Part V. State Institutions
- Wisconsin Home for Feeble-Minded
[pp. 731-732]
ALFRED W. WILMARTH ..................................................................................................
Superintendent and Steward
R. M. WILSON .................................................................................................................................
Assistant Physician
D. C. HAYWARD ..............................................................................................................................
Assistant Steward
Mrs. R. W. TAYLOR .........................................................................................................................................
Matron
Mrs. S. J. JENKINS ...........................................................................................................................................
Matron
Mrs. E. J. BOYCE ..............................................................................................................................................
Matron
Mrs. H. S. BUXTON ..........................................................................................................................................
Matron
Mrs. M. R. VOIGHT ..........................................................................................................................................
Matron
The legislature of 1895 instructed the Board of Control to
acquire, by purpose of donation, sufficient land for a home
for the feeble-minded and epileptic of the state, and appropriated
$100,000.00 for this purpose and the erection of suitable buildings.
In doing this the legislature builded well. The insane, the
blind and the deaf, for many years have enjoyed the fostering
care and liberal favors provided for them by the state. Their
claims upon the practical sympathy of the community have been
munificently responded to, and no one questions the duty of prospering
people to make the helpless the objects of their special care.
But during all these years the public has ignored and neglected
the idiot and the feeble-minded classes equally subject, equally
deserving and in all respects equally entitled to our care and
support. We confidently believe that the establishment now ready
for them, if carried to the hoped-for development, will be the
means of giving consolation to as many homes and happiness to
as many stricken hearts as any or all of our other magnificent
state institutions of which the people of Wisconsin are so justly
proud.
The Board of Control obtained warranty deeds to the state
of the 600 acres demanded. In addition, a part of the cash
bonus was used in purchasing adjoining lands likely to be
needed in the near future, so that now the state owns a clear
title to 1,021 acres of good land. The rest of the bonus, in
accordance with a verbal agreement, with the officials of the
city of Chippewa Falls, has been used in grading and laying out
drives and walks through 190 acres of this land and set aside
for the park grounds of the institution.
In the plans and arrangements of the buildings the Board
has given much careful study and consideration. Visits to similar
institutions in other states were made by members of the
Board and the architect, in order to profit by the experiences
and experiments of others.
The first point to be settled was the ultimate capacity of
the institution. The highest authorities in the land were consulted,
and they agreed that no institution of this kind should contain
over 1,000 inmates. The Board, in view of the fact that the census
shows about 3,000 feeble-minded and idiotic persons in the state,
decided to cover the extreme limit and set the final capacity
of the Home at 1,000. Everything so far has been constructed
with that object in view. The power-house and heating plant has
been built large enough for all future requirements; and so has
the laundry building. The sewer system, the water works pipes
and the electric light mains are all large enough for any future
use. It will only be necessary to put in additional machinery.
The underground pipes will not have to be disturbed, nor will
the buildings need to be enlarged. When the institution has been
completed to its limited capacity of 1,000, there will be about
twenty buildings, as follows:
An administration building; a dormitory for boys of 1st grade;
a dormitory for girls of 1st grade; a dormitory for boys of
2d grade; a dormitory for girls of 2d grade; a dormitory
for boys of 3d grade; a dormitory for girls of 3d grade; a dormitory
for boys (epileptics); a dormitory for girls (epileptics); a
custodial cottage for boys; a custodial cottage for girls; a
gymnasium and assembly hall; a school building for boys; a school
building for girls; a kitchen and general dining room for both
classes; hospital building, laundry, power house, shops, farm,
colony, barns, railway station, etc.
The appropriation of $100,000.00 made by the legislature
of 1895 was used as follows:
Contract for one custodial building and one dormitory .........................................................................................
$57,987
Contract for power-house and laundry ................................................................................................................
$10,350
Contract for steam-heating equipment .................................................................................................................
$15,794
Contract for sewerage system ...............................................................................................................................
$2,857
Contract for electric light plant ..............................................................................................................................
$2,491
Contract for pumping machinery ............................................................................................................................
$1,720
Contract for water-works system ..........................................................................................................................
$1,720
Preliminary work, architect's plans, surveying, superintendence
of construction, lumber, implements and tools .......... $4,037
The legislature of 1897 made a further appropriation of $75,000.00,
out of which a second cottage with a capacity of
150 inmates was built and other improvements made.
The legislature of 1899 made a further appropriation of $158,000
for new buildings, equipments and supervision. Of
this amount about $44,000 has been expended in erecting a
building for epileptics and furnishing the same. This new building
has a capacity of about 125 inmates.
The legislature of 1901 appropriated a further sum of $50,000
for the erecting and furnishing of new buildings. From this
appropriation and the remainder of the former appropriation
four new buildings were erected during the summer of 1902. The
buildings erected in 1902 were an administration building and
dining hall, a schoolhouse with a capacity of about six hundred,
and two dormitories with a capacity of 100 each.
The legislature of 1905 made an appropriation of $45,000
for an additional dormitory, tunnels and other improvements.
From that appropriation one dormitory was built which gave
the institution an additional capacity of one hundred inmates.
The institution now had a capacity of about seven hundred fifty.
The whole number of patients received since the opening of
the institution is 1,082. The average during the year ending
June 30, 1906, was 681, as against 657 the preceding year,
and the current expenses were $116,493.28, as against $106,596.62.
The buildings have been constructed with a view to solidity
and permanence, and not one dollar has been spent for
ornamentation. Nevertheless, the cottages are handsome and
imposing. There is nothing cheap and flimsy about them, but every
kind of material used is of the very best. The roofs are slate,
the gutters and cornices of copper, all the partitions are of
brick, and the buildings are of slow-burning construction throughout,
and as nearly fire-proof as is necessary.