
Court Street Methodist Episcopal church
100.00
African Methodist Episcopal church.
125.78
Loyal Guard 100.00
Ladies of the Maccabees 100.00
Vehicle Club
100.00
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
100.00
In addition to donations and bequests as listed above, there appears on the balance sheet of Hurley Hospital an item of $11,925.08 to the credit of the "J. D. Dort Guarantee Account," and thereby hangs a tale. The records of the hospital board show that when the board lacked funds to complete payments on building and equipment, Mr. Dort guaranteed and later advanced money to pay bills amounting to $14,500.00, the same to be reimbursed to him out of future donations which the board might find available for such purposes. Up to this time only $2,574.92 has been repaid to Mr. Dort, he in the meantime having contributed to the hospital land valued at $1,500, on which the new isolation cottage has been built. At the time the last pay- ment from the Stockdale estate was received by the board, it was suggested to Mr. Dort that there might not be another opportunity in many years for
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the board to repay his loan. "Never mind," he said to the one mentioning the matter to him. "We need a maternity ward and we must increase our capacity in other directions-let the loan stand."
Leaving out of consideration the Stockdale bequest (of which a short explanation later ), the largest private contribution to Hurley Hospital, next to that of its founder, has been made by Charles S. Mott, through whose generosity the fine new isolation cottage has mainly been built.
A history of Hurley Hospital would be incomplete without some ref- erence to Mrs. Mary Stockdale, whose will was filed for probate on April 26, 1905. This will was contested, but an agreement was made between the attorneys for the several beneficiaries under the will probated and the city of Flint and Walter S. White and wife, beneficiaries under an alleged lost will. This agreement was reached after the case had dragged through the courts for several years.
The following sums finally reached the treasury of the hospital board from the Stockdale estate: January 26, 1911, $26,614.00; December 15, 1913, $17,702.43; March 8, 1915, $683.57; total, $45.000.00.
The first amount paid over to the board was used in building the nurse's home and in raising the west wing. The other amounts are still in the treasury drawing interest.
On February 13, 1913, there was organized an association of women, banded together for the avowed purpose of building a "Maternity Hospital and Children's Home," the women composing this association being the same women who were formerly officers and members of the Woman's Auxiliary Hospital Association, which had disbanded on October 18, 1912, the object for which they had originally organized having been fulfilled. The new organization was officered as follows: Mrs. F. P. Smith, president; Mrs. I. M. Eldridge, secretary ; Mrs. B. F. Cotharin, treasurer; Mrs. F. D. Lane, first vice-president; Mrs. Truman Medbury, second vice-president; Mrs. W. E. Martin, third vice-president.
A committee of these women had conferred with the hospital board at the hospital on the day before their organization meeting and discussed with them the feasibility of building a maternity hospital near enough to Hurley Hospital to be operated by the same management and heated from the same power plant. On March 7, 1913, representatives of the two boards met for an informal conference with Mayor Mott, as ex-officio member of the hospital board in attendance and Miss Schill, superintendent of the hos- pital, and a committee from the Genesee County Medical Society also pres- ent. After very earnest discussion, it was decided that the new hospital
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
should be built as a unit of Hurley Hospital and that it should be owned, operated and controlled by the board of hospital managers, who agreed to use the funds due from the Stockdale estate for the purpose of building this addition, the ladies agreeing to furnish equipment. This project is now being carried to completion.
As soon as it was decided to add the maternity unit to Hurley Hospital, the managers of that institution immediately began laying plans for the future. They realized that before any more buildings could be added to their plant as it then was, heating facilities must be increased and laundry machinery and boilers removed from the main building to make room for enlarged kitchens, dining rooms, etc.
The money necessary for all these changes, which included the build- ing of the present splendid power plant, was raised by taxation in the regu- lar routine manner as provided by the charter amendment of 1907. Chapter XXVIII of the amended charter deals with hospitals, confers certain powers upon the board of hospital managers and imposes certain duties upon them. It makes specific provision for the raising of adequate funds for hospital purposes through taxation revenue.
Section 7 of chapter XXVIII reads in part as follows :
In addition to all other taxes authorized to be raised by the city of Flint, and in addition to any sum or sums of money that the board of hospital managers may receive from fees, gifts, donations or otherwise, the common council shall have the power, and may cause to be raised annually by a tax upon the real and personal property within the city of Flint, such sum as may be deemed necessary, not exceeding one mill on a dollar, of the valuation of the real and personal property within said city, according to the valuation thereof, as shown by the last preceding assessment rolls, as reviewed and equalized. which sum, when raised, shall be used for the purpose of paying the cost and expense of maintaining hospitals, and for no other purpose. The amount to be used for hospital purposes shall be determined by a detailed estimate of the requirements therefor, to be furnished annually by the board of hospital managers to the common council, on the last Monday in February, and approved by the common council, and the sum so determined upon shall be approved and voted to be raised by the common council at the same time and in the same manner as is provided by the charter of the city of Flint for the raising of the annual tax levy of said city, and the same shall be levied, spread and collected at the same time and in the same manner as other taxes.
