Back in 1882, three years before the Northern Michigan Asylum (now home to the Botanic Garden) opened in Traverse City, the hospital administrators and architect were already considering the role of certain patients who might help to work the future hospital farm, and the hospital itself. As they planned the main hospital building (Building 50) they also suggested additional detached buildings or cottages that would support a future expanding population of patients. The 1882 Biennial Report stated that these detached buildings would accommodate satisfactorily certain limited classes of patients, selected from the large numbers of a populous asylum, for instance those who are able to work on the farm or in the kitchen...quiet demented patients, or those to whom a larger degree of freedom can be safely extended. Dr. Munson believed that beauty is therapy, which is why he emphasized gardens and the arboretum, but he also believed work is therapy and encouraged productive engagement when possible. As a result, almost all work areas (cooking, laundry, cleaning, farming, sewing, etc.) included both hospital employees and patients. Sometimes it was difficult to distinguish who was an employee and who was a patient!
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 22:07:27 +0000