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 317
the erection of the asylum, covering the period from September 30,
1876, to September 30, I878, it is learned that it was opened for the
reception of patients August i, 1878. The sums placed in the hands of
the board for constructing and furnishing the asylum aggregated $467,ooo. It was designed to provide a building for 300 patients; one was
actually provided to accommodate, normally, 330, and with a full capacity of 400. On the 30th of September, 1878, 306 had been actually
received, the total expenditures, including the cost of locating the asylum
and cost of land, having been $448,401.36.
In I890 the training school for attendants was established, the first
of the kind in the state and the eighth in the country. An ice famine
during the previous winter led to the construction of the first of two
large ice houses for the storage of ice. Plans for the enlargement of
MAIN BUILDING PONTIAC STATE HOSPITAL
the institution were interrupted by the fire of 1891 which destroyed the
interior of the administration building, as well as the halls. By autumn
of the following year the damage had been repaired at a total cost of
$75,000. In I89I the fifty acres known as the Hickey and Mawhinney
parcels were added to the grounds of the institution, and the construction of a slaughter house the same year initiated the plan long followed
thereafter of slaughtering on the premises. The cottages known as the
Baldwin and the Vinton were occupied in I894. It was during that year
that Dr. C. B. Burr resigned as medical superintendent to accept the
medical directorship of the Oak Grove Hospital at Flint, Michigan, and,vas succeeded by the present incumbent, Dr. E. A. Christian.
In I895 the farm was increased by the addition of the west half of
the Seeley tract (eighty acres), and in I898 the electric light and power
plant was installed and the new laundry building completed. An isolation