Butler County Genealogy Trails Kansas Susan B. Allen Bio

Butler County’s Eighty Years ~ 1855-1935

by Jessie Perry Stratford

A History of Butler County Biographical Sketches and Portraits with Foreword by Rolla A. Clymer

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Spode, Italian, Jampanese, Chinese, Dresden China, Indian Pottery, Ridgeway, Czecho Slovakia, Haviland, Spanish, Willoware, Satsuma, Old English, Belleek, Titan, Crackled Doulton, Van Briggle, gold luster, gold, copper luster, hobnail, milk glass, pewter, et cetera.

The array is attractively grouped, with one section devoted to imported pitchers. One group represents flowers, insects, birds, fowls and animals. A huge pig has a brilliant lining. Another pitcher is a gorgeous butterfly.

In pilgrimages to art and antique shops, Mrs. Spain has learned much of pitcher lore. The lure of a hobby is that the quest never ends. To the uninitiated, it might seem that every known ware, pattern, color, age and shape is represented in Mrs. Spain’s collection. Mrs. Spain regards her collection as incomlete. Relatives and friends have discovered that no gift to her inspires the same warm smile of appreciation as the gift of a pitcher and this knowledge accounts for many of the treasured antiques on her shelves.

“So many of my friends exclaim, “What in the world will you do with all these pitchers?” Mrs. Spain said. “I reply that I do not care what becomes of them when I am gone. The pleasure of accumulating my treasures, of caring for and looking at them every day, above all, of showing them to my friends, has long ago repaid me for any work and expense the collection has involved.”

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ALLEN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

The model Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital, located in the seventh block on West Central Avenue, between Atchison and Topeka Streets, El Dorado, is not only an institution of service for sick and unfortunate humanity, but is one of the show places of this section of Kansas.

It is built of marble, concrete, brick and steel, and has a capacity of fifty beds; its equipment is the most modern possible to medical and surgical science; its value, in actual cost of building, equipment, two nurses’ homes and the site, is conservatively estimated at $200,000. Of this amount Frank S. Allen, in memory of whose mother the hospital is named, has contributed more than $175,000 in cash and property.

According to Mr. Allen’s own statement, he recognized the necessity of a modern hospital in El Dorado many years ago, and as far back as 1910, he definitely decided to provide such an institution. Originally he planned to create a fund in his will to erect and endow it. During the spring of 1930 he attended a series of meetings of El Dorado civic clubs, during which the hospital movement received attention. Then he decided to make the gift at once.

In June, 1930, Mr. Allen announced a gift of $100,000 in cash, and the land upon which the Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital now stands; and, in addition, two large houses, one of which had been the Allen home for nearly fifty years. These two buildings have since been converted into nurses homes, located on the northeast corner of the hospital grounds.

The gift, which meant the realization of a half century dream of the people of El Dorado, created intense interest, not only in Butler County, but throughout this entire section. It was the most outstanding philanthropy in the long annals of the community and remains one of the most generous individual gifts ever made in the state of Kansas.

During the latter part of 1930, members of the hospital board, accompanied by architects, visited cities and inspected hospital buildings with a view of adopting plans and specifications, contracts were let and many other preliminary tasks completed. Actual construction started on January 31, 1931. The beginning was informal. Several members of the board and a group of citizens, together with the contractors and a large number of workmen, assembled at a point which was to become the northeast corner of the building and Mr. Allen was requested to turn the first spade-full of dirt.

The work was finished September 19, 1931, a little more than six months later, in the dedication of one of the finest and most thoroughly equipped buildings of its kind in America. From the basement to the roof, it is scientifically complete and overlooked. The major and minor operating rooms, nursery and the crippled children’s section, solarium, ambulance and elevator service, are thoroughly equipped. Every feature possible to modern hospitalization is included. The institution has received the warmest approval of scientific investigation and physicians and surgeons have pronounced it perfect in every detail.

On May 14, 1931, ceremonials attending the laying of the cornerstone, were held. Masonic ritual directed the program; uniformed lodgemen, hundreds of school children and additional hundreds of private citizens; representing all classes of people, marched in parade, brass bands played and notable men made addresses. The principal address was delivered by Judge George J. Benson of the District Court, son of former Mayor William F. Benson, .life-long personal friend of Frank S. Allen.

