HISTORY: Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, PA, Roland D. Swoope, 1911, Chapter 15 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja and Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other chapters: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm ________________________________________________ TWENTIETH CENTURY HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS BY ROLAND D. SWOOPE, JR. PUBLISHED BY RICHMOND-ARNOLD PUBLISHING CO. F. J. Richmond, President C. R. Arnold, Secretary and Treasurer CHICAGO, ILL. CHAPTER XV PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS The Clearfield Hospital - The DuBois Hospital - The Clearfield County Home. HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY 214 The Clearfield Hospital The Clearfield Hospital was incorporated in 1901. The following year, it was consolidated with another hospital, which had been subsequently organized and the charter was amended and the corporation re-organized. Through the generosity of the heirs of Frederick Mossop, deceased, and other charitable citizens, about four acres of land and $20,000.00 in money were donated toward the location and erection of a new hospital, which was completed in July, 1905, at a total cost of $38,358.09, exclusive of the ground. The building is 157 x 113 feet. The central part known as the "Administration Building," is two stories in height and the wings, in which the public wards are located, are each one story high. The hospital is well equipped and up-to-date in its appearance and appliances. It has accommodations for thirty-five patients, twenty-two in the public wards and thirteen in private rooms. During the year 1909, 371 patients were treated. Of these, 269 were entirely free, or paid but a fractional part of the cost of their care. A chartered training school for nurses is maintained under competent management, the first class therefrom graduated during 1910. The State Legislature, in 1907, appropriated $23,000.00; $15,000.00 toward paying the indebtedness on the building, and $8,000.00 to assist in maintaining the Hospital for two years. This amount was reduced by the Governor, because of insufficient revenue, to $6,000.00 toward the indebtedness and $4,000.00 for maintenance for two years. The State appropriation for the years of 1909 and 1910 was $8,000.00 for maintenance and $2,000.00 toward improvements for the two years. These appropriations by the State Legislature are insufficient to support the hospital, and the deficiencies have hitherto been provided for by the generosity of the citizens of Clearfield and Curwensville, and other persons interested in the welfare of the institution. Harry M. Kurtz of Clearfield has recently donated to the hospital the sum of $5,000.00 for the purpose of erecting a Nurses Home, which will be completed in 1911, and various other improvements are contemplated. The demands upon the Hospital are constantly growing and it is one of the most useful institutions in the county. The following are the officers for 1910: H. B. Powell, President. Frank Fielding, Vice-President. George R. Bigler, Sec. and Treas. AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 215 Directors. Geo. R. Bigler, Attorney at law. H. F. Bigler, Pres. Clearfield Fire Brick Co. Frank Fielding, Attorney at law. Frank G. Harris, Attorney at law. Hugh M. Irvin, Pres. Curwensville National Bank, Curwensville. Fred B. Kerr, Treas. Clearfield Novelty Works. A. W. Lee, Pres. Central Penna. Light and Power Company. Thos. H. Murray, Attorney at Law. Rembrandt Peale, Pres. Peale, Peacock & Kerr, Inc. H. B. Powell, Pres. County National Bank. R. A. Shillingford, General Manager, Clearfield Bituminous Coal Corp. Ladies Auxiliary. Mrs. Frank Fielding, President. Mrs. Alexander Ennis Patton, 1st Vice-President. Mrs. A. R. Powell, 2nd Vice-President. Mrs. Pascaline Toner, 3rd Vice-President. Mrs. Blanche M. Biddle, Treasurer. Mrs. H. J. Hartswick, Secretary. Junior Auxiliary Miss Helen Murray, President. Miss Alice Bigler, 1st Vice-President. Miss Della Savage, 2nd Vice-President. Mrs. J. Lewis Irwin, Treasurer. Miss Isabel Powell, Secretary. Superintendent. Miss Jessie M. Durstine. Nurses Training School Mrs. A. H. Woodward, President. Mrs. Geo. R. Bigler, Secretary. The Du Bois Hospital The Du Bois Hospital was organized in the year 1897, with a capacity of twenty-three beds, and at the end of the same year it was incorporated under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, by a decree signed by the Hon. Cyrus Gordon, President Judge of Clearfield county. It is one of the class corporations not organized for profit. It is not authorized to accumulate money, if it were possible, excepting for necessary expenditures, nor to use its funds, however obtained, for any other purpose than the proper maintenance and improvement of the Hospital. The first members of the board of directors were: John E. Du Bois, A. L. Cole, M. Lundergan, S. Fugate and J. C. Sullivan. These, as well as the Medical Staff, all serve without compensation. The management have constantly aimed to make the institution as nearly self- supporting as possible, and at the same time to be charitably inclined to the poor and needy by not refusing to care for worthy poor; but, as in our community charges must necessarily be moderate, as the vast majority of our patients are really poor, the hospital has never been self-supporting. It has, since its organization, been dependent upon the charity of individuals, and the liberally disposed, as well as the State for appropriations. The charity of such individuals, etc., has been such that many poor, without means to help themselves, have been treated free of charge, and those whom poor districts, or in