Radio Script #883

Little Talks on Common Things
March 7, 1971

Now that the Fairfield Sanatorium has been closed as a tuberculosis center operated by the state, it is appropriate to devote a part of this program of Little Talks to the history of that institution, which did so much for half a century for people afflicted with the dread disease.

What became Central Maine’s renowned institution for the care of tubercular patients began with the modest plans of a young Fairfield doctor in 1908. Dr. Arthur A. Downs. especially cognizant of the problems of tuberculosis because of his afflicted sister, decided to do something to treat such patients. He secured support of leading citizens of Waterville and Fairfield, including Dr. Theodore Hardy, Sr., and both partners of the Emery Brown Co., Herbert Emery and Harry Brown. In June, 1910 a union service of all the Fairfield churches was held at the Fairfield Opera House. All persons interested in trying to prevent what was called the “white man’s plague” were urged to attend.

A result of that meeting was an area campaign for funds. When $3,000 had been raised, a clinic was set up. All suspected of having tuberculosis were urged to come to the clinic and be examined, without charge, by Dr. Downs. The next step was to set up a tent colony on the top of Atwood Mountain in Fairfield. It began with a single tent and two patients, but soon expanded. At first the patients spent nights at home. Each morning they were taken by horse and buggy to spend the day on the mountain. Next came a crude, wooden shack, accommodating 20 patients. No medical person lived on the premises, but Dr. Hardy joined Dr. Downs in the work. Both went to the mountain colony every day. In 1913 came a woman who dedicated years of service to the project. She was Nurse Elizabeth Marco. At first, in addition to being head nurse, she was superintendent, housekeeper, dietician and general manager.

That year of 1913 saw this fine, humanitarian project hit by two tragedies. One was a fire on July 9, that destroyed the building. The other was the death of Dr. Downs, when he was only 39 years old. After the fire the patients were lodged at the Atwood House on Fairfield’s Elm Street until Mrs. Frank Chase gave $5,000 in memory of her late husband. Together with insurance on the burned building, that enabled erection of a new structure called the Chase Memorial Building.

With the continuance and restoration of the work Miss Elizabeth Marco was devotedly concerned. In the early years there was no water supply at the top of the mountain. All water had to be brought up from a spring near the bottom of the western slope. Often Miss Marco was seen carrying pails of water up the steep hill. Such devotion was typical of all who worked there in those difficult years.

At that time, the San was not a public institution. It was privately operated by the Central Maine Association for the Relief and Control of Tuberculosis. The whole place was then known as the Chase Memorial Sanatorium. The Chase Building housed 25 patients in two large open wards, opening onto wide, covered porches. In fine weather beds were pushed out into the sunshine.

In 1915 the State took over. The legislature passed an act to provide for the care and treatment of tubercular persons. A board of trustees was appointed, with Dr. Hardy chairman, Kingsbury Piper of Fairfield as secretary, and Dr. C.H. Baird of Orono as treasurer. The new law authorized the trustees “to establish, by building, lease or purchase, one or more sanatoria in each district of the state as they shall deem best”. The trustees finally recommended the purchase of the private institutions already established at Fairfield and at Hebron. Acquiring the whole Fairfield property for $15,000, the State took over on September 1, 1915, and the name was changed to the Central Maine Sanatorium.

All classes of lung tubercular cases were admitted. Patients had to be residents of Maine and had to pay charges not exceeding $5 per week. Patients unable to pay that small amount were admitted at full cost to the state. Printed instructions were issued to all who had been granted admission. Among other things, those instructions said: “Patients coming from northern or eastern Maine may get off at West Benton. Patients are requested to notify the Sanatorium on arrival at the railroad station, and our conveyance will be sent to meet them. Patients should see that their teeth are in good order and all clothing plainly marked.”

The State began at once to make improvements on the property. The first need was an adequate water supply, and lines were piped to a stand pipe on top of the hill from the mains of the Kennebec Water District. A sewer line was also laid to the Kennebec River.

In 1918 came the first new building since the opening of the Chase Memorial. Accommodating 93 patients, it was named for Dr. Hardy. It cost about $50,000. In 1920 came the Milliken Building, actually an annex to the Chase Building, providing central kitchen and dining halls, and second floor rooms for employees. In 1923 was erected the children’s building, named for Dr. Downs. Ten years later it was converted into quarters for convalescent male patients.

