Health Care Facilities: Allenwood Hospital, 1920-1970s

In the early twentieth century, tuberculosis (TB) was a serious problem. Out of a growing concern for public health, the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, in 1916, deputized a volunteer organization called the Monmouth County Organization for Social Services. Its job, with the aid of the Public Health Department, was to locate people who had contracted TB.  Once located, these patients were examined by local physicians. They would then become county charges who were placed in hospitals throughout the state that dealt with this disease.

The Freeholders became aware that there was a need for a county sanitarium so that, while convalescing, the afflicted would not be far from family and friends. Attention given to the problem by the Freeholders, state tuberculosis clinics, the Public Health Nursing Service, and the MCOSS, as well as by local communities, resulted in the establishment of the Allenwood Sanitarium, later known as Allenwood Hospital, and today as the Geraldine Thompson Medical Home.

Federal policies concerning construction during World War I postponed completion of the tuberculosis hospital, which opened on January 10, 1921. What was once a small one-story building, holding a mere twenty-eight patients, evolved into a model institution where more than seventy patients could be cared for in a facility recognized for its high standards and its highly qualified staff of health care professionals. A chronology of the Allenwood Hospital can be found at the end of this finding aid.

Geraldine L. Thompson

Called “The First Lady of New Jersey” by New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, and granted awards and certificates from universities, state, county and local agencies, and from Congress, the namesake of the Geraldine L. Thompson Medical Home is a prominent figure in the history of New Jersey health care.

Thompson was born Geraldine Livingston Morgan on March 22, 1872. She was privately educated in France at the Convent of the Sacre Coeur. She married sportsman and social leader Lewis Steenrod Thompson in 1896. In 1912, she founded the Monmouth County Organization for Social Service. This organization was chiefly responsible for the creation of the county tuberculosis center that now bears her name. Geraldine Thompson was the only woman in New Jersey given an honorary masters degree in Philanthropy from Rutgers.

A childhood playmate of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Geraldine Thompson was a guest at the White House during both the Roosevelt administration as well as Herbert Hoover’s. Brookdale Community College is built on land that she willed to the County. She died on September 9, 1967.

On her 88th birthday Governor Meyner said, “I speak for all the informed people of New Jersey in saying that this state owes a special debt to you for a lifetime of vigorous, fruitful and generous service on behalf of those who are unequipped to speak for themselves.” Quoted in “Mrs. Lewis W. Thompson. Former Member of the Board of Control Lauded,” The Psychogram, 44:10 (April 1960), 5.

These records pertain primarily to Allenwood Hospital, known since 1968 as the Geraldine Thompson Medical Home. The Allenwood Hospital records series consists of minutes, correspondence, publications, and photographs. There are twenty-nine years of minutes of board meetings, over fifty years of correspondence and printed materials pertaining to budget, construction, and other subjects. There are also publications from Allenwood and other hospitals. Lastly, there are numerous photographs, both black-and-white and color, in different sizes. Except for large prints, the photographs are in folders.

Box 1 and 2. Minutes and Correspondence

Primarily contains minutes of the board meetings (1921-1952) and correspondence (1923-1970’s), including folders of correspondence of Mrs. Geraldine Thompson and Miss Elizabeth Hynes, R.N., Superintendent of Allenwood Hospital.

Box 3. Subject Files

Contains annual reports (1921-1931) and other printed materials including budgets, various maintenance and construction plans, as well historical information about Allenwood Hospital. There are also various publications from other hospitals and a history of Monmouth County from 1683 to 1929.

Box 4. Photographs

Contains photographs of the hospital, staff, patients, and grounds. The photos are in both color and black-and-white and range in size from 3×5 to 11×14 inches, although most of the photos are 8×10. Many are loose; some are in booklets. Primarily, the photographs depict the interior and exterior of the hospital. The interior photographs are of offices, patients, and staff.

This collection is open to researchers with the exception of the Commitment records.  See RELATED INFORMATION.

Except for the Commitment records, this collection is available to researchers in its original format at the Monmouth County Archives.

Monmouth County Archives
125 Symmes Drive
Manalapan, NJ 07726
Phone: 732-308-3771

Most of the records were transferred to the Monmouth County Archives in October 2001 by Donna Clayton Gaj, Secretarial Assistant, under the direction of Diana Czerepuszko, Administrator, Monmouth County Care Centers, Geraldine L. Thompson Division, Allenwood (Accession 2001-08). A small amount of administrative correspondence, transferred to the archives in 1991 by Dorothea K. Holmes, Retired Coordinator, Monmouth County Tuberculosis Control Program, was merged with the correspondence in the 2001 accession.

