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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.

We suspect the first hospital building on the campus, which appears on early aerial photos as a stucco-type structure, is the hospital constructed at the request of Ms. Blanche Van Leuven Browne.  Ms. Browne already operated the Van Leuven Browne Hospital School in Detroit.  The February 2, 1917 Farmington Enterprise discusses Ms. Van Leuven Browne’s purchase of Fred Goers’ farm, and indicates the Farmington hospital was to be constructed “right away.”

A later article (1922) discussing then Detroit Mayor James Couzens’ involvement with the Farmington campus and indicates this first building was operated as the Michigan Hospital School for Crippled Children.  This is also confirmed in the Children’s Hospital of Michigan Collection at Wayne State University’s Walter Reuther Library.