History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

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now and ever will be urging the needed reforms, leading where the lonest, the pure and best will gladly follow.
WOMAN'S WORK IN PONTIAC
There are few cities in southern Michigan where the women have
accomplished so much both in the elevating influences of thought and
deed as Pontiac. Its hospital, library, literary clubs and temperance union
are virtually her sole creations, while it goes without saying that the
churches would quickly perish without her ministrations. Mrs. Harry
Coleman, Mrs. Samuel W. Smith, Mrs. Aaron Perry, Mrs. Charles Going,
Miss Anne Murphy, Mrs. A. B. Avery, Mrs. J. S. Stockwell, Mrs. H. C.
Guillot, Mrs. E. A. Christian, Mrs. Peter B. Bromley, Mrs. Arthur Davis,
Mrs. Mark S. Brewer, Mrs. Joshua Hill, Mrs. Byron Stout, Mrs. A. L.
Moore, Mrs. A. L. Craft, Mrs. E. H. Wilson, Mrs. F. J. Walters, Mrs.
Maud Chattuck and others have been leaders in the charitable, literary
and reformatory movements which have centered in Pontiac and raised
her to such a high standard of municipal life.
At the county seat, as in other communities, the history of many of
the most worthy and noteworthy institutions are placed to the credit of
the women, and the following sketches bear out in detail all of Miss Baldwin's general statements.
THE PONTIAC CITY HOSPITAL
In a very comprehensive and appreciative article devoted to the history of the Pontiac City Hospital, the Pontiac Press Gazette says in part:
"When Mrs. Charles Going met Mrs. Harry Coleman on the corner of
Lawrence and Saginaw streets, some ten years ago, and told a tale of a
sick man being taken to the jail as the only place of refuge for a stranger
and further remarked, from the depths of her pity, 'we ought to have
a hospital!' neither knew what she was starting or getting into. For if
they had been able to look into the future they might have elected not to
have met at all, or meeting, to talk on any subject under the sun save
that of sick strangers and jails! But at any rate, the meeting happened
and the words were spoken, and a troublesome idea hatched out which
grew in ten years to a very respectable looking bird, indeed.
"One of the secrets of success of the women who built the Oakland
hospital was, of course, hard work. But perhaps the chief secret of success was in trying to solve but one problem at a time. They used to meet
with Miss Webb or Mrs. Cowles in their dressmaking rooms in the Le
Baron block and talk over the most simple plan of opening a room or two
where the sick might be taken to be under the care of a trained nurse.
This idea grew into a plan of renting a house. And thus the first problem arose for solution. Should they rent a house? No. Nobody would
have them. They wouldn't be desirable tenants. Should they buy a
house? This they discussed very seriously. They looked at many houses
and many thought it a grievous mistake that they did not accept the offer
of the octagon house on Huron street, offered at a most generous figure
for a hospital. The answer to this problem was that old houses require