Special donations for special purposes, amounting in all to $4,625.60, were made by the city to the hospital prior to October, 1908, but since that date regular appropriations have been received from the city, the amounts varying in size according to the special needs of the institutions as outlined by the board in their annual budget presented to the common council each spring, according to charter requirement.
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Besides the special donations referred to as coming from the city, cash payments, up to July 1, 1916, have been received as follows :
October
26, 1908
$ 5,831.18
February
27, 1909
147.24
August
16, 1909
5,500.00
October
26, 1909
5,000.00
February
28, 1910
3,600.00
August
20, 1911
9,000.00
March
18, 1912
5,888.79
September
28, 1912
5,700.00
February
24, 1913
442.31
August
20, 1913
5,000.00
December 18, 1913
1,000.00
February
14, 1914
252.65
February
28, 1914
5,000.00
September 15, 1914
19,167.63
November
13, 1914
686.88
February
15, 1915
590.44
February
25, 1915
391.17
February
27, 1915
378.65
March
24, 1915
64.84
April
9. 1915
183.67
April
12, 1915
412.89
April
30, 1915
5.05
June
15, 1916
601.51
July
14, 1915
275.00
August
7, 1915
400.00
October
26, 1915
3,995.40
February
29, 1916
287.48
March
31, 1916
46.07
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The taxation revenue appropriated by the council for 1916 is $42,- 835.00. This large amount was made necessary by the great increase in the cost of building materials making it impossible to erect with funds remain- ing from the Stockdale bequest structures of adequate size to serve as a maternity ward and an addition to the nurses' home.
In common with all other public institutions in Flint, the hospital has constantly suffered from over-crowded conditions, never being able to keep pace with the growth of the city. However, the board has worked heroically to meet the situation constantly confronting them and has had at all times the hearty support and co-operation of the common council. In addition to the management of Hurley Hospital, the board of hospital managers also managed a small detention hospital, built by the city in 1910 for the care of contagious diseases. This property will be abandoned and sold in the fall of 1916, when the new isolation cottage is opened.
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809
GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
In I911 the board received a communication from the council asking them to purchase land on the south side of Sixth avenue, between Patrick and Prospect streets, to be used as a site for a hospital for the segregation and treatment of tuberculosis cases. The land was purchased, but it is unlikely that it will ever be used for the purpose for which it was originally intended. Lying so close to the hospital, however, it will probably be retained by the board for future needs. The land has greatly increased in value since it was bought for $2,850.
Some changes have occurred in the personnel of the hospital board since its organization in 1905. But two original members, J. D. Dort and W. E. Martin, still serve. Rev. Dr. Lippincott acted from 1905 to 1910, when he received reappointment. His removal from the city, in December, 1912, made his resignation necessary and E. W. Atwood was appointed to succeed him. Since March, 1913, Mr. Atwood has been secretary of the board. George D. Flanders, appointed in 1906, has continued on the board since that time, having served several terms as president. E. D. Black resigned in May, 1914, to accept a place on the city park commission. Edward S. Lee was then appointed and proved a valuable member, but, after serving fifteen months, resigned and gave place to Dr. Orson Millard. The five members constituting the board at this time are: George D. Flanders, president ; Edwin W. Atwood, secretary ; William E. Martin, treasurer ; J. Dallas Dort and Orson Millard.
Hurley Hospital was opened for the reception of patients on December 19, 1908, and since then up to July 1, 1916, there have been 7,164 persons treated there. A hospital commission, consisting of the health officer of the city, the commissioner of the poor and one other citizen appointed by the mayor, determine who are eligible for treatment in the hospital at city expense. Under the uniform accounting system of the city, bills are rendered to the city poor commissioner each month, and the hospital receives cash payments from the poor fund for these charity patients.
Dr. James C. Willson, up to the time of his death, in 1912, acted on this hospital commission. He was succeeded by William Beacraft.
Hurley Hospital has had three able superintendents. Mary B. Hall, who acted in an advisory capacity before the hospital was completed, served for one year thereafter. Alice M. Grigg, who succeeded Miss Hall, served until 1910, when Anna M. Schill succeeded to the superintendency.
