History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 115

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 115

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Ancient Order of United Workmen .- This is a fraternal and beneficial organization formed in Mead- ville, Pa., October 25, 1865, by seven persons. It is the first organization which provided for the families of deceased members by contributions from the members of an amount equal to two thousand dollars. Several Norristown gentlemen having become identified with a lodge of this order in Philadelphia, induced others to co-operate with them, and Lynwood Lodge, No. 154, was instituted May 13, 1879. The mem- increasing. Three deaths have occurred since organi- zation. The present chief officers are: M. W., Dr. Horace Still; Financier, J. P. IIale Jenkins; Re- ceiver, I. II. Brendlinger ; and Recorder, William F. Solly.

American Legion of Honor .- The American Legion of Honor is a secret benevolent organization, and has been in existence but five years. The bene- fits are paid on the death of a member to the person named in the beneficiary certificate, and for the amount therein mentioned. This amount varies from five hundred dollars to five thousand dollars. The assessments are graded according to the age of the candidate when becoming a member.

De Kalb Council, No. 855, was instituted February 20, 1882, at Norristown, and Pottstown Council, No. 962, at Pottstown, June 7, 1882. Meetings are held bi-weekly, and the entire membership of the two councils does not exceed seventy-five. The principal officers of De Kalb Council are: Commander, John B. Beaver; Secretary, William F. Solly; and Treas- urer, Philip Quillman. The officers of Pottstown Council are : Commander, Dr. M. A. Withers; Secretary, J. H. Binder; and Treasurer, William M. Stanford.

The Royal Arcanum .- The Royal Arcanum is a secret order which pays a death benefit of three thousand dollars, collected from the membership-at- large in proportion to age. It was instituted in Boston in June, 1877, and was introduced in this county by the institution of Pottstown Council, No. 351. There are now about fifty members, and there have been two deaths since organization. Dr. James B. Wieler is Regent, William C. Beecher is Treasurer and R. Morgan Root, Secretary.

Independent Order of Good Templars .- This order, a semi-secret society, is an antagonist of the

liquor traffic. Both sexes are admitted to member- ship on an equal footing, and initiates take a life-long pledge not to make, buy, sell, use, furnish or cause to be furnished to others as a beverage any spirituous or malt liquors. At one time there were possibly twenty lodges in the county ; now there are but six lodges, with a membership of about two hundred and fifty.

Sons of Temperance .- This, the pioneer order antagonistic to the liquor traffic, has an organization in this county, there being a division in the borough of Norristown with about fifty members, as also in other sections of the county, the total membership aggregating about four hundred.

Temple of Honor and Temperance .- I'rohibition Temple, No. 32, of this order, was organized in the borough of Norristown in 1873. Its career was short- lived, however, bickerings amongst the members caus- ing its dissolution within two years after its organiza- tion.

Lady Masons. - This ladies' order is one that bership now numbers over one hundred, and is | has had an organization for many years, but was introduced in Norristown abont fifteen years ago. The membership is small, the members undemon- strative and the organization is hardly known to exist.

Daughters of the Forest .- This is a secret society of women, and was introduced in the county by the institution of Osceola Tent, No. 30, November 3, 1871. One hundred and eighty-five persons have become members, of which number sixty-nine still retain their membership. The organization has paid ont in benefits since institution as follows: In sick benefits, $3495 ; funeral benefits, $430; other charities, $17,-total, 83942.

Dames of the Knights of Pythias .- Damon Chamber, No. 3, of this order, was organized March 3, 1870, in Norristown. It is a ladies' beneficial or- ganization, and was first intended to be exclusively for the wives and daughters of the Knights of Pythias, but, other regulations being adopted, the member- ship was allowed to become general. This chamber, the only one in the county, has paid during the four- teen years of its organization, in sick benefits, $2385, in funeral benefits $350, and in other charities $29.74.

Pythian Temple .- Naomi Temple, No. 3, of this organization, is a ladies' beneficial and fraternal so- ciety, and was instituted in Norristown about the year 1870. This order clings to the Knights of Pythias, none but members of the last-named order being eli- gible for the position of trustee.

Independent Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria .- This beneficial order is composed of men and women of color, and in 1868 was introduced in the borough of Norristown by the institution of Shaw & Kenworthy Lodge, No. 6. This lodge is still in existence, though now without funds to pay its maturing liabilities.

