BadKitties did a great IAN Diary on the recycling of old mental hospitals. Got me reminiscing about one old institution I visited. . . after it closed.
Follow me below the old prescription scribble for an explanation!
But first a word from our Sponsor.
Tuesday! A day to peel back the pages of history. . .
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Most Awesome Nana
Sunday:
loggersbrat
Arequipa in Marin County CA, has had a fascinating history. It was at one time a TB Sanatorium, opening in Sept. 4, 1911, one with a more enlightened approach to treatment, including the use of vocational therapy. It was founded by Dr. Philip King Brown, who had done pioneering work with TB patients right after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco. That disaster, with its horrific smoke and ash, had caused a huge spike in the number of TB cases; yet another crisis for San Francisco. He noted the higher rate of TB in women and got some of his wealthy and influential friends, like Phoebe Apperson Hearst, to help him create a more modern TB sanatorium near Fairfax, Marin Co. It would be a facility for women only.
(There is an Arequipa, Peru. Although scholars still disagree as to the true translation of the Quechua word, many took it to mean "place of rest" or "place of peace." Apparently this was the translation that Dr. Brown accepted--and named the new sanatorium quite appropriately.)
The vocational therapy, most famously, produced a now much sought after Arts and Crafts style pottery, Arequipa Pottery
The pottery is still gorgeous:
I was not a TB patient at Arequipa. I was, however, a Girl Scout. And the Girl Scouts in Marin had taken over the property in the late 1950s.
I still remember a sleep-over my troop had at Arequipa not long after it had been closed as a TB hospital.
In 1959, the Marin County Girls Scout Council leased the . . . Arequipa property for 20 years. The old sanitarium building was renamed Brown House. The Friends of Arequipa provided money for a swimming pool. And the nurses’ quarters became the new headquarters for the Marin Girl Scout Council.
In 1988 . . . Arequipa [was] transferred to the ownership of the San Francisco Bay Area Girl Scout Council and Marin County Open Space. Now in the present day, the Girl Scouts use Arequipa as a campground as well as a place for the Arequipa Day Camp.
What sticks in my mind is that at the time of my troop's overnight stay, the place had not been remodeled or "un-hospitaled" in any noticeable way. We girls slept out in the screened sleeping porch--I think on the old hospital beds, in our sleeping bags. There were medical artifacts still around, and a large library. I think that we girls were all fascinated and a bit horrified at the same time. In my memory, the place had a kind of benignly haunted quality. We scouts weren't that clear on what TB was--and we were a bit worried that we would "get it" from staying there.
I never went back. I have driven by it many times since then, and I always think about that long ago visit.
With the discovery of antibiotics in the 1940s and their use in the fight against TB in the 1950s, it became possible to treat patients at home, and admissions to the sanatorium dwindled. By the end of the decade it was apparent that Arequipa was no longer needed and was closed in 1957. The property was leased to the Girl Scouts in the 1960s for use as a camp. The sanatorium, damaged by the heavy rains of the early 1980s, was torn down in 1984. The San Francisco Bay Girl Scout Council owns the property, as well as the adjoining tract which used to be Hill Farm. Both locations are administered as the Bothin Youth Center.
The old Sanatorium has been gone for 30 years. I am glad I got to see it in its brief interregnum, between its innovative TB treatment era/pottery production--and today's recreational camping activities for Girl Scouts.
PS I just went to eBay to see if they had any Arequipa pottery. They do Two vases. The asking prices? Nearly $10,000 for one and only $8,000 for the other!