The Monmouth County Archives also holds Allenwood Hospital Commitment records, 1931-1960, which are restricted. The Commitment series contains applications from residents for care in the Allenwood Tuberculosis Sanatorium, as it was also known. These applications were submitted to the Common Pleas Court and later the County Court. The applications came to be in the Archives because they were a record of the County Clerk due to that official being the Clerk of the Courts at the time. In addition to this series, there are newspaper clippings about the Geraldine L. Thompson Medical Home (formerly Allenwood Hospital), 1971-1986, in the Red Bank Register collection, filed under Nursing Homes.  Additional records related to Geraldine Thompson are in the MCOSS and Monmouth County Welfare Board record series.

Box	Folder	Title	Dates
1	1-30	Minutes of Board Meetings	1921-1952
	31	General Correspondence	1920
	32-45	Correspondence	1923-1935
	46	: Mrs. Geraldine (Lewis S.) Thompson	1935
	47	: Miss Elizabeth Hynes	1936
	48	Correspondence	1936
	49	: Mrs. Thompson	1937
2	50-54		1937-1950’s
	55-59		1965-1970’s
	60		undated
		Subject Files
	61	Statistics, pamphlets, budgets, misc.	1960’s
3
	62	Chapel plans	undated
	63	History, reports, background information	undated
	64	Maintenance, budgets, construction, misc.	undated
		Publications
	65	A Sketch of Monmouth County 1683-1929	1929
	66	Training manuals : Allenwood Hospital. Article Psychology of the Sick. Copy of patient admission form	1935
		Allenwood Hospital Booklets
	67	History of Allenwood Hospital	undated
	68	Information for patients	1956
	69-74	Annual Reports	1921-1931
		Other Hospital Publications
	75	American Hospital Association. Pamphlet: Caring for the Chronically Ill.	1947, 1964
	76	Bonnie Burn Sanatorium	1949-1951
	77	City of Chicago TB Sanitarium	1941-1944
	78	Iowa University	1956
	79	Roosevelt Hospital	1946-47, 1953
	80	John E. Runnells Hospital	1956, 1966
	81	Valley View Sanatorium	1946
	82	Manual of Hospital Standardization	ca. 1941
		Allenwood Hospital- Photographs in Folders (Box 4 located in vault)
4	83	P1 (photocopy) exterior grounds. B&W. 8 x 10	1921
		P2 recreation area. B&W. 8 x 10	1922
		P3 exterior grounds. B&W. 8 x 10	1922
		P4 patient in room. B&W. 8 x 10	1922
		P5 patio area. Occupied. B&W. 8 x 10	1923
		P6 outdoor meeting. B&W. 8 x 10	1927
		P7 actual of P1. B&W.   5 x 7	1921
		P8 exterior grounds. Winter. B&W.   3 x 5	1922
	84	P9 hospital building. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P10 exterior ground; structures. B&W.   3 x 5	undated
		P11 patio; occupied. B&W. 5 x 7	undated
		P12 building. B&W. 5 x 7	undated
		P13 exterior grounds. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P14 exterior toward main building. B&W. 5 x 7	undated
		P15 young girl doing crafts. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P16 patient doing crafts. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P17 patient in recreation room. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P18 exterior with senior staff. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P19 patient doing crafts. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
		P20 patient doing crafts. B&W. 8 x 10	undated
	85	P21 patient room (occupied). B&W. 8 x 10	1948
		P22 exterior hospital building. B&W. 8 x 10	1948
		P23-30 Small photo packet. B&W. 3×5. Exam rooms. See folder 91.	1954
	86	P31 dining area. B&W. 8 x 10. P32. Exam room. B&W. 5 x 7	1954
	87	P33 (photocopy), many photos on one sheet. Staff.	1955
	88	P33a Allenwood Sanitarium. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P34 Miss Reilly. B&W.   8 x 10	1956
		P35 Mr. John Fritz. 2 copies. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P36 Mr. Robert Smith, Ms. Carol Swikart-Occupational Therapist. 2 copies. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P37 Mr. Clifford Johnson.   B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P38 Dr. George McDonnell- Medical Director, Mrs. Edith Anderson. 2 copies. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P39 Mrs. Virginia Birdsall. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P40 Mr. Ivan Kozia. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P41 patient sewing. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P42 Ms. Alma Ham. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P43 Mr. Edgar Wymbs, Mrs. Nancy Savino, Mr. John Fritz. Nativity scene. 2 copies. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P44 Mr. Ivan Kozin. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P45 Mr. Edgar Wymbs. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P46 Mrs. Haruko (Nancy) Savino. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P47 Mr. John Caroli. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P48 Mrs. Rosemary Erhardt-Superintendent. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P49 Nurse. Unnamed. B&W. 8 x 10	1956
		P50 Ms. Carol Swikart-Occupational Therapist. B&W. 8 x 10. Mrs. Jean Britton.	1956
	89	P51 interior of woodshop. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P52 interior, woodshop w/ patients. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P53 interior of sewing area. Patients. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P54 Crafts area, with patients. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P55 exterior, patients painting doghouse. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P56 crafts area. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P57 sewing area. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P58 secretary patient typing. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		P59 interior crafts area. B&W. 8 x 10	1958
		Photos– Loose
		P60 aerial shot of prosecutor’s office. Color. 11 x 14	1995
		P61 exterior of hospital. B&W. 11 x 14	Undated
		P62 aerial view of hospital. B&W. 11 x 14.	Undated
		P63 aerial view of hospital. B&W. 11 x 14.	Undated
	90	Photos-Separate packet. Color, 3 x 5.
		P64 exterior of hospital	Undated
		P65 interior eating area	Undated
		P66 interior, office	Undated
		P67 exterior, hospital building	Undated
		P68 interior, file room, office	Undated
		P69 interior, office	Undated
		P70 interior, office, shelves	Undated
		P71 receptionist’s office	Undated
		P72 treatment room	Undated
		P73 treatment area, laboratory	Undated
		P74 office, break room	Undated
		P75 patients room	Undated
	91	Bound photo packet, black-and-white, 3 x 5	1954

