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Supervisors in Goshen on the afternoon of December 16, 1890. Bradner requested a portion of the Children's Homeland be donated to the Association for the purpose of erecting a hospital on the site. She was described at the time as "an easy, fluent speaker, and in choice language she clearly and earnestly set forth the aims and purposes of the association, and the needs of such an institution." Despite this, and the presentation of a supporting petition, the request was rejected.
Finally, in the spring of 1891, Mrs. S. Maretta Thrall donated land and the money to build the hospital. Ground was broken without ceremony by Robert O. Lewis, the mason hired to construct the foundation, on June 1, 1891. Named in honor of the donor, Thrall Hospital was opened and dedicated May 10, 1892. Coincidently, on the same day, the Daily Press published the proposed plan of Thrall Park, which had been recently donated by Mrs. Thrall. The park layout was prepared by L.F. Olney, a Middletown Civil Engineer.
The first case treated at the hospital was on May 13, 1892. Young Fred Clark was brought in for treatment of a "diseased gland of the neck" by Dr. Hulett. As this was the first case, Hulett also invited Drs. Hanmer, Mills, Pillsbury, Douglas, and Fancher to be present. The gland was removed.
Thrall Hospital's board of managers merged with Horton Hospital's board of directors June 19, 1928. When Horton opened on March 12, 1929, the ten remaining patients at Thrall were transported by ambulance to the new hospital. The merger of the two hospitals was complete.
Thrall was closed when Horton opened. In 1938, the abandoned hospital building was demolished and the land added to Thrall park. Thrall had stood at 23 Grove Street.
MIDDLETOWN SANITARIUM
Around the turn of the century, Mr. and Mrs. George Clemson became interested in the treatment methods of the Battle Creek (Michigan) Sanitarium founded by Dr. J.H. Kellogg. When their son Richard had pneumonia, Carrie Schultz (later Mrs. Boston), a graduate of the Sanitarium's nursing school, was hired to care for him.
As a result, a Sanitarium was established in Middletown with a gift of $5,000 from Mr. clemson. Dr. A.J. Reed from Philadelphia helped locate and set up the facility. Originally, the first floor of the building which stood at 46-48 East Main Street was rented. (This area is now the site of Webb Horton Church). The Battle Creek' Sanitarium Treatment Rooms, as it was then called, opened apparently around 1903 or 1904 under the management of nurse Carrie Schultz. In the s and Mrs. Alfred E. Robie, also graduates of the Battle Creek