This news article will explore and explain the history behind a forgotten hospital of Detroit, Michigan called Mt. Lebanon Hospital. Not much history is known or can be discovered about this hospital. Mt. Lebanon Hospital was also known as Mount Lebanon Hospital.
The former Pestalozzi School (Pestalozzi Elementary School) was surplus property Detroit Public Schools had been trying to get rid of for a long time. The school district was having a hard time finding any bidders to purchase the property.
However Clarence W. Preston offered to buy the former Pestalozzi School and convert into a hospital which would become Mt. Lebanon Hospital. Detroit Public Schools sold the property to Clarence W. Preston in 1950 where he opened his own hospital called Mt. Lebanon Hospital. Clarence W. Preston opened Mt. Lebanon Hospital as a black hospital. Mt. Lebanon Hospital (Mount Lebanon Hospital Inc.) occupied the former Pestalozzi School building and space from 1950 to 1958.
Edwin P. Stewart was part owner of Mt. Lebanon Hospital. He had been a practicing physician in Detroit for 22 years prior to his death. (Ref: Detroit Free Press, Page 7, Saturday, November 6, 1954)
Mt. Lebanon Hospital was known as a “Jim Crow hospital” that was opened in a predominantly black area of Detroit during its operation. 75% percent of the patients and faculty at this hospital were black/African American. (Ref: http://detroitarchitectjournal.blogspot.com/2012/10/jim-crow-hospitals.html)
According to a November 1963 issue from The National Medical Association, Mt. Lebanon Hospital was first opened under the direction of Dr. Clarence W. Preston. (Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2642416/pdf/jnma00682-0007.pdf)
“In 1950, Mt. Lebanon Hospital was opened under the direction of Dr. Clarence W. Preston. During the years, because of the segregation pattern in large hospitals, these institutions have served a purpose. They cared for the overflow patients for whom the city hospital could not provide beds for during the depression years. Also during these years, numerous physicians received training which they could not otherwise have obtained. However, all was not quiescent in the maintaining of these hospitals and frequently contacts had to be made "downtown" to receive patients. The Detroit physicians, as a result, incurred the ire of physicians practicing in other large cities where one hospital served as a nucleus for medical practice. These small hospitals appeared to be only a source of revenue to the Detroit physician and the good that they did for a segregated community was overlooked. Thus the spirit of free enterprise was challenged and in 1935, Dr. Louis Wright made a public statement denouncing the several established Detroit hospitals and questioned whether it would not be better for the hospitals to combine and form one large hospital. To date this has not been done. In the investigation of city politics in 1941, several hospitals became involved because of their contacts "downtown".”
Unsurprisingly there were many segregation pattern in large hospitals across the country during the 1950s. Mt. Lebanon Hospital served as a hospital which cared for the overflow patients when the city hospital could not provide beds for any more patients.
Mt. Lebanon Hospital shut down for whatever reason in 1958. The exact reason Mt. Lebanon Hospital shut down and ceased treating patients is unknown for the most part.
After Mt. Lebanon Hospital closed in 1958, the building became Maynard Bussey Drug Abuse Center. What the Maynard Bussey Drug Abuse Center offered was drug treatment, detoxification, and rehabilitation in an outpatient setting. Edward Thomas served as the director for Maynard Bussey Drug Abuse Center. Their phone numbers were 313-961-7826 and 313-224-6218. (Ref: https://books.google.com/books?id=_etEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA177&lpg=PA177#v=onepage&q&f=false)
A lawsuit was filed against Mt. Lebanon Hospital in August 1961. This lawsuit was called. Mount Lebanon Hospital vs. Public Employees Council No. 77. Public Employees Council No. 77 alleged Mount Lebanon Hospital had been poorly funded and not paid their employees. Mt. Lebanon Hospital was named as one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
Mt. Lebanon Hospital was demolished in 1980 after being vacant for a number of years. The City of Detroit was already looking into urban renewal during that time. The land remained vacant for 2 decades long.
A church for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was built in its place in August 2007. The construction process of this church lasted from August 2007 to March 2009. This church finally opened in the middle of June 2009.
A parking lot for the church was plotted and laid out over where the hospital ward once was. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is still a functioning today. (Ref: https://www.comeuntochrist.org/worship-with-us/nearby-churches?location=detroit+michigan&unit=218464)
Mt. Lebanon Hospital was located at 2610 14th Street, Detroit, Michigan, US 48216.
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