DATE	EVENT
1911	First thoughts of Sanitarium begin in 1911.
1912	Study of tuberculosis by Monmouth County organization for Social Service, November 1912.
1921	Sanitarium opened (capacity 28 patients) January 10, 1921. Total number of patients admitted:104.
1922	Total # of patients admitted for year: 79. Two more pavilions added. A second artesian well, two hydrants and hose lines are added.
1922-1923	Chapel built, possibly initiated by patients. Material and labor donated and provided. Building started in the fall of 1922, completed 1923. Only purchase necessary was the stained glass windows.
1923	Free weekly clinics begun throughout the country; second floor reconstructed for female patients who were convalescing; ten feet added to women’s ward for an assembly hall; staff building opened.
1924	Pagoda spaces enclosed, screened, and painted allowing for six new beds.
1924-1925	Nurses home was built between 1924-1925. Acquired x-ray equipment Sleeping porch added to nurses home. Total # of patients admitted for year: 101.
1926	New wing including ten rooms, laboratory and drug rooms, diet kitchen, enlarged patient’s dining room and sewing room; complete x-ray equipment added as well as a runway and trestle to facilitate the unloading of coal for the powerhouse. Total # of patients admitted for year: 90.
1927-1928	Use of Streptomycin introduced in 1927-1928. Mutual partnership with Ocean County; another small chapel was completed and dedicated on October 7, 1928; a clinic for former hospital cases was started in May of 1928. Total # of patients admitted for 1927:133; for 1928:113.
1929	Construction included two new pavilions, two cubicles, an addition to the main building, a nurse home and a building for men bringing the capacity to 90 beds. Total # of patients admitted for year: 139.
1930	Capacity of Sanitarium: 73 patients. Two small cottages were built consisting of one room each.
1931	X-Ray laboratory was built.
1932	Dr. Fairbanks, Medical Director, appointed.
1940-1941	Doctor’s cottage, now administrator’s home, built between 1940-1941.
1955	Capacity of Sanitarium: 110 patients.
1955-1956	Feeney cottage built. Daniels and Matthews cottages were built between 1955 and 1956 by PWA.
1957	Sanitarium turned into a nursing home.
1957	Thompson employee building was built.
1957-58-59	Patios between buildings enclosed.
1963	The Annex opened to geriatrics.
1968	Name changed to Home.
1968	Skilled geriatric care added.
1968	Upstairs added.
1968	Name changed to Geraldine L. Thompson Medical Home in August.
1969	C Wing added.
1970	Capacity of Hospital now 73 patients.
1971	Chapel re-opened.
1982	Combined with shelter for juveniles in need of supervision.
1988	Construction begun on a new building.

WPDOCS\FINDING AIDS\OTHER COUNTY RECORDS\Allenwood Hospital Finding Aid 6100.doc