Page 14 - Wayne Dispatch Pages

Hospitals of Wayne

You might be surprised to learn
that Wayne did not have a hospital
per-se until well into the 1900s. The
first doctor in Wayne was Julius M.
Hume, who came to town in 1832.
Back then doctors would make
house calls to care for the sick and
injured, or if they had space, might
set you up in their own house for
care.
After the civil war doctors be- imal farm on Van Born Road.
came more numerous in Wayne as Nankin Hospital opened just a
the profession shifted to requiring a year after Carpenter Hospital, in a
college degree. Many of the doctors brand-new purpose-built building on
in the later 1800s were also civil war Michigan at Sophia. This handsome
veterans, such as Dr. Alexander Col- colonial style building had all the
lar, and Dr. E.O. Bennett. modern conveniences and was state
In this time there were still no of the art with a laboratory, phar-
hospitals, but some doctors had macy and several specialty treat-
small offices above shops in town or ment rooms. It was built by Dr. Carpenter Hospital, Biddle Street.
had a side room on their house with Reginald Huff and Dr. James Car- hospitals like Wayne had been under This new 122 bed facility would
a separate door for patients. One away for their joint practice. pressure from new state and federal be top of the line for the day, with
other option was to rent a hotel By the 1970s it was owned by Dr. laws for patient care and medical TV's in patient rooms and all electric
room and see patients out of it, as an Archambault and care standards certifications and licenses. appliances. The hospital was built by
1884 ad for Dr. Bennett reads " Have had declined rapidly. The city and Private insurance was on the rise, the Peoples Community Hospital Au-
you forgotten that Dr. Bennett is in health department closed it, and the and Medicare and Medicaid added thority, a group which ran 4 local
the Tremont House Hotel every 4 doctor turned it into apartments. new difficulties. In late 1957 a new hospitals for 19 communities. An-
weeks curing all difficulties". (The After sitting vacant for a few years, large modern hospital would open at napolis has of course been expanded
Tremont is the building at the NW the building burned down in 2004 Venoy and Annapolis, called Annapo- several times and remains the only
corner of Michigan and Wayne Road; and is a parking lot today. lis Hospital. hospital in Wayne today.
it was formerly a hotel). Parker-Vincent hospital was lo-
In 1931 Carpenter Hospital cated in a remodeled old house on
opened as Wayne's first real hospital Wayne Road, about where the Con-
in an old, remodeled house on Bid- gregational Church sits today. It was
dle Street. It had 15 beds, an operat- run by Dr. James Vincent and Dr. Al-
ing room and an x-ray room. Run by bert Parker and opened in the
Dr. Clarence Carpenter, the hospital 1930s. It was the smallest of the pri-
was much beloved and vate hospitals, and Dr. Parker ran it
expanded several times. right up into the 1960s when the
Many Wayne residents remember building was taken for Urban Re-
going to Dr. Carpenter or were born newal. Dr. Parker also had his home
in his little hospital. In the 1960s confiscated for Urban Renewal, the
Urban Renewal took the original stress of which caused a heart attack
building down, and Carpenter tried and he died in 1966.
to move. He began construction on Interestingly, in these days ambu-
the MPC building at 2nd street to be lance service was provided by Uhts
his new hospital, but he ran out of and Lents funeral homes. By the
money, gave up and retired to his an- 1950s and 60s small privately run

14 · May 2026 · The Wayne Dispatch