Grew Up in Eloise

Hey are you my cuz??? lol

My grandparents lived in what was once Norwayne (now Westland), in the neighborhood created to give WWII workers housing-- across from Glenwood Cemetery. They then moved to a neighborhood just off Michigan Avenue and Venoy-- down the street from Westlawn Cemetery, which is across Merriman Avenue from the Eloise complex. I remember the multiple buildings of Eloise that were still standing in the 1970s, and I could never understand why all these existing brick buildings weren't renovated to provide housing for the homeless and low-income people, or at least fixed up a little for the sake of historical value. Now there is just the one main building on the property, and it's a damned shame. You can't build things like that any more.

Just curious what years your MIL's mother worked there and what year the spoons are from? Would you mind sharing a photo of them? I just recently discovered my Grand-Aunt Mary/Marie Dee Kennedy Alexander was a patient in this mental hospital from about 1925 until her death in 1945 at age 58/59. She was my grandmother's older sister and this was not something anyone ever brought up, a family secret I guess you would call it. My grandma was the baby of the family and and I was born when my Mom's was in her 40s so most of the older generations were deceased already or really old when I was born or died when I was a child. I only found out while doing family tree research recently and found her in the census' listed as patient/inmate and via her death certificate. I've seen some videos on youtube (one filmed in 1993 back when it was popular to wander around the place as it was considered a haunted place) and it appeared they just left patient records and charts behind with the furniture and metal cabinets, etc...so other than census records, I wonder if any of the old patient records survive? (for it appears no one took any great care to preserve them). By all accounts it would have been a hell-hole for my grand aunt to have lived there so many years, death would have come as a blessing! I'm sure no one has a record anymore of the patient names that would be linked to the numbered grave stone markers in the cemetery? I find myself feeling quite sad after watching all these videos and reading many blogs and articles written about the deplorable nightmare conditions and atmosphere that existed in this huge facility that affected thousands and thousands of people's lives for a century and a half!