our own county, the county commissioners have met the ordinary expenses of, have had furnished them the advantages of hospital attention and nursing in medical and surgical cases at a rate below the actual cost of board and nursing. In November, 1909, the hospital building was badly damaged by fire. All patients were safely removed and provided for. HISTORY OF CLEARFIELD COUNTY 216 April 15, 1910, the Du Bois Hospital, after undergoing thorough repairs, refurnishing, and the rest, was again opened to the public. Before this was done, a re-organization by the enlarging of the board of directors to its full capacity of fifteen, as provided for in the Constitution of the Du Bois Hospital Association, was effected. The present board of directors are as follows: S. J. Schrecongost, President; James A. Gleason, Vice-President; D. E. Hibner, Frank Guinzburg, S. A. Eisenman, George Minns, Jr., James Pifer, A. R. Van Tassel, E. W. Webster, H. E. Ginter, W. H. Cannon, A. L. Cole, M. Lundergan, Frank Hahne, Hon. A. S. Moulthrop, and J. C. Sullivan, secretary to the board. At the time of re-organization, the Sisters of Mercy were given the administrative charge of the Du Bois Hospital, and under their supervision, the hospital has prospered as in no other previous period. In fact, the work of the institution is limited by its bed capacity only. Mother M. Camilla is the present superintendent. Since the opening of the institution, April 15, 1910, there has been one hundred and thirty-one admissions. The Clearfield County Home The handsome three-story brick building known as The Clearfield County Home is situated in Lawrence Township on the Pennsylvania railroad, one mile below Clearfield. The County Home property comprises 180 acres of what were formerly known as the John F. Weaver and Goon farms. When the question of organizing the county into a poor district was first submitted to the voters it failed to carry, but the second time it was voted on, at the spring election of February 20, 1894, the project carried, the vote being 4,944 for, and 3,485 against - a majority of only 459. The county commissioners under whose direction the Home was built were James S. Read, William T. Ross and A. E. Woolridge. Hon. Cyrus Gordon was on the bench at the time, and George E. Owens was clerk to the commissioners. The contract was let October1, 1894, to the lowest bidder, W. V. Hughes, of Pittsburgh, the price being $38,650.00. The architect was C. M. Robinson, of Altoona, who was chosen by the commissioners. Jacob Straddler, a skilled mechanic and builder, was the general superintendent of the building and work. From the opening day, December 30, 1895, to the present time the tax payers of Clearfield county have looked upon the Home as one of the best investments this county has ever made. Indeed, the wonder has always been since its erection, why there could have been so many votes cast against building this splendid institution, which has been a blessing to thousands of the sons of Clearfield county - an asylum for the poor and a home for the needy. There were 143 inmates in the Home in August, 1910. Besides furnishing the county's poor with all the necessities of life and solicitously caring for the sick and aged, the spiritual side of the inmate's nature has not been overlooked as a chaplain in the person of Rev. A. B. Williams, pastor of the United Brethren church of East End Clearfield, every Sunday holds preaching services in the well appointed chapel in the second story which is equipped with all the comforts of a modern church. Dining rooms are furnished for both the men and women, while the sleeping quarters on the second floor are similarly arranged. A large laundry and kitchen are at the rear of the first floor. Pure wholesome food is sup- AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS 219 plied in abundance. In connection with the Home proper, a fine farm is carefully cultivated under the supervision of the steward. Those male inmates who are able to assist in the work are pressed into service, so there are not many idle men about the premises during the summer and fall months. After the larder is stocked with products of the farm and the barns and granary supplied the remainder of the crop is sold by the steward. The officials in charge of the Home are as follows: Steward, J. Sumner Hoyt; Matron, Mrs. Hoyt; Physician, Dr. J. W. Gordon; Nurse, C. E. Wilson. The average weekly cost per capita is $2.31. During the year 1909 the number of days' support given inmates, including vagrants, was 63,067. At the present time only 2 1/2 mills are levied for County Home purposes. In the year 1909, the total current expenses for maintaining the Home were $19,111.31. Viewed from every standpoint the Clearfield County Home is acknowledged to rank second in the State and no similar institution is more efficiently managed. In addition to maintaining this institution, Clearfield county, in the year 1909, expended $5,265.51 for outdoor relief of its poor, while the sum of $15,469.09 was paid out of its treasury toward the support of its insane in the State hospitals. One thousand one hundred and sixty-one dollars and fifty-four cents was also expended by the county for the maintenance of its feeble-minded in the training schools of the commonwealth, and $364.52 was paid for the support of the poor in other institutions. Including other outside expenditures, amounting to $1,976.54, Clearfield county, in the year 1909, expended $48,357.12 for the support of the poor, sick and insane within her borders. This record for public charity is most commendable and the heart of every true Clearfield countian should rejoice that this worthy benevolence is carried on on such a generous and far reaching scale.