498

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE.

The State Hospital for the Insane, located at Norristown .- The State Hospital for the Insane of the Southeastern District of Pennsylvania is beautifully situated upon a broad plateau within the northern limits of the borough of Norristown. The grounds comprise about two hundred acres of superior farm land, and the site selected commands an extensive view of Norristown and the picturesque country sur- rounding it. It has ample surface drainage, with perpetual streams near at hand to carry off necessary sewage. The Stony Creek Railroad passes within a few yards of the premises, with tracks running to the buildings for the transportation of necessary supplies.

This magnificent charity was creeted by a commis- sion appointed by Governor Hartranft in the spring of 1876.1 The commission so appointed originally consisted of the following-named gentlemen : Joseph Patterson, Esq., Dr. Herbert MI. Howe, Col. James S. Chambers, Dr. Thomas G Morton, of Philadelphia; Henry T. Darlington, Esq., Bucks County ; William H. Miller, Delaware County ; Dr. L. W. Reed, Mont- gomery County ; Gen. George Smith, Chester County ; Hon. John Shouse, Northampton County ; and Gen. Robert McAllister, Lehigh County. During the period in which the commission was engaged in the execution of its important trust there were three deaths among its members. Two of the vacancies thus occasioned were filled by the appointment of Dr. A. J. Pennypacker, Chester County, and John S. Williams, Esq., Bucks County.

One year was judiciously consumed by the commis- sion in the selection of an eligible site and another year in the examination and adoption of a suitable plan of hospital buildings.

Among the five competing architects, the plans of Messrs. Wilson Bros. & Co. were preferred. (The construction of the hospital was awarded to the well- known builder, John Rice, Esq.)

The erection of the hospital began March 21, 1878, and was completed February 17, 1880.

The plan of the hospital is unique, and marks an era in the progressive development of asylum con- struction. It is designated the segregate or detached system (or more commonly, the cottage plan), which in this instance consists of eight ward buildings, an administration building, amusement hall or chapel, kitchen building and a boiler-house and laundry,-in

" By act of the General Assembly approved the 5th day of May, 1876, it was provided " That the Governor shall appoint ten commissioners to select a site and build an hospital for the insane for the Southeastern Dis- friet of Pennsylvania, embracing the city and county of Philadelphia and the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, Chester, Northampton and Lehigh, four of said commissioners to be chosen from citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia and one from each of the other coun- ties embraced within the district nforesaid, who shall serve without com- pensation."

all twelve separate buildings. A number of hospitals for the insane throughout the United States have been built in accordance with this system, but none similar in design to this, which in its originality and adaptation to purpose surpasses any scheme as yet devised.

In former years it was believed and promulgated by the American Association of Asylum Superinten- dents that a set form of hospital building, then in vogue, was the ne plus ultra of desirability, and that all unbuilt asylums should be cast in this mould. As well might a society of architects attempt to rigidly enforce the adoption of a certain pattern of cottage, hotel or school-house, and strenuously oppose any departure from their specifications.

Not least among the reforms of the old system was required a more economical method of providing accommodations for the largely-increasing numbers of the insane.

Formerly the palatial structures upon which untold thousands were expended in external architectural adornment, and upon sumptuous quarters for officers, cost per capita from fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars.

The commissioners endeavored to avoid this waste of public funds in erecting an appropriate hospital at Norristown that would be comfortable and substantial, but at the same time shorn of all unnecessary orna- mentation.

. They accomplished their difficult task at a cost not exceeding eight hundred dollars a bed.

This is in harmony with public sentiment, and is a long stride towards the correction of the lamentable inconsistency of caring for a portion of the indigent insane in palaces, while an equally deserving number of them are lying in squalor in the almshouses.

The principal advantages of this plan of buildings are that it facilitates convenient classification of pa- tients (separating widely the noisy and turbulent classes from the mild and convalescent), that it insures better ventilation, admitting more light and sunshine into the wards, and that it also greatly diminishes the risk of extensive conflagration.

