27Aug
In 1919, then Mayor of Detroit James Couzens made a charitable gift of $1,100,00 as a birthday present to his wife for the construction and establishment of an endowment fund for the school and to build an annex to the Michigan Hospital School.
World renowned architect Albert Kahn was commissioned by Mr. Couzens to design the facility. The January 20, 1922 Farmington Enterprise announced the new Albert Kahn-designed building — the first of two which remain on the Botsford Commons campus today. That building’s keystone rests today above the door of what is now Botsford Senior Living Center. The stately building offers a fine example of traditional Albert Kahn style — the slate roof, 5 original fireplaces, and Pewabic Pottery inlays (both on the building’s exterior and in the fireplace surrounds).
A Sanford Fire Insurance map dated 1926 clearly labels the white stucco-type building as “old building” and this first Albert Kahn building as “new building.”
Research by the Walter P. Reuther Library Archive Team at Wayne State University turned up the date of the second of the two Albert Kahn-designed buildings as 1927. An amazing visit on October 13, 2008 with a woman born on teh campus in 1927 confirmed the date for the 2nd Kahn building.
Tags: Albert Kahn, James Couzens, Pewabic Pottery
24Aug
According to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Collection at Wayne State University’s Walter Reuther Library archives, the hospital in Farmington known up until that time as the Michigan Hospital School for Crippled Children merged with Children’s Free Hospital and was then operated under the name of Michigan Convalescent Home.
Tags: Michigan Convalescent Home
24Aug
Heard at the August meeting of the Southeast Michigan Post Polio Support Group — one person recalled hearing that the records from the Sister Kenny Polio Hospital were given to the Sister Kenny Foundation. Certain of those records have made their way to the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan.
According to the History reference of the Kenny R.E.H.A.B. Records at the Bentley Historical Library, the Farmington branch of the Sister Kenny Polio Hospital closed in 1958. The question remains, when did it open? If we can determine during what period the Sister Kenny Polio Hospital operated on the site, we may be able to narrow which former patients may find their records at Bentley.
Tags: Medical Records, Sister Kenny
22Aug
Former patients periodically call inquiring on where to locate their medical records from the hospital. If you were a patient at the Michigan Hospital School for Crippled Children, Children’s Free Hospital – Farmington, or Michigan Convalescent Home, and have been successful in your search, please share! There are those that are still trying to locate theirs, and with the privacy laws, it’s harder than ever to find them.
22Aug
The Farmington Observer, February 2, 1917 edition makes note that it is Fred Goers farm that Blanche Van Leuven Browne purchased and on that property where she built her hospital school.
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