A training school, organized in 1909, is operated in connection with Hurley Hospital, its graduates now numbering twenty-eight. The training course was in the beginning made a two and one-half-year course, but by
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vote of the board in May, 1913, it was changed to a three-year course from that time.
The accounting system of Hurley Hospital is part of the uniform sys- tem installed by the city of Flint in March, 1913. It is under the direct supervision of the city comptroller, to whom the board of hospital managers make each month a detailed report of receipts and expenditures for the pre- ceding month, and at the end of each year the hospital books are examined by certified public accountants engaged to audit the accounts of all city departments.
OAK GROVE HOSPITAL.
One of the leading sanitariums in America is located in Flint. It is recognized by the most eminent men of the medical profession as a hospital, conducted along special lines, which has no superior in the entire community. The buildings and grounds are unsurpassed.
Oak Grove Hospital, formerly Oak Grove Sanitarium, was organized under the laws of Michigan as Oak Grove Corporation in 1891, its object being the founding and administration of a thoroughly modern hospital for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases and of alcohol and drug addic- tion. Associated in the incipiency of the movement were James A. Remick and W. G. Vinton, of Detroit; Charles T. Mitchell, of Hillsdale, Michigan; and Dr. George C. Palmer, then superintendent of the Michigan asylum for the insane, at Kalamazoo.
The sixty-five-acre grove of native oaks located near the eastern out- skirts of Flint was selected for a site. This grove is now probably the last remaining oak clearing in Michigan. It had been preserved by Governor Henry H. Crapo, his intention being to build therein a mansion.
The practical founder of the hospital was James A. Remick, of Detroit, who had served as a member of the board of trustees of the eastern Mich- igan asylum at Pontiac. The original buildings were erected by the Vinton Company, of Detroit, whose president, W. G. Vinton, was also president of the board of trustees of the eastern Michigan asylum. Mr. Vinton succeeded Justice H. B. Brown as president of Oak Grove Corporation, and was him- self succeeded by George B. Remick, of Detroit. Mr. Remick died in 1913, and was succeeded by Dr. W. H. Sawyer, of Hillsdale, a regent of the Uni- versity of Michigan. The original stockholders included James A. Remick, W. G. Vinton, G. J. Vinton, George B. Remick and Thomas Pitts, of Detroit; C. T. Mitchell, of Hillsdale; William L. Smith and William Hamil- ton, of Flint.
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Dr. George C. Palmer was elected the first medical director of Oak Grove and died on August 8, 1894. During Doctor Palmer's illness Dr. W. L. Worcester was elected acting medical director. He was succeeded, in November, 1894, by Dr. C. B. Burr, the present able incumbent, who previously had spent eleven years as assistant physician and assistant super- intendent, and five years as medical superintendent of the eastern Michigan asylum, at Pontiac.
The staff of the hospital is composed of two physicians aside from the medical director. Those who have served Oak Grove as assistant physician or assistant medical director since its organization are: Dr. Wadsworth Warren, of Detroit; Dr. H. R. Niles, now of the Michigan school for the deaf, of Flint; Dr. C. B. Macartney, of Thorold, Ontario; Dr. F. B. Miner, of Flint; Dr. C. P. Clarke, of Flint; Dr. J. A. Elliott, of Battle Creek, Michigan; Dr. E. R. Johnstone, of Bancroft, Michigan; Dr. H. L. Trenkle, of the Pontiac state hospital; Dr. Samuel Butler, of the Pontiac state hos- pital; Dr. Homer E. Clarke, formerly of the Pontiac state hospital; Dr. P. M. Crawford, of Chicago; Dr. G. K. Pratt, of Flint.
The site, original buildings and equipment cost in the neighborhood of one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars, thirty-five thousand dollars of which was met by the issue of bonds. In 1895 Noyes Hall, containing billiard rooms, assembly hall, gymnasium, bowling alley, electrical room, and hydrotherapeutic rooms, was completed from funds in part provided by the request of Dr. James F. Noyes, of Detroit, and in part from the revenue of the hospital.
Oak Grove Hospital is ideally located and its spacious grounds include tennis courts, golf links, bowling greens and beautiful walks and drives.
The present board of directors includes: President, W. H. Sawyer, M. D., Hillsdale, Michigan; vice-president, Jerome H. Remick, Detroit; treasurer, Walter O. Smith, Flint : secretary, C. B. Burr, Flint ; C. M. Begole, Flint; Henry M. Hurd, M. D., Baltimore, Maryland; H. R. Niles, M. D., Flint ; E. A. Christian, M. D., Pontiac, Michigan ; Stanford T. Crapo, Detroit ; C. B. Macartney, Thorold, Ontario; medical director, C. B. Burr, Flint; assistant medical director, Homer E. Clarke ; assistant physician, G. K. Pratt.