The act of Assembly referred to further provided that upon the completion of the hospital the commis- sioners "shall surrender their trust to a board of managers to consist of thirteen members, five of whom shall be appointed by the Governor from the State-at-large, two by the Councils of Philadelphia and one by the county commissioners of each of the other counties embraced in the Southeastern District" described in said act, and " shall manage and direct the concerns of the institution and make all necessary by-laws and regulations not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the commonwealth."

The commissioners completed their duties and made their report on the 17th day of February, 1880, and formally surrendered their trust to the board of managers on the same day.

ODGE HOUSE

STATE INSANE ASYLUM AT NORRISTOWN.

499

INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE.

The following gentlemen composed the original board of managers :

Appointed by the Governor : Ex-Governor John F. Hartranft, Philadel- phia ; Hon. James Boyd, Norristown; Mr. Sammuel M. Bines, Philadel- phia; Mr. Thomas R. Brown, Philadelphia; Mr. B. K. Jamison, l'hiladelphia. Appointed by the City Councils of Philadelphia : Mr. George W. Simons, Philadelphia ; Mr. Israel Fleishman, Philadelphia. Appointed by the commissioners of the sereral counties : Hon. Charles H. Stinson, Montgomery County ; Addison May, Esq., Chester County ; Mr. W. D. 11. Serrill, Delaware County ; Hon. Harmon Yerkes, Bucks County ; Dr. George P. Kern, Northampton County ; Dr. E. G. Martin, Lehigh County.

The board organized by electing John F. Ilart- ranft president, B. K. Jamison treasurer, and Dr. E. G. Martin secretary. The hospital was established for the care of the indigent insane of the district, and the management was intended to be consistent with the spirit of reform nrged by men and women of the State who had given the subject of insanity the most careful consideration. Those who are conversant with the history of this practical field of philan- thropy can alone appreciate the progressive changes that have been wrought in the care and treatment of the insane within the comparatively short space of time measured by three generations.

First, the benighted theory that an insane man was possessed of evil spirits was combated, and with it the cruel and barbarous methods of treatment were modified ; successively, the false notions that he was a demon, an outcast, a monster, and, last, a criminal, yielded one by one to the proper conception of his true position in society, -that he is a sick brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, requiring gentle nursing and skillful treatment for his malady, as other siek folk, and one whose sufferings touch the tenderest chords of human sympathy.

It was well known that the inmates would com- prise both sexes, and possibly in abont equal numbers. The progressive men of the management desired to place the insane women under the care of a female physician, and thus insure for them proper and kindly treatment. This was deemed an innovation, and a wide departure from the usual manner of organizing institutions of this character. The same element in the board insisted upon separating the professional care and responsibility from the routine or general administrative duties connected with the manage- ment, in order that the proper medical treatment could be bestowed upon the unfortunate inmates. Both of these measures were successfully inaugurated, and the institution was opened under a govern- ment of the most humane and approved plan. In May, 1880, Dr. B. H. Chase was elected resident male physician of the male department 1 and Dr. Alice Bennett resident female physician of the female de- partment. This conclusion was reached after the most mature consideration upon the part of the trus-

tees, who recognized fully the requirements of a public opinion that demanded an enlightened change in the government of our insane asylums. The new departure was not in the sense of a novelty or experi- ment, but as a permanent rule of government, as ap- pears from the following by-law, chap. iii., sec. i., rules and regulations of the institution : "Resident physicians' duty,-They shall devote all their time and attention to the personal care, treatment and management of the patients and inmates of their respective departments, and shall have therein the entire and exclusive direction of their medical, moral and dietetic treatment, and their respective instrue- tions and directions are to be implicity observed and obeyed by all the assistants, subordinates and others employed in their respective departments aforesaid."

For a quarter of a century the question of the competency of female physicians, and the propriety of employing them in the care and treatment of their sex, had been agitated by the most skillful and enlightened men of the medical profession. A separate college for the training and graduation of female practitioners had been fully and liberally equipped and successfully maintained in Philadel- phia. Female physicians gradually but surely found their way to public confidence, and nowhere received a more prompt and cordial recognition than in Mont- gomery County, the medical society of this county being the first in the State (at the instance of Dr. Hiram Corson) to admit them to equal fellowship and the privilege of honorable consultation, while eminent physicians of the community, with rare exceptions, accorded them honorable standing in the profession, and aided them in their humane and exalted calling. It was therefore natural for the trustees, in adopting the organic law for the govern- ment of this great asylum, to utilize them in the treat- ment of the inmates, and for the first time in the history of this country or Europe make them respon- sible to the board of management. The experience of several years has demonstrated the wisdom of the course pursued, and the medical profession of the State and country is to be congratulated upon the advanced ground taken and maintained, and the un- fortunate class of indigent sufferers and their families may rejoice that the days of brutality are approach- ing an end.

