The Sanatorium Project

09/03/2022

While setting up this year's Covered Bridge Festival Flashlight tours I intentionally marked last year's guests as completed. Little did I know that it was going to send everyone an email telling them that the order was completed. You were not charged again or anything like that, simply an automated response. My apologies.

For those that are interested I did just post the ticket information for this year's Covered Bridge Festival Flashlight tours.

A ticket for a guided, walking flashlight tour of the Indiana State Sanatorium. Tours will start approximately every 30 minutes and take around 90 minutes to complete. The tours will be first come, first served for those with tickets for the hour taking priority over walk ups. If you can’t make yo...

06/18/2022

Formally dedicated in December of 1923, children moved began moving into the Children’s Ward immediately. It was a large building that sat atop the first hill at the Sanatorium, now where the three ranch houses and the commercial building are located. It ran as an independent hospital from the adult wards. They had their own staff, kitchen, and incinerator.
Dr. J.V.Pace sent The Republican a letter stating that the Sanatorium would discontinue its Children’s building in May of 1938. He stated that they would begin using the Children’s Ward for adult cases, as the state believed the children could get better at home with proper nutrition and getting them away from the source of the infection, which was typically an adult in the home. The state felt that it was better for the sanatoriums to care for the adult cases instead of the childhood cases. It began housing adults and at one point, staff even took up residence there.
Photo credit: Frida Votto and the White family.

06/15/2022

The Chapel is located in the Administration building and was dedicated in 1950, during an impressive service and many gifts donated. A silk American Flag was a gift from the Rockville Woman’s Relief corps. A Christian flag was presented by the Sunday school of Bloomington who a former patient belonged to. Mrs. Cecil Neet presented a pulpit Bible in memory of her late husband who was an employee of the Sanatorium. The pews were a gift of Daniel Bruin, the chief engineer of the hospital. He was able to get them from the old Guion Presbyterian Church that he attended. We do not have any pictures of the Chapel back in its prime. The condition now is poor, though there are still oil on canvas paintings on the walls. We, unfortunately, have not found any pictures of the Chapel from before. Though we are sure it was as beautiful as the rest of the Administration building.

06/11/2022

It is time to share some more people of the past. Photo credit Fida Votto and the White family.

06/08/2022

The schoolhouse was built in 1925 by John Boswell of Bloomingdale and consisted of 4 classrooms and an auditorium big enough to seat 300 people. A stage was at one end of the auditorium and a “moving picture” booth at the other. On 11/1/1925, the school caught on fire due to faulty wiring. It was, however, repaired and used for quite some time after. It is unclear at this point, when the schoolhouse was demolished.

photo credit: Frida Votto and the White family.

06/04/2022

As we work hard to gather as much historical information as we can, we would also love to hear from you! Were you or someone you know a patient at the Sanatorium? If so, we would absolutely love to hear your stories and memories of the Sanatorium. If you have pictures that you would be willing to share, that would be amazing also! We know that there are still some people around, as we have had the privilege of meeting some of you. Please, help us piece together this large part of Indiana's history!

06/01/2022

Hillcraft Jewelry’s beginnings came straight from the Indiana State Sanatorium. William “Bill” M. May wrote a letter in 1947 to Don McNeill who was the master of ceremonies of the famed “Breakfast Club” radio program that originated in Chicago. Don read the letter over air and asked listeners to send “get well” cards to the patients at the Sanatorium. This resulted in a startling number of letters and cards being sent to patients. Bill May decided to add an extra “thank-you” to his letters by also sending a small piece of his handmade jewelry. After which, people began writing more letters asking for more of his lovely little designs and they wanted to buy! The name Hillcraft was born from this, as his jewelry began being sent all across the country from the Sanatorium, which sits on top of a hill outside of Rockville.
The Hillcraft Jewelry Company, Inc. was located on Stark Street in Rockville and was co-founded in 1949 by Allen H. Chamberlain and William M. May to provide employment with individuals who had physical disabilities. It resulted from an occupational therapy project that began at the Sanatorium. Both men had been patients at the Sanatorium. Their jewelry was beautiful and high quality. It was known for the original designs that were handcrafted by expert craftsmen and is still known nationwide.

05/25/2022

"A Memory Dedicated To Our Dad" by Kay Timm.

One day last summer, I accompanied my husband to an Indianapolis lumber yard to pick up custom milled boards he had ordered. It was a balmy, slightly windy morning and I was sitting in the car waiting for the material to be loaded. I couldn't help but notice the pleasant aroma of freshly sawed wood and the perfect order of the warehouse with all the same shapes and sizes stacked neatly together. My mind wandered and I thought, "Why is this sight and smell so pleasant to me?" Is it because it is something brand new, with the potential or promise of something beautiful to be made from the wood? Or, is it a reminder of a walk in the woods on a balmy summer day when a tree has just been felled?

Or, as I sat musing further, is it something deeper yet- a childhood memory perhaps that this aroma provokes. Of course! Immediately, I am transported back in time to my father's carpenter shop. The windows and doors were always open on a day such as this and the sawdust floated in the air. Even as a child of five or six, I appreciated the perfect order of the place. There was a special rack or container for every tool and supply and the projects were always in order of priority. I was a very curious child and I found the chisels, vices, and other tools so strange from anything I saw in our kitchen or the sewing box at home. I, of course, had to know what was going on at the time, what the item was, the reason for the repair, why a particular tool was used.

Today, almost sixty years later, I can see my father sitting on a stool in the shop with a cigar between his lips, looking more than a little amused at my questions and so proud that his workers are so patient with his little girl. It was a place where I felt "special" and loved. No wonder sixty years later, I like the smell of sawdust!

Pictured below:
Olin "Wh**ey" White- Greenhouse photo, 1959
Fire Crew photo, 1955

05/21/2022

Article from the Republican April 17, 1969.

05/19/2022

The exact year that Adam’s Hall was built is still in question. What we can tell you is that, during the Sanatorium, this building was used as staff residence. It was a much-needed building and helped solve the issue of where staff would live. There are 5 floors to this capital “I” shaped building. The first and second floors were two- and three-room apartments with a laundry room, storage room, and recreation area. Each of the third, fourth, and fifth floors had 18 rooms per floor, plus miscellaneous rooms. During Lee Alan Bryant, Adam’s Hall became the mental health hospital. This building has become one of the most well-known buildings at the Sanatorium.

Photo credit: Frida Voto and the White Family.

05/14/2022

From an article in Parke Place.

05/12/2022

Built the same year as the Superintendent’s Mansion, 1922, the doctors’ bungalows were for doctors to live in, though doctors still lived in the Administration Building also. During the Sanatorium days, there was a shortage of places for staff to stay. Reading through the board reports, it was common to have them stay in various places. At one point they had some staff staying in the old school and in one wing of the old Children’s Ward. Eventually, ISS was able to build what is now known as Adam’s Hall, the 5-story building, to serve as staff residence. Over the years, the roofs on the doctor’s bungalows have been leaking causing extensive interior damage. We do have plans to also fix these building. Unfortunately we do not have very many pictures of these buildings but if you come to visit, you can see as much of them as you would like!

Photo credit: Frida Votto.