Eloise (psychiatric hospital)

Eloise was a psychiatric hospital located in Southeastern Michigan. It operated from 1839 to the early 1980s, and housed not only the mentally ill, but poor and sick people as well. At its prime, Eloise consisted of 78 buildings and 902 acres (3.7 km²) of land. Now only ruins, an unmarked cemetery, sewer lids with "Eloise Hospital" engraved on them, and 4 of the original 78 buildings remain.

The history of Eloise
Eloise was voted into existence as a poor house by Detroit voters in 1832. In 1839, Wayne county added a former stagecoach stop to the complex. It wasn't until 1911 that Eloise gained its most famous name from the near-by post office. In the 1930s Eloise was running at its best. The psychiatric hospital was self-sufficient, containing a dairy farm, its own fire department, and over 7000 people. In 1981 Eloise officially closed its doors and rapidly went into decay.

Eloise present day
After closing its doors in 1981, the grounds of Eloise (Wayne County General Hospital ca. 1945) have been virtually cleared, leaving only four of the original buildings intact. Over the last 10 years, Wayne County has sold almost all of Eloise's 902-acre grounds to the Ford Motor Company and their developers. Some of the property also went towards building the Inkster Valley Golf Course. All that remains on the land today is a five-story brick hospital -- located at the very front of the grounds (now the Kay Beard Building) -- and several smaller structures: an old fire station, one powerhouse, a bakery and a commissary -- most located behind Kay Beard and in a dilapidated state. 22 acres, however, are still owned by Wayne County and await development. Nothing remains on the south grounds (farming grounds) that Eloise used. Most of it is an overgrown field, and there are still crops growing there to this day. The Michigan Signal Seekers (they fly remote control planes) use some of the land, and the cemetery is located behind their gate.

As of September 2006, the county has determined that the smokestack on the property (built in the early 1900s), is in such dilapidated condition that it is unsafe. It is in the process of being torn down. The smokestack itself was a highly recognizable landmark, so its loss is the cause of sorrow to many who live in the area and feel that the county should have done something to preserve it when the facility was closed in the 1980s. The current worry is that the lack of preservation will cause the other remaining buildings to eventually be torn down as well, to the point that there will be nothing left of this historical landmark.

The building behind the present Kay Beard building is used today as a family shelter for homeless parents with children, although talk among state leaders forsees the eventual closure of this section of the property as well.