JEWISH HOSPITAL
Across Burnet Ave. from
General Hospital, is where the first Jewish hospital in the United States is
located. Founded in 1854 in the West End at what is now Central Ave. and Bauer
Streets. The hospital was to be for "the indigent poor sick of the Jewish
faith." The founders also wanted to be sure that no Jew would be buried
without another Jew there to say Kaddish, the prayer for the dead, and to
prevent deathbed conversions to Christianity by those anxious to receive some
form of religious rite. This was apparently a major problem during the cholera
epidemic of 1849. It is, of course, nonsectarian and open to anyone in need of
hospital care.
In 1882, the hospital board opened the Home for the
Jewish Aged and Infirm at this site, and in 1890 dedicated a new Jewish Hospital
next to it. In 1892 a nursing school was opened. A nurses residence and other
structures were soon erected. In 1920 it opened the first Children's Psychiatric
Institute in the nation.
The last of these old buildings were torn down in 1974 and by
1987 the new complex covered 21 acres with 664 beds. There were 19 departments
with 984 physicians.
Titled
incorrectly
LONGVIEW HOSPITAL
The old City
(Commercial) Hospital located on the northeast corner of 12th and Central Avenue
which had opened in 1823 and was the city's first public hospital had four
departments. Besides the medical, surgical, and obstetrical depts., there was
also the lunatic asylum. By 1853 more than 100 patients lived
in a space meant for sixty and new cases were being housed in the county jail.
The conditions were deplorable with the walls covered with mold, the floor was
decaying, and the air was foul. Many of the neighboring counties and states
often simply left their mentally-ill residents on the streets of Cincinnati to
be cared for here.
Construction of Longview Asylum was begun
in the late 1850s along the Miami & Erie Canal on land than considered part
of Carthage. The new asylum which could accommodate 400 (with a separate building
for black patients) opened in 1860, west of present day Paddock Road.
Not a postcard
Longview in 1860
Thirty years later there were more than 800 patients, the canal was becoming an open sewer, and the asylum was receiving insufficient funding. Construction of new wards in the 1890s increased the capacity of the institution to 955. In 1927 the state took over and purchased more land and increased the capacity by 500. The asylum extended for 3 city blocks along Paddock Road encompassing about 300 acres. In the 1940s a medical building, a nurses home, and St. Dympha Chapel were completed. By 1953 the hospital had 3,568 patients and only 1,831 beds and was understaffed by 50%. Starting in the 1950s the use of mood controlling drugs allowed many of the patients to live at home. Group homes, halfway houses, and nursing homes reduced the population to 401 in 1987. Operations have now been consolidated in the most modern portion of the complex and is now called the Pauline Warfield Lewis Center in 1984 to honor a long time advocate for the mentally ill.
Reprint- Auditorium
Bridge over the Miami Erie Canal
250 Patient "Cottage"
Thanks to Susan Ferster the card above has been moved from the Help page to here. This building can be seen in the first card in the second row above (bottom left side). Constructed Ca. 1900 , it was built to house 250 patients and was probably razed in the 1980's.
MAPLE KNOLL HOSPITAL
This three story brick hospital was constructed in 1927 on 30 acres on State route 4 near Sharon Ave. It was a maternity hospital and asylum for neglected children. This was an agency of the Community Chest that was established in 1855.
ST. FRANCIS HOSPITAL
Located at 1860 Queen City
Avenue this hospital was started in 1886 by the Sisters of the Poor of St.
Francis. It was for the incurably ill and the elderly. The building sits on 10
hillside acres that had been a cemetery. The cemetery had been placed under
interdict in 1849 because of violations of canon law by its directors. The
trustees of the German Catholic Cemetery Association was selling plots to
persons "not in communion with the Church." They did this probably
because of financial problems. Thus when Archbishop Purcell laid the cemetery
under interdict it meant the land was no longer consecrated.. The graves were
moved to the St. Joseph Cemetery in Price Hill and the land was donated to the
Franciscan Sisters. A $25,000 bequest from Reuben Springer (1800-1884) enabled
the Sisters to begin construction.
The first patient was admitted on January 2,
1889. By 1938 the hospital had cared for 41,000 patients, 85% of whom had
been unable to pay. It was the only hospital west of the Alleghenies in those
days with facilities for treating cancer. By the 1970s it was obvious the hospital
was becoming obsolete and it was closed in 1981. This hospital merged with St.
George Hospital in Westwood. The new St. Francis-St. George Hospital open in
Westwood in 1982. This building is now listed in the National Register of
Historic Places and is now known as the South Fairmount Senior Center.
ST. GEORGE HOSPITAL
Dedicated in 1968 this hospital was operated be the Dominican Sisters of St. Mary of the Springs. This "Hospital with a Heart" was in Westwood and merged with St Francis in 1974. As noted above a new hospital opened in 1982.
ST. JOSEPH MATERNITY HOSPITAL
Founded in 1873 this institution, located on 18 acres on the southeast corner of Reading Road and Tennessee Avenue, cared for infants of poor or unfortunate mothers.
VETERANS ADMINISTRATION HOSPITAL
Built between 1948 and 1954 this facility at 3200 Vine Street was built to help the massive number of military personnel needing help after WWII and the Korean War. This 500 bed hospital opened in May of 1954
*
O. E. S. Hospital Seton Hospital. 6th St. Seton Hospital 617-627 Kenyon Ave
Order of Eastern Star
Affiliated with the Masons
Otto C. Epp Memorial Hospital
Madeline-Marie Nursing Home
was only Osteopathic Hospital in
& Hospital. 2321 - 2327 Upland Pl.
Cincinnati
The Langdon Medical Office. Moved to Sharon Woods Village from original site on Eastern Ave. Dr Langdon was in practice from 1865, after serving in the Civil War, until his death in 1876.
Axby Vetinary (sic) Hospital
Villa Hope Ex. Care Facility
Harrison, Ohio
625 Probasco Ave.
*
College Hill Sanitarium
The Cincinnati Sanitarium was located in College Hill at 5642 Hamilton Ave. It was the first private psychiatric facility in the U. S. for the treatment of nervous and mental disorders and occupied 32 acres with 5 buildings. It was established in 1873. One of the buildings, the administration building, occupied the site of The Ohio Female College which was founded in 1852.The sender of the first card writes, "It is a home for daffy people commonly called "nuts", it is not far from the A.?. S. Methodist Home". This probably refers to the Methodist home for the aged seen in the religious section. The second card was sent by a resident of the Sanitarium.