PORTRAIT OF MRS. ALLEN

On Christmas Eve, 1931, Frank S. Allen was presented with a life-size portrait of his mother. The gift, long-planned by the hospital board of directors and the doctors’ staff, was a complete surprise to Mr. Allen. The presentation was made Christmas Eve, at the hospital, by Judge George J. Benson, member of the hospital board, in behalf of the directors and doctors’ staff, most of whom were present, and Mrs. Marion Koogler –Atkinson, of San Antonio, Texas, contributor of large gifts to the hospital. Mrs. Atkinson had supervised arrangements for the portrait which was painted by DeYoung, a prominent artist of New York City.

The portrait is splendidly done and is mounted in a handsome walnut frame,

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(Insert picture of Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital)

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at the top of which is an electric lamp diffusing a soft glow over the canvas. The picture hangs on the west wall of the hospital’s main reception room, where, entirely unbeknown to Mr. Allen, a place was left for it when the room was planned and later furnished.

OPENED SEPTEMBER 19-20, 1931

Kansas newspapers devoted columns to pictures and stories concerning Opening Days of the magnificent Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital, although no formal

ceremonies marked that occasion.

During the two opening days, Saturday and Sunday, September 19-20, 1931, the hospital Women’s Auxiliary and assistants ushered 3,500 visitors through the building; 1,000 visitors on Saturday, and 2,500 on Sunday. Every part of the building was open for inspection except the west end of the first floor, where Martin Glassburner, of Leon, the first patient admitted to the hospital, and James Dudley, of El Dorado, the second, were confined with broken legs. They had been removed from St. Luke’s to the new hospital.

Visitors from El Dorado, from every part of Butler County and from various sections of Kansas, continue to marvel at the size and magnificence of the building; the extent and perfection of equipment, and the modern facilities that contribute toward making the hospital the finest institution of its size in the Middle West.

Landscaping of the grounds surrounding the hospital was well underway before the building was finished. A great variety of perennially-blooming shrubs were planted and a modern sprinkling system installed. A solid carpet of blue grass covers the area, which is an outstanding beauty spot of the town the year around. Purchase of the southwest corner of the block and landscaping of that area was effected late in 1934.

Saturday afternoon, March 26, 1932, a crowd gathered at southeast corner of Susan B. Allen Hospital grounds for impressive ceremonies incident to planting two trees in commemoration of the George Washington bicentennial. Susannah French Putney Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution, and William Rittenhouse Chapter of Children of the American Revolution sponsored the ceremonies.

HOSPITAL’S FIRST BABY

Little Miss Susan B. Harvey, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Harvey, has the honor of having been the first baby born in Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital. She was born at 12:59 o’clock Wednesday morning, September 23, 1931. Nancy Jane Jones, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Jones, born September 24, was the second occupant of the hospital nursery. Clarence Ernest VanFleet son, of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel VanFleet of Midian, was the first baby boy born in the hospital, September 26, 1931. A labor of love for the hospital was the painting of Mother Goose murals on walls of the nursery by Flora Leland and Irene Haines Leet, artists, assisted by Miss Cecelia MacKinnon, a youthful artist. The paintings are from original designs. Many weeks were required for their completion.

Many public-spirited persons have given generously of time and money in helping to make Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital the great standard institution that it is.

The board of directors, especially loyal and industrious, includes, F. S. Allen, president; J. W. Kirkpatrick, G. R. Atherton, W. R. Brown, J. B. McKay, J. R. Stewart, R. A. Clymer, T. A. Helling, Judge George J. Benson, Merton King of Potwin and George Smith of Augusta. Honorary members are R. H. Bradford, L. D. Hadley, J. C. Powell and James H. Sandifer.

The hospital is the fourth in Kansas to be accredited under rules and regulations of the state, and one of 2,294 hospitals in the United States and Canada approved by the American College of Surgeons.

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(Insert picture of Mrs. Susan B. Allen)