The flat above the A. S. Putnam Drug Store on the corner of S, Cedar and Walnut served as a hospital from the 1890’s to late 1930. SCHS Photo.
In the days before large medical facilities and regional trauma centers, Manistique’s sick and injured were cared for in small, private hospitals, usually owned by the physician who treated patients there. During a 1949 interview, Dora (James) Middlebrook recalled some of Manistique’s earliest hospitals. Dora was a pioneer resident of Manistique, having visited in the 1870’s with her father, Ebenezer James, founder of the Jamestown mill. She later became the bride of William Middlebrook.
The first hospital Mrs. Middlebrook remembered was a large house at the end of Schoolcraft Avenue on the road to Thompson. This hospital served Manistique residents during the early days of big pine lumbering. The occupation was a hazardous one, often resulting in serious injuries. Another hospital Mrs. Middlebrook recalled was located on Main Street, across from a large boarding house. This hospital was built and operated by Dr. Patterson and his wife who came to Manistique from Lake Linden.
Dr. Andrew Nelson came to Manistique in 1902. He owned a small hospital on River Street, practicing medicine there from 1902 to 1924, before he moved on to Iron Mountain.
The second story flat above the A. S, Putnam drug store served as a hospital for nearly four decades. Built following the great fire of 1893, it stood on the southwest corner of Cedar and Walnut Streets where Wheaty’s pavilion is today. Some of the early physicians who cared for patients there were Dr. Omer Bowen, Dr. Hafford, and Dr. Frank Raine. Beginning in 1912, Dr. Samuel H. Rutledge opened a medical practice there as both a physician and surgeon. The location was known for years as the Rutledge Hospital. One had to climb a steep, narrow stairway, or be carried on a stretcher, to reach the second floor. Doctor Rutledge performed over 1000 operations at this hospital before he relocated to Sturgis, Michigan in May of 1927.
Dr. George A. Shaw arrived in Manistique in July of 1927 after completing his internship at Harper Hospital in Detroit. He took over the practice of Dr. Rutledge in the A. S. Putnam building. Dr. Shaw’s first hospital continued to accept patients through the fall of 1930. He then purchased the W.B. Thomas home at 209 Range Street and had it completely renovated as a hospital facility. The new Shaw Hospital began receiving patients on August 5, 1931; many of them transferring from the small Manistique Hospital at 119 Lake Street. This hospital had formerly been owned by Dr. William Thomson and was managed by his widow, Louise Thomson. The Manistique Hospital (1929-1931) was closed, once the new Shaw Hospital was fully operational.
The former Shaw Hospital building located at 209 Range Street is now a private residence.
The Shaw Hospital was able to provide care for up to 20 patients in four wards and in two private rooms. In addition, the hospital was outfitted with a fully equipped operating room and an x-ray room. Truly a community hospital, it was open to all doctors practicing in Schoolcraft County and their patients.
In 1939, the Manistique Women’s Club donated $2,000 for the establishment of a modern maternity room at the hospital to be used exclusively by expectant mothers for the delivery of their babies. This was combined with up to $19,000 in federal funds to be provided yearly to Schoolcraft County for the establishment of a program for maternal aid and child welfare. Both the federal aid and the Women’s Club donation were spurred on by the shocking statistics showing that Schoolcraft County had the second highest rate of infant mortality for children under one year of age in the State of Michigan. This was an era when most babies were born at home or in private “maternity homes.”
By 1945, the Manistique area Chamber of Commerce and local physicians began exploring the establishment of a publicly owned municipal or county hospital. The new Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital on Main Street became a reality five years later. Moving day was set for June 1, 1950 when all the patients crowded into the old Shaw Hospital were moved to the more spacious new facility. The Morton ambulance service assisted with the transfer of patients. Just before the patients were to be moved, Mrs. Marion Caldwell gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Had the arrival been delayed just a little longer, the child would have been showered with presents as the first baby born in the new hospital.
The former Shaw Hospital was purchased in August of 1950 by Mr. and Mrs. Claude Wendland who converted the facility into a convalescent home for “ailing and aged” people. The home had space to care for up to 25 residents. A little more than one year later, the citizens of Manistique were shocked to learn of the sudden death of Dr. Shaw on October 1, 1951. He succumbed from a heart attack at age 55 while hunting in the woods.
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