Two
years later, on Nov. 21 1929, the formal dedication ceremony
took place with the laying of the Administration Building's
cornerstone. Purpose of acquisition, as stated in the dedication,
was to bring into being the tenth such hospital to be "dedicated
by the State of Illinois to the welfare of its people for
their relief and restoration, a place of hope for the healing
of the mind and body where many may find health and happiness
again."
Manteno State Hospital Sign
The institution's campus, on which the hospital wards and
other buildings were built, is located two miles east and
a mile south of the village of Manteno and totals 389 acres.
An additional 200 acres, bringing total hospital acreage
to 1200 were purchased in 1936. At that time, all except
40 plus acres of buildings on the hospital's four farms
was farmed by hospital employees, assisted by patients.
They grew grain foods and raised cattle and pigs. These
provided much of the meat used by the hospital's patients
and employees. This type of work is no longer considered
therapy and farming for patients was abandoned some years
ago.
All except four farm buildings were torn down early in 1968
because they were no longer needed and were economically
unrepairable. Farm acreage is now leased for over $35,000
a year to area farmers who raise corn and soybeans on it.
Partial
view of the institution campus from the tower of the power
plant
looking toward the administration building in center background.
The
hospital is almost a city in itself. having its own administrative
officials, system of roads, restaurants, police (security
forces), fire department and a utilities system sufficient
to run a moderately sized city.
The first patients were received Dec. 27, 1930 when 100
men were transferred from Kankakee State Hospital.
About 10,534 meals are served daily at an average cost of
35 cents for food and 30 cents for labor, or a total cost
of 65 cents per meal. Average food costs for the 12-month
period ending in June 1972 was $1,312,945 and labor cost
$1,114,757.
Caring for the approximately 2,622 patients and for the
buildings and grounds, and providing necessary supervision
and administration, is an average of 1,993 employees as
of September 1972. Of these, 977 are in direct patient care.
Total estimated cost per patient per day for the year ending
in June, 1972, excluding cost of maintenance of buildings
and grounds, was $17.24.
Following are some facts about the hospital's physical facilities:
Manteno State's heating and power plant generates super-heated
steam which runs turbines that take care of a peak daytime
electrical load of 2550 to 2600 kilowatts, This turbine
exhaust steam is sent in a closed system throughout the
hospital grounds. It heats buildings by means of radiators
and cooks much of the food in the hospitals kitchens. This
food is sent to patient dining rooms at the wards.
By means of heat exchangers, this steam also provides hot
water for the buildings, including the kitchen and central
laundry, and during summer provides for air conditioning
systems operating on the principle of those in Servel
refrigerators. Upon return to the heating plant the
cooler steam is reheated and continues an endless cycle.
About 150 tons of coal are required on hot summer days,
up to 225 tons on winter's coldest days. (The heating
and power plant was demolished in December 2002.)
Manteno State Hospital Laundry
Facilities 1966
The
hospital's laundry processes about 117 tons weekly in warm
months. During cold months this drops to 114 tons. Its new
laundry, which started operating in October of 1966, is
believed to be the world's largest and can process 10,000
pounds per hour. No other laundry can process over 7,000
pounds hourly, State laundry officials say. (This building
is still in operation today by the company "Sodexho,
Linen.")
Water purchased from the Kankakee Water Company, which takes
it from the Kankakee River, is re-chlorinated before distribution.
Average daily consumption is 1-1/2 million gallons. A new
three million gallon reservoir, which went into operation
several years ago, provides sufficient storage capacity
so that there is enough water for several days if the pipe
from Kankakee were to break. Long before that time the break
would be repaired.
The hospital's sewage treatment plant handles a normal load
of one million gallons daily. After treatment of the wastes,
which are used as fertilizer on the hospital's lawns and
offered without charge to farmers, the remaining water is
highly chlorinated and passes back into nearby Rock Creek's
south fork. Recent plant improvements make the effluent
purer than the creek water into which it is discharged.
The plant's wastes treatment exceeds national standards,
the hospital's sanitary engineer reports.
*Information copied from a paper on file in the Manteno
Public Library. Date unknown, but assumptions could be made
that it was around 1972-73.
**Photograph
photocopied from a paper on file in the Manteno Public Library
that's caption reads 1928, despite the information in the
history text.
