Natrona County WY Archives History - Books .....Natrona County's Public Hospital 1923
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Book Title: History Of Natrona County, Wyoming

NATRONA COUNTY'S PUBLIC HOSPITAL

    Hugh L. Patton, Natrona county's representative in the house of the 
legislature in 1909, introduced a bill for an appropriation of $22,500 
from the state of Wyoming for the erection, equipment and management of 
a branch of the Wyoming General Hospital, to be located in the town of 
Casper, Natrona county. Without a dissenting vote the bill passed the 
house and the senate, and with the governor's approval it was enacted 
into law. A provision in the bill specified that the town of Casper 
should furnish to the state a proper site for the institution without 
cost.

    But little time was lost after the legislature adjourned in 
carrying out the provisions of the act. The members of the state board 
of Charities and Reform, whose duty it was to select a site, award the 
contract and buy the equipment for the building, made a visit to Casper 
on the 12th of April, 1909, and, with the members of the town council 
and a committee from the Casper Industrial Club, after making a 
thorough survey of the town, all agreed that block 32, in Park 
addition, would be an ideal location for the hospital. J. M. Carey & 
Brother had donated this piece of ground to the town of Casper for park 
purposes, but it was said that Mr. Carey had consented to allow it to 
be used for the hospital. It was presumed that the decision to locate 
the building on this block settled the matter, and the state board 
returned to Cheyenne and immediately made arrangements to have the 
plans and specifications drawn for the building, and the prospects 
seemed encouraging that the town of Casper would have at least one 
public building erected without delay and without a jangle among our 
citizens, but the bright dream was soon disturbed by the gentleman who 
so kindly donated the strip of ground to the town to be used for park 
purposes. On the 26th of August the mayor of Casper received a letter 
from Mr. Carey's agent to the effect that "while Judge Carey was 
willing to give some charitable organization a site for a hospital, he 
would not, either directly or indirectly, donate a site to the town of 
Casper, the county of Natrona, or the state of Wyoming. The reason he 
would not give a site for the hospital was that he thought he had been 
unjustly treated in the matter of taxation, and until that was righted 
no favors might be expected from him."

    Past experiences with Mr. Carey convinced the people of Casper that 
an attempt to buy the ground, or to appeal for a reconsideration in the 
withdrawal of the block for a hospital site would be useless, and 
arrangements were made between the town of Casper and Henry L. White 
for a tract of land 300x420 feet on East Second street, between 
Washington and Conwell streets. A deed for this tract was given to the 
state; the plans and specifications were finished, but there was a 
misunderstanding between the state board of Charities and Reform as to 
whether the state or the town of Casper would furnish and maintain the 
institution, and on December 4, 1909, Governor B. B. Brooks, State 
Auditor LeRoy Grant and State Superintendent A. D. Cook, three members 
of the state board of Charities and Reform, came to Casper and 
conferred with the members of the Casper Industrial Club regarding the 
construction of the building. The governor, who acted as spokesman for 
the state board, said that the people of Casper had done all they 
agreed to do in regard to selecting the site and giving to the state a 
deed for the land, but he understood that the people of Casper were 
willing to furnish and maintain the institution. If this were true, the 
state could spend the full amount, $22,500, appropriated for the 
construction of a building, but if the state were to furnish and 
maintain the institution, only about $16,000 could be used for the 
building. Spokesmen for the Casper Industrial Club said that many 
people objected to the institution being equipped and maintained by the 
town of Casper or Natrona county; that they felt that because they had 
always been liberal in such matters was no reason that they should be 
imposed upon, and it was their opinion that the state should furnish 
the building and maintain the institution the same as it did the 
hospitals at Rock Springs and Sheridan. After considerable discussion, 
it was finally decided to use the full amount appropriated for the 
building and take a chance on the next legislature making an additional 
appropriation for the furnishing and maintenance of the institution.

    Early in January, 1910, the contract for the building of the 
hospital was awarded to Archie Allison of Cheyenne, and W. F. Henning 
of Casper was given the contract for the installation of the plumbing 
and heating apparatus. Construction work was commenced in March, 1910, 
and the building was completed and accepted by the state on August 31 
of the same year, but the institution was not equipped or furnished and 
no superintendent had been appointed, and no funds were available with 
which to furnish and maintain the institution. A watchman was put in 
charge of the vacant building until the convening of the next session 
of the legislature, when it was hoped that an appropriation would be 
made with which to equip and maintain the institution.

    Governor Brooks, as well as the other members of the state board of 
Charities and Reform, retired on the first of January, 1911, by reason 
of the expiration of their terms in office, and Joseph M. Carey, who 
had heretofore displayed his opposition to the hospital, the town of 
Casper and Natrona county, became governor of the state.

    At the session of the legislature in January, 1911, a bill was 
introduced and passed both the house and senate appropriating the sum 
of $12,500 for the purpose of maintaining and furnishing the hospital. 
The governor vetoed the bill, but an appropriation of a similar amount 
was incorporated in another bill which, if vetoed, would have had a 
disastrous effect upon other state institutions, and after it passed 
the house and senate it also received the approval of the governor. It 
then only remained for the state board of Charities and Reform to come 
to Casper and have a few minor repairs made to the building, buy the 
furniture, appoint a superintendent and put the hospital in operation, 
but the governor's time was so completely taken up with other affairs 
of state that he could not come to Casper with the other members of the 
board, and the building remained unoccupied, except for the presence of 
the watchman, who had furnished for himself a room in the basement.

    On August 3, 1911, State Auditor Robert Forsythe and Miss Martha 
Converse (now Mrs. W. S. Kimball), came to Casper with the authority 
and for the purpose of letting contracts to finish the building and to 
furnish and equip the same and get it in shape to be operated. The 
building was completed and furnished and ready for occupancy the latter 
part of October, and on the 3Oth was formally opened for business, with 
Miss Converse as superintendent. It was operated as a state institution 
until January 1, 1922.

    At the session of the legislature in 1921 a bill was introduced and 
became a law giving to the counties in which state hospitals are 
located the privilege of purchasing them for the sum of one dollar, the 
purchase price being nominal, and merely sufficient to constitute an 
exchange which prevents the state from violating the constitution. The 
exchange included the building, lands and all equipment and supplies on 
hand. On January 1, 1922, Natrona county paid to the state of Wyoming 
the purchase price of one dollar, and the title was changed from the 
Casper Branch of the Wyoming General Hospital to the Natrona County 
Hospital, since which time it has been under the direction of the board 
of county commissioners.

    During the summer of 1922 a contract was let by the board of county 
commissioners for the erection of a nurses' home, to be the property of 
the county, in connection with the county hospital. The new building 
consists of nine rooms and two baths and is sufficient to accommodate 
eighteen nurses. Work was commenced on the building the latter part of 
September and was finished in November. The building cost about 
$14,000, and is located about fifty feet south of the hospital 
building. With the completion of this building Natrona county affords 
hospital accommodations equal to any county in the sate of Wyoming.



Additional Comments:
History of NATRONA COUNTY
WYOMING 1888-1922

True Portrayal of the Yesterdays of a New County and a Typical Frontier Town of
the Middle West. Fortunes and Misfortunes, Tragedies and Comedies, Struggles and
Triumphs of the Pioneers
and Illustrations
BY
ALFRED JAMES MOKLER

Publisher of the Natrona County Tribune from June 1, 1897, to October 15, 1914

R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY
CHICAGO (1923)


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