CONDENSED DATA CONCERNING FLINT.
Area, II square miles. Altitude, 720 feet above sea level. Population in 1900, 13,103.
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Population in 1910 (United States census) 38,550; 194.2 per cent. increase in ten years, being seventh city in rank of fastest growth. .
Population in 1916, estimated, 85,000.
Churches, all denominations, 32.
Theaters and vaudettes, 20.
City parks, 12; area, 115 acres.
Public library, containing 20,000 volumes.
Michigan school for the deaf, a state institution, with 340 pupils, 38 teachers and a library with 6,448 volumes.
Hurley public hospital, managed by a city board.
Oak Grove Hospital, a private sanitarium for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases.
Fire department, fully equipped with motor-driven apparatus and em- ploying 41 men.
Flint is in the second class of insurance risks.
Building permits issued in 1915, $2,104,878.50, an increase over 1914 of $1,331,850.56. For 1916, building operations greatest in its history.
Public school buildings, 13; teachers, 225; pupils, 7,061; property valued at $865,439.00; seven new buildings in course of construction.
Fully equipped Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Associa- tions.
Flint had the lowest death rate in Michigan in 1915, the rate being 10.5, compared with an average for the state 13.3 per 1,000 of population.
Postoffice sale of stamps for 1915, $131,140.70; money orders issued, $623,454.03 ; money orders paid, $299,784.80.
The city has four state banks, their combined capital and surplus amounting to $1,882,881.97, with deposits of $14,697,179.69; loans, $12,- 473, 129.00; total resources, $16,330,036.50; the clearances for 1915 amounted to $34,213,638.50. 1916 shows largest deposits ever reported.
Municipal water works pumping station and filtration plant with a capacity of 23,000,000 gallons, built at a cost of $400,000.00, supplying the inhabitants of the city with water that is 98 per cent. pure.
Flint has two of the largest automobile factories in the world.
The combined capital of the automobile industries of Flint is about $12,000,000, with a yearly output of more than $100,000,000, employing on an average of about 14,000 men with an average weekly pay roll of $350,000.
Generating plant of the Consumers Power Company, supplied with electric current from the Au Sable river, furnishing hydro-electric power in unlimited quantity at economical rates.
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 813
Situated on the main lines of Grand Trunk and Pere Marquette rail- road. Trolley lines to Detroit on the south and Saginaw and Bay City on the north.
In 1915 the city purchased the gravel rights on eight acres of land at Otisville on the Fostoria branch of the Pere Marquette Railroad, which is about fifteen miles from Flint, and it is estimated that the saving on gravel the first year will more than pay for the pit, and will last the city for a num- ber of years.
The city owns its own asphalt plant, which has a capacity of 1500 square yards of two-inch surface per ten-hour day.
The city handles its own pavements, sewers and sidewalks at a great saving to the tax payers.
CONCLUSION.
Gone is the Flint of yesterday. No longer have we the agreeable land spaces surrounding white houses with green blinds, set in the midst of gardens blooming with hollyhocks, and marigolds, and sweet williams, and all the old-fashioned flowers so dear to our grandmothers.
No more the picket fences, with their swinging gates, and the hedges of osage orange, the gravel walks, and the corner lamp posts.
The little parasols that tipped, the silver bouquet holders, the real lace shawls, the floating islands with red and black and white raspberries on top, all have disappeared.
The pairs of shining black horses hitched to low surries, whose occu- pants decorously drove to church on Sunday mornings are no longer to be seen. Gone the quaintness, the charm, the leisure and the peace of the village. of the small town, for in its place there stands a hustling, bustling manufacturing city.
The county of Genesee, made up, as it is, of fertile farms, thrifty, industrious people and a citizenship second to none on the American con- tinent, presents exceptional advantages to those seeking a permanent home in an ideal environment. The villages and townships are noted for the high character of the people. Churches, schools, libraries, good roads, every- thing that makes for contentment and happiness, abound.
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GENESEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
In the midst of such a happy and cultured people there has come within the last fifteen years the change from a city of less than fifteen thousand population, similar to hundreds throughout the country, to what has become one of the leading manufacturing centers in the United States. The prog- ress has been so rapid that any account or description portraying conditions would become obsolete within a few months. The story of the re-birth of Flint reads like a romance or Arabian Nights tale. If this book shall in after years become of value as a record showing Genesee county and the city of Flint as it was in 1916, the aims of its publishers will have been attained. It marks the sixty-first milestone in the life of the municipality.
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