The institution bas adopted the system of non- restraint, the employment of patients, a thorough system of night service, a scientific investigation into the causes and nature of insanity, and other features which so distinctly mark the progress of modern psychiatry in our hospitals for the insane. The Hon. James Boyd and ex-Judge Stinson, of Montgomery County, the former appointed by the Governor and the latter by the commissioners, were united in their advocacy of the reform measures insisted upon in founding this asylum, and to them is due in no small degree the honor of its snecessful accomplishment.

1 Dr. Mary Stinson, of Norristown, Pa., a graduate of the Female Medi- cal College of Philadelphia, was elected resident female physician, but declined to serve.

500

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

The following gentlemen compose the present board of managers: Ex-Governor John F. Hartranft, ex-Judge Charles H. Stinson, Hon. Charles Hun- sicker, Hon. George Ross, Dr. George P. Kern, Dr. E. G. Martin, Addison May, Esq., Mr. W. D. H. Serrill, Mr. Thomas Walters, Mr. Israel Fleishman, Mr. George W. Simmons, Mr. - Rhoades, Mr. L. P. Ashmcad.

Some Account of the Poor and the Montgomery County Poor-House.1-In the early settlement of the country very little appears to have been done for the support of the poor. The population was sparse, labor was in demand, and the necessities of the people were limited to such few absolute requirements that pauperism could scarcely be said to exist. The Society of Friends, the Mennonites and the Dunkards have invariably supported their own unfortunate poor to the present time.

During the whole of the colonial period, down to the erection of houses for the support and employment of the poor, they were maintained by their respective townships or distriets. For this purpose two overseers were appointed for each by the judges of the County Courts. Their duties were to secure for those committed to their charge homes and employ- ment at the most favorable rates. At March Sessions, 1736, a petition was sent to the court by residents of Hanover, stating that there was a dispute as to the line of Limerick, whereby they were compelled to sup- port a cripple who had served his time and received his misfortune in the latter township, and that the same may be satisfactorily determined. The court ordered that as the bounds had not been fixed or re- corded at the proper time, that both townships be at equal charges for his keep or maintenance, and the line be ascertained by the surveyor-general.

An aet was passed in 1771 that provided for the ap- pointment of two overseers in every township by the justices at a special meeting to be held every year. The expense incurred in providing subsistence, shelter and employment for those whom misfortune had ren- dered a burden to society was to be supplied out of the regular county rate. The overseers were responsible for the collection of the amount assessed and were re- quired to pay over the moneys in their possession. A record was kept of the poor, and an order from a jus- tice of the peace was necessary to become admitted to the list before assistance could be furnished. All having near relations who were paupers were com- pelled to support them, if their circumstances enabled them to do so. Those who liberated slaves were re- quired to give bonds in the sum of thirty pounds each to keep harmless and to indemnify the overseers in case such negroes became a charge through siekness or otherwise and rendered incapable of supporting them- selves. Among the duties of the overseers were sup- plying the immediate wants of families redneed to

poverty, and in case of death to give them decent burial. Those that could work were kept in employment among the farmers. On the formation of the county the justices of the court made the following appoint- ments of overseers of the poor for the year 1785, which, however, does not embrace half the townships :

Abington .- John Collum, Matthew Tyson.

Cheltenhamı .- Alexander Loller, Benjamin Mather.

Horsham .- William Lukens, John Lloyd. Lower Merion .- Jonathan Robeson, Lewis Thomas. Moreland .- Isaac Warner, Lawrence Sentman. Springfield .- John Piper, Christian Keysler. Montgomery .- Peter Martin, Edward Morgan.

Plymouth .- John Meredith, Thomas Davis. Upper Salford. - Christian Hellerman, George Widemyer. Whitemarsh .- David Acuff, David Shoemaker.

