by Shannon Butler
Living in this Covid era, we are all concerned with sickness and health, perhaps more than usual. So let us take a moment to look at a hospital that has been somewhat forgotten, though it has been repurposed for educational pursuits: the Bowne Memorial Hospital. At the turn of the 20th century, there was another health concern that had no cure, and was transmitted through droplets. This disease was known as Tuberculosis (or if you want the romantic Victorian term, Consumption). Patients with TB who went untreated had a 50% chance of dying within several years of contraction. People tended to avoid those with TB, and there was certainly a need for places to house these patients while continuing to work on therapy and finding a cure.
Samuel W. Bowne was a merchant and chemist from New York City, and by the late 19th century, he had managed to make a good deal of money selling Scott’s Emulsion, which was said to help the immune system, amongst other things. When Bowne died in 1910, his wife Nettie wanted to find a cause to contribute some of her husband’s wealth to. Nettie found inspiration from her cousin, prominent member of Poughkeepsie society Edmund P. Platt, and Doctor Grace Kimball, who had served as the Vassar College assistant physician, as well as operating her own practice here in Poughkeepsie. Both Platt and Kimball were involved in the work of creating a Tuberculosis camp just outside of Poughkeepsie around 1909. Bowne’s husband had always wanted to build a hospital for TB patients, so she gave well over $60,000 to the project. Dr. Kimball would stay on as the President for the hospital board of trustees until her death in 1942.
Before Bowne’s money came along, the camp had a facility to house only 20 patients. With the $60,000 in hand, they were able to add more wings, allowing for an additional 55 beds. Bowne’s generosity also helped with the purchase of X-ray equipment and a quartz lamp for light ray treatments. It was believed that lots of light, fresh air, and some light forms of exercise were the main ways to treat TB, hence the open-air sleeping porches that lined the side of the building (seen in the photos on the right). By 1928, the max capacity of the hospital was 127 patients (105 were admitted that year). The comfortable rooms and apartments (if you wanted to pay a bit extra) were designed to allow for light flow and access to the balcony. The idea of the hospital was to allow patients with lesser means to receive the finest care available at the time.
By 1921, the bacilli Calmette-Guerin (or BCG) vaccine became available and within 25 years, doctor’s would see a drastic reduction in the amount of TB cases that required hospitalization. Now TB is treated with a combination of antibiotics which did not really come into use until the 1940s. By 1956, there was no longer a need for a hospital that focused solely on something that was now fully understood and curable by modern medicine. The hospital closed its doors, and the site was soon chosen by the Dutchess County Board of Supervisors as the new site for the Dutchess County Community College. The main hospital building would become the first building for the college to hold classes, and it still stands today, home to the administrative offices for the campus.
Resources:
Annual Reports for the Samuel W. Bowne Memorial Hospital – 1912-1937 LH.362.11 B
Samuel and Nettie Bowne Hospital brochure, 1928 LH.362.11 B
Dateline 16 Dec 2014, Poughkeepsie Journal Tony Musso
World Health Organization’s Fact Sheet on Tuberculosis
Photos Shown:
1 – Image of the exterior of the hospital in 1912
2 – Image of the sleeping porch showing patients in beds. 1912
3 – The Outdoor rock garden for patients to enjoy in 1928
4 – The main building in 1928
5 – Photo of the sleeping porch in 1928 with many patients enjoying the sun
6 – The latest treatment for TB in 1928, the Violet ray treatment.
7 – Photo of the hospital’s long serving president Dr. Grace Kimball (date unknown but probably taken around the time she arrived in Poughkeepsie to serve at Vassar, 1896), part of the Vail Photograph Collection PPLD Local History Collection
