Sitting by a cozy fireplace on a cold winter’s day is the perfect setting to share tales of crime and controversy from long ago.
That’s what Laura Fromwiller, who co-wrote the 2014 book ‘Oakdale: The Lapeer State Home? with Jan Gillis, did when she visited the Oxford Public Library Friday afternoon.
Using a ‘ripped from the headlines? format, Fromwiller’s stack of old newspaper articles about the former state institution shocked, informed and entertained her audience.
‘The home was open for almost 100 years, so there’s a huge history there,? she said.
When its doors opened in 1895, it was called the Michigan Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic. The name changed a few times over the years until the facility closed in 1991 as the Oakdale Regional Center for Developmental Disabilities.
In the beginning, the home had three buildings and was capable of housing up to 200 patients.
By 1938, the home exceeded 100 buildings and sprawled across 898 acres with an additional 1,335 acres of rented property, according to Fromwiller’s book. Lapeer’s County Press reported in 1945, the home reached its peak population of 4,950 and had more people living there than in the entire City of Lapeer. The Flint Journal put the peak population at 4,467 in 1956.
False imprisonment
But Fromwiller, reference department head and manager of the Marguerite deAngeli Branch of the Lapeer District Library, pointed out not everybody who was housed there belonged there.
‘When the home first opened, there were no requirements to live there. Anybody could live there,? she explained.
‘Men would commit their wives during menopause,? Fromwiller continued. ‘Sometimes they’d come back and get them. Sometimes they wouldn’t. You could really be sent there for pretty much any reason.?
Orphans and children whose parents could not care for them were frequently placed there.
Problem was, many children ended up spending the rest of their lives there.
‘There was no policy on getting them out,? Fromwiller said. ‘There was no test to take when you turned 18 to see if you can go function in society or not. So, people just stayed there. You were guaranteed food and clothing and shelter. A lot of them had jobs around the campus. They didn’t know anything different, so they just stayed.?
Questions were eventually raised about this ‘false imprisonment? and the first documented case of it at the Lapeer home was that of Bessie Lewis in the early 20th century.
At age 13, her mother became ill and was sent to a sanatorium. As a result, Lewis was enrolled in the Adrian Industrial School for Girls.
She had no interest in school and after two years there, Lewis had a record of disobedient behavior. Nothing serious, just a bored student acting out. But the school exaggerated her behavioral problems and transferred her to the Lapeer home around 1906.
‘She just lived there. There was nothing wrong with her,? said Fromwiller, who noted Lewis worked in the home’s laundry facility, had many friends and even played in the band.
‘There was really no reason for her to be there. She just always was.?
When Lewis decided she wanted to leave, the officials running the home just ‘brushed (it) under the rug,? according to Fromwiller.
Lewis was allowed to visit her mother, who had since recovered and remarried. She told of how the home wouldn’t let her leave and a lawsuit was filed claiming false imprisonment.
‘It was a really big deal,? Fromwiller said.
Lewis was finally released in August 1913 at the age of 21. She got a job at a department store, enrolled in night school and went on to lead a normal life.
The state passed a law to prevent others from being wrongfully committed by putting the court system in charge of deciding who should be institutionalized based on testing, according to Fromwiller.
After Lewis was released, all residents of the Lapeer home were screened and sent before a judge. Fromwiller said 14 of them were ‘set free? as a result.
Sterilization
As horrifying as the idea of false imprisonment is to modern sensibilities, something even more abhorrent occurred at the Lapeer state home ? sterilization.
According to ‘Oakdale: The Lapeer State Home,? the exact number of sterilizations performed there is unknown, however, one researcher claims it was 2,336. There were 3,786 documented cases of sterilization in Michigan following the legalization of it.
‘The majority of the ones in Michigan were done in Lapeer,? Fromwiller said. ‘Among the 33 states that passed such legislation (allowing the procedure), Michigan ranked fourth highest for sterilizations.?
A state law passed in 1913 allowed it for ‘mental defectives? confined to public institutions. Fromwiller said the wording used is ‘horrendous? and they talk about the mentally ill and developmentally disabled ‘like animals.?
There’s talk of protecting the ‘purity of race? and breeding people to create a better stock just as farmers do with pigs.
‘It’s really hard to read,? Fromwiller said.
The motivation behind this law was patients having sex with outsiders, fellow patients and staff members, then producing children they couldn’t care for. These children became residents of the home, adding to the public burden.
‘A lot of babies were born at the state home,? Fromwiller said. ‘This was a huge issue. I’m not saying that it’s okay what they did (as far as sterilization), but you can kind of see why.?
The sterilization law required the family members of ‘mental defectives? had to be notified before the procedure could be carried out, in case there was opposition.
But Fromwiller pointed out many patients didn’t have any family members to notify or speak on their behalf.
‘A lot of them were sterilized without anybody knowing about it, without any advocacy whatsoever,? she said. ‘A lot of times there was nothing wrong with these people.?
‘It’s really scary. It really is,? Fromwiller added. ‘There’s a lot of comparison to Nazi Germany when you look at the case studies.?
The sterilization law was later declared unconstitutional by a Lapeer circuit court judge and that decision was upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1918.
‘There’s a plaque on the front of the courthouse (in Lapeer) commemorating that specific decision,? she noted. ‘It was a big deal.?
But the setback was only temporary for the pro-sterilization crowd as Michigan passed ‘a new and more carefully-designed? law allowing the practice in 1923, according to Fromwiller.
More than 67,000 Americans were sterilized as part of the 20th century eugenics movement, she noted. The practice started to diminish in the 1950s and 1960s, then ended completely in the U.S. in the 1970s, she said.
Violent crimes
Although the Lapeer state home didn’t admit criminally insane patients, it did have patients that committed violent acts including murder.
The first serious crime committed by a resident of the Lapeer state home happened in July 1924. Blanche Burke, a non-patient who worked in the home’s laundry facility, was found strangled along Demille Rd.
Lewis Johnson, a 20-year-old resident of the home, confessed to the murder. Another resident told investigators that Johnson, who had been institutionalized since age 2 or 3, said he was going to kill Burke because she had reported him for talking to the girls, which was not allowed.
Johnson was sentenced to life in the Ionia Asylum for the Criminally Insane.
‘He had never shown any signs of problems. He just kind of snapped for some reason,? Fromwiller said.
The murder changed how people felt about the state home.
‘Lapeer was very proud of the state home. It employed all these people. It had a beautiful campus,? Fromwiller said. ‘After this happened, people started to (ask) do we really want this here anymore? Should we be concerned??
Another crime that shocked locals occurred in October 1949.
Elizabeth Fox was one of the home’s residents who had been paroled to work in the community and receive pay for her services. She worked in the home of the Merz family.
Fox was described in the state home’s records as ‘well-behaved, mild-mannered and shy,? according to Fromwiller. But she had become upset about the way she was being treated by the lady of the Merz house.
So, one day, Fox stabbed the lady multiple times as she laid in her bed. ‘She lost it. She had enough,? Fromwiller said.
Mrs. Merz survived the stabbing, but lost an eye. Fox confessed and was sentenced to 5-30 years in Jackson State Prison, according to Fromwiller’s book.
For folks wishing to learn more about this institution and its history, a copy of ‘Oakdale: The Lapeer State Home? is available at the Oxford Public Library.
Copies are available for purchase via Amazon.com and at the Marguerite deAngeli Branch of the Lapeer District Library. The book costs $21.99 and if purchased at the Lapeer library, all proceeds benefit it.