The subject of providing a home and a house of em- ployment for the poor, instead of the former method of having them work or board around with those that would consent to receive them, began to receive at- tention soon after the formation of the county. The first move in this direction was the holding of a pub- lic meeting at the house of John Davis, at Norristown, January 23, 180I, on the expediency of petitioning the Legislature of the State for the privilege of building a poor-house for the use and benefit of the destitute in Montgomery. But little was done in the matter until Mareh 10, 1806, when an aet was passed author- izing the purchase of a farm and the ereetion thereon of suitable buildings for the purpose by the county. Subsequent acts were passed January 26, 1807, and December 22, 1810. The location of the place now began to attraet attention, and a meeting was called and held in regard to the matter at Centre Square, Whitpain township, October 8, 1806. Strange to say, this was so managed as to recommend the purchase of the ont-of-the-way site that was shortly afterwards chosen,-namely, on the east bank of the Schuylkill, in Upper Providence township, ten miles above Norris- town, and all of said distance west of the centre of the county.

The place was purchased from a person by the name of Cutwaltz, to which a few additional aeres were added, making together about two hundred and sixty-five acres at a cost not ascertained. The di- rectors, Ezekiel Rhoads, Henry Scheetz and Jacob Houck, gave notice that they would be on the premises May 28, 1807, at nine o'clock A.M., "to meet persons who may desire to erect by contract a house for the reception of the poor agreeahly to a plan to be shown. The person or persons contraet- ing to find all the materials for completing the same." It would appear that by fall the building must have been completed, for in the county statement for the year ending February 9, 1808, the cost of keeping the same is reported to be $5217.10. On the following May 17th the directors gave notice to the overseers of the several townships that they would be present at the poor-house "in order to receive the paupers of the said county," with their goods, which are to be

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

501

INSANE HOSPITAL AND POOR-HOUSE.

valued by two men appointed for the purpose. Among the expenditures for the year 1809 are men- tioned horses, cattle and swine, $696.35; implements of husbandry, $245.98; bedsteads, bedding and furni- ture, $839.67.

Among the items in the report of the farm for 1813 are 5 barrels of shad, 435 bundles of flax, 3 yards of flannel, 45 of linsey, 500 of linen and 30 yards of carpeting. Jacob Barr, of Pottstown, was steward, probably from the beginning until about 1816, at an annual salary of $400, which included his wife's ser- vices as matron. In 1821 the poor-house was de- stroyed by fire. At this time Philip Reed, Samuel Horning and Samuel Mann were directors, who shortly afterwards had the same rebuilt. The barn and out-buildings were burned March 31, 1867, and rebuilt that summer. The former is of stone, 126 feet long, 76 feet wide, and cost 89790.71. The wagon- house, slaughter-house, sheep-stable, barn-yard wall, corn-erib and chicken-house cost additionally $3189.91.

The house proving inadequate and not well adapted for the purpose designed, it was resolved to erect an- other more comformable to modern taste, improvement and requirements. The contract for the building was awarded by the county commissioners, August 15, 1870, to William H. Bodey, of Norristown, for the sum of seventy-one thousand dollars. The grading cost upwards of five thousand dollars ; the engine, pipe and plumbing, four thousand dollars ; in 1874 the building, steam-heating apparatus and necessary fix- tures, eost nearly thirteen thousand five hundred dol- lars; the following year the steam-pump. plumbing, gas fixtures, etc., above ten thousand dollars. The main building is two hundred and forty-four feet long, from seventy-five to fifty feet wide, and three stories high, surmounted by a stone belfry. A central rear wing extends back one hundred and two feet in length, fifty-four feet wide and two stories high. The whole is substantially built from the red sandstone of the neighborhood. Sixty dormitories are for the use of the paupers. The architect was Henry Sims. An adjacent building contains three large boilers for the purpose of heating water to warm the house. The water, which is brought hither from a spring about eight hundred yards distant, is pumped from a cis- tern by a steam-engine. A three-story stone building is used for hospital purposes and for the insane, and also another of two stories, a department of which is assigned to colored persons, the insane numbering about twenty-five. Water is brought to these build- ings and the barn by gravity from a spring about five hundred yards distant.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 115

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534