Eloise Present Day
After closing its doors in 1984, the grounds of Eloise (Wayne County General Hospital ca. 1945) have been virtually cleared, leaving only four of the original buildings intact. Over the last 10 years, Wayne County has sold almost all of Eloise's 902-acre (3.65 km2) grounds to the Ford Motor Company and their developers. Some of the property also went towards building the Inkster Valley Golf Course. All that remains on the land today is a five-story brick hospital—located at the very front of the grounds (now the Kay Beard Building) -- and several smaller structures: an old fire station, one powerhouse, a bakery and a commissary—most located behind Kay Beard and in a dilapidated state. 22 acres (89,000 m2), however, are still owned by Wayne County, Michigan and await development. Nothing remains on the south grounds (farming grounds) that Eloise used. Most of it is an overgrown field, and there are still crops growing there to this day. The Signal Seekers R/C Club of Michigan (radio control aeromodeling club) use some of the land, and the cemetery is located behind their gate.
As of September 2006, the county has determined that the smokestack on the property (built in the early 1900s), was in such dilapidated condition rendering it unsafe. It was torn down.
The building behind the present Kay Beard building is used today as a family shelter for homeless parents with children, although talk among state leaders foresees the eventual closure of this section of the property as well.
Eloise is spoken of in the book Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret by Steve Luxenberg, which is about Luxenberg's secret aunt who was committed to the Eloise in the 1940s.
Read more about this topic: Eloise (psychiatric Hospital)
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