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The Cambridge Hospital.
Cambridge has not been wanting in its charities even in its earliest times.
The
Church, which was then the
State, charged itself with the care of the sick poor.
Some were aided, in a small way to be sure, in their own houses.
Dr. Paige in his history gives us a list of charges, quaintly expressed, from which it appears that Brother Towne has £ 1 toward his expenses in sickness; Sister Banbrick, being sick, ‘had a breast of mutton;’ Sister Albone 7lbs.
of venison, some physic, and a bottle of sack, and brother Sill four quarts of sack for his refreshment in times of ‘fayntness.’
Others were ‘aided in supply of their manifold necessyties.’
About 1663 the care of the poor passed into the hands of the town, and for a hundred years after the poor were cared for by the selectmen in private families.
In 1779 the first workhouse and almshouse was opened on the corner of
Boylston and
South streets.
This proving unsatisfactory, soon another was built on the corner of North Avenue and Cedar Street, and called the Poor's House.
Here, for the first time, were appointed overseers of the poor, distinct from the selectmen, who were charged with providing everything necessary for the support of the poor, and the appointment of a physician.
This served the purpose till 1818, when a third was built in the square bounded by Harvard, Norfolk, Austin, and Prospect streets. In 1836 this last was burned with one of its wretched inmates.
Then followed a larger and much better building of brick on the banks of
Charles River, where the
Riverside Press now stands.
It was well arranged and well managed, and some parts of the building still remain.
This beautiful spot was abandoned in 1849 for the present stone structure in the northwest corner of the city, adjoining the
Somerville line.
Besides the public provisions for the sick poor, other charities
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have been created in
Cambridge by bequests and gifts.
That of
John Foster for the poor of the First Parish; of Levi Bridge under the care of the overseers for the time being, to be expended for the deserving poor of
Cambridge; of
Daniel White for fuel; of
Charles Sanders, of
Cambridge, the income of $10,000 for the prevention of intemperance and the reclaiming of inebriates, and again of the same
Charles Sanders a trust of $400,000 in aid of objects and purposes of benevolence or charity, public or private, a part of which is annually distributed in
Cambridge.
To these we must add the charities of the churches, the
Cambridge Humane Society, the
Avon Home for Children, and of individuals, a constantly flowing stream, the springs of which are known only to individuals.
The amount of these charities it is impossible to determine.
But these aids, as a little reflection will show, do not meet the wants for which hospitals are built.
Although the sick in the almshouses are accommodated with a hospital-room, and receive all the attention and kindly care possible under the circumstances, it is after all a poorhouse.
It is a mingling of those who have become sick through no fault of their own with the vicious, the degraded, those who have lost their citizenship, and even the criminal.
Reason or philosophize about it as we may, the very idea of going to an almshouse carries with it a sense of degradation.
It is no place for honest, well-intentioned persons who only ask our aid when sick or disabled.
With all the aid afforded by the churches, by bequests, by the trusts we have just enumerated, and by individuals, and all that the city, through the overseers of the poor and its medical officer, may give, this charity, so far as regards the relief of the sick poor, must of necessity be imperfect.
The surroundings of the sick, upon which so much depends, can be but slightly improved by gifts of money, the prescribed medicines may not be got or, if got, not properly administered; nursing may be entirely wanting.
Thus money will be wasted, and either the whole attempt fail for want of organization, or become a most expensive, unsatisfactory form of charity.
With a strong feeling that something could be done to improve this state of things,
Miss Emily E. Parsons, a benevolent lady of
Cambridge, who had with great acceptance served two years as nurse in the army hospitals in Fort Schuyler and on the
Mississippi, during the
War of the
Rebellion, opened in
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Cambridge, in 1867, with the aid of generous individuals, a hospital for women and children.
It was kept open a year, and then closed for want of a house.
It was reopened in 1869.
On the 13th of February, 1871, the
Cambridge Hospital for sick and disabled persons was incorporated.
Early in 1872 it became evident, by reason of a lack of interest in the community, that the hospital could no longer be kept open and, with the approval of
Miss Parsons, it was closed May 1, 1872.
It is due to this warm-hearted, energetic woman to declare that her interest in the hospital never flagged, and the hope never ceased that the day would come when the dearest wish of her heart would be realized.
In December, 1873,
Mr. Isaac Fay bequeathed to the hospital $10,000, with the restriction that it should be used only for the erection of buildings.
This generous bequest thus restricted was carefully invested.
In 1881, nine years after the hospital had been closed,
Cambridge having been increased by 20,000 inhabitants, the necessity for it became more and more apparent.
We were sending more than 100 patients annually to a single
Boston hospital.
Interest in the cause was renewed, and by liberal gifts, and especially by a ‘Fair’ held by the ladies of
Cambridge in December of the same year, $12,000 were added to its funds.
These funds were still further increased by many gifts during the following two years.
Mr. Fay's bequest had now reached $18,000.
The hospital inclosure contains nine and one third acres.
The soil is dry, gravelly, and sandy.
The surface upon which the buildings stand is about twenty-five feet above the level of the river, and sufficiently distant from its bank.
It is well raised above the crown of Mount Auburn Street. It has a water front of 500 feet. On the opposite side of the river is a park or meadow of seventy acres, given by
Professor Longfellow and others to Harvard College ‘to be held by the grantees as marshes, meadows, gardens, public walks, or ornamental grounds, or as the site of college buildings not inconsistent with these uses.’
Facing the south, the wards have the full influence of the sun, and a free course for the very desirable southwestern breezes of summer.
The river front effectually prevents all dust from that quarter.
In process of time the number of wards must be increased, and for this purpose all the nine acres of area may be required.
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The buildings of the hospital consist of a central or administration building, two separate wards, one for men and one for women, and a separate building for the care of cases of contagious disease.
The hospital was opened for the reception of patients in 1886, and since that time nearly 3000 sick persons have been cared for within its wards.
When full the hospital has accommodations for fifty patients.
The buildings and land have cost more than $100,000.
The annual cost for maintenance of the establishment has been for the past few years nearly $20,000, a sum of money considerably beyond the income of the invested funds of the institution; the deficit is made good by the gifts of the people of
Cambridge.