In 1925 a home was put up for the superintendent, Dr. John Shaw. and named Shaw Cottage. Dr. Shaw had two terms of service as superintendent, first from 1915 to 1932. He returned again in the summer of 1936 and died in the service that November. During his absence from 1932 to 1936, the superintendent was Dr. Paul Wakefield. In 1927 was built the nurses’ home, appropriately named for Miss Marco. Then came the surgical building, named for Ralph Jewell of the trustees. In 1935 was built the central heating plant, and a ramp connected the Hardy and Jewell buildings. In 1939 came the employees’ building. In 1940 the Fairfield Sanatorium had a capacity of 208 patients served by 92 employees.

The last building to go up on the site was a three-story brick structure in 1955. Costing half a million dollars, it was named for Dr. George Young, organizer of the surgical department and for many years the chief surgeon. The basement of the big building housed the medical offices, the X-ray department, examining and treatment rooms, pharmacy, and other facilities. On the first floor were 18 semi-private rooms, diet kitchen, nurses’ station, and several utility rooms. In the wing were two modern operating rooms with sterilizing equipment and central supply. On the upper floors were patients’ rooms.

After Dr. Shaw’s death in 1936, Dr. Charles Cromwell served through the period of the Second World War until 1947. He was succeeded by Dr. Charles Popplestone, who was killed when his automobile was hit by a Maine Central train in 1949. Then for 18 years, until 1967, the Fairfield San was headed by Dr. William Grow.

A remarkable person joined the staff in 1946, when Dr. Wilhelm Szwienty became medical director. He had fled Germany in 1933 when Hitler and his Nazis came to power. Literally a man without a country, Dr. Szwienty tarried for a time in Czechoslovakia, France and Spain, coming from Spain to Mexico and eventually to the United States. So spectacular were some of the doctor’s adventures before he finally secured American refuge, that Erich Remarque, author of “All Quiet on the Western Front”, used him as the prototype for the hero of another novel, “Arch of Triumph”.

When the San closed in 1969, treatment differed markedly from the early days. No longer were patients taken for periods in the open pavilion, sometimes with the temperature below zero, bundled up in heaped bed clothes and snug caps, and their feet kept warm with stone receptacles filled with hot water – implements called pigs because of their shape. Visitors were supplied with heating pads to keep their feet from freezing.

The resident staff at the Fairfield San when it closed were George Henry, administrator; Dr. Percy McIntire, senior medical officer; Ernest Szelenyi, staff physician; Ernestine Briggs, director of nursing; May Gravel, assistant; Mary Morse, dietitian; Cecil Longstaff, plant engineer; Mary Olsen, social service and Maria Veilleux, housekeeper. A valuable service during the last ten years of the San was rendered by Rev. Allan Brough as chaplain, with his services paid for almost entirely by private subscription. Since the closing of the San, Mr. Brough has organized a state-wide chaplaincy service for nursing homes.

For a time a school of nursing was operated at the Fairfield Sanatorium. Its first graduate was Mrs. Esther Drew Manuel. Some well remembered and devoted nurses at the place were Margaret Brown Mitchell, and Natalie Ruth Horne, whose brother, Clifton Horne, also worked for 32 years at the San and was one of the first licensed practical nurses in Maine. Other remembered nurses were Mrs. Jennie Clair, Mrs. Abena Chase, Mrs. Marjorie Dodge, Mrs. Thelma Dostie, Mrs. Fernande Lemlin. and Mrs. Lilla Lewis.

For 36 years Don Atkinson was the San baker, and for 34 years Vinal Sibley was storekeeper. For 16 years Charles Dingley was chef. One of those fondest remembered was the social worker, Mary McDonald, who as a child had herself been a tubercular patient. Though without social service training, her experience and her sacrificial devotion made her more competent than many with social service degrees.

Mrs. Madeline Pinkham was for 25 years the medical secretary, and with her worked Mrs. Priscilla Bakera, a payroll clerk.

So long did many employees stay at the San that, when former patients returned for checkups, it was said to be like Old Home Week. While no longer a state hospital for treatment of tuberculosis, the Central Maine Sanatorium will not be abandoned as a medical center. Three prominent Augusta citizens. Kenneth Williams, Ralph Farris and John Lane have purchased the property from the State and are converting the famous San into a private psychiatric hospital for persons who need special medical care.

Year: 1971