history

The following article is based upon a series of tape interviews with Elsie M. Covey of Cherokee, Iowa. Material from the tapes was then condensed into this article which Mrs. Covey has read and approved. Permission to publish was given with the reservation from Mrs. Covey that the readers must remember that these are memories of 70 years ago and names and dates are hard to remember after so long a time.

In the summer of 1907 I arrived in Cherokee from my home in Ashby, Minnesota. I was 18 years old and came to Cherokee to take a job as an attendant on the female wards at the Cherokee State Hospital. I had worked at the psychiatric hospital at Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and at the children's Institution at Grafton, North Dakota.

While I was working at Grafton, one of the cooks there told me about the hospital at Cherokee, where she had worked, and suggested that I apply for a job there as she thought I would like it better than at Grafton. I wrote a letter to the superintendent, Dr. Voldeng asking for a job and received a reply telling me to report for an interview.

I arrived by train and got off at the depot. I was all alone and had two large suitcases with me. I took one suitcase in each hand and proceeded to walk to the state hospital for my interview.

I remember Dr. Voldeng as a tall thin man, not particularly good looking, with a solemn manner and very gentlemanly. After the interview I was hired and started employment.

We worked 13 hour days beginning at 6 a.m. and got off duty at 7:30 p.m. except for one night a week when we had to work until 10:00 at night. We had 1/2 day off per week and were paid $30.00 per month.

Dr. Voldeng was very strict and he set down very strict rules. Employees were expected to behave in a dignified manner at work and in the community. Most employees lived at the institution and you had to be in by 10:00 at night because the doors were locked at that time and you would be locked out. Dr. Voldeng did not really approve of the unmarried female employees going downtown or dating young men in the community.

At first I lived in a dormitory with four or five other girls on the third floor of the administration building. This was the housing furnished for single female employees. Later, when I was a charge attendant on a ward, I lived in a room on the ward. It was a rule at that time that the charge had to room on the ward she had charge of.

As I remember it, the food was not very good; it was wholesome enough but lacked flavor. At that time some of the patients ate in dining rooms on the ward, but those from the ward I worked on were escorted to the congregate dining room to eat.

One of Dr. Volden's rules was that if a patient was able to work they had to do so. His reasoning was that if a patient worked they stayed in better contact with reality and were physically and mentally healthier. Because of this policy there was much patient help at the hospital. Patients worked in the sewing rooms, the kitchens, and on the farm.

The far consisted of a section or more of land. Along with the usual crops of corn, hay and oats there were large truck gardens which produced potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, and various vegetables as well as melons.

The hospital had a band of its own composed of employees and patients and a director hired especially to rehearse the musicians and lead the music when the band performed. Most performances were held outside.

There were also many baseball teams and baseball was a great sport among the male employees and patients. The games did lead to a number of fights however.

We also had amateur plays put on by the employees for the entertainment of the patients.

The employees, then, came from all over. Most of them having worked in other institutions. Because of Dr. Voldeng's policy, and the fact that most of the employees were not native to the community those employed at the hospital were more isolated from the community than they are now.

The oak flooring on the wards was polished by having someone push a heavy block of beeswax on a handle over the boards. Then polishers made of heavy wooden block with a wooden handle and covered with a soft, thick, cloth such as an old piece of blanket, and were pushed up and down the ward until the flooring fairly shown. This beeswax treatment not only preserved the wood, but gave the floor a high gloss.

There were large carpets on the ward where I worked, at scheduled times men from the north side would come and take the carpets outside where they would be beaten with metal rug beaters to get the dust out of them. Then they were replaced.

Attendants had to take two years of training in physical and mental care and treatment of patients. The course of study included anatomy, nursing care, mental disorders, plus other useful subjects. The staff doctors took turns teaching the classes. The hospital also had a nursing training program at that time.

When I first started at the hospital there was a horse drawn hack which went from the Institution to the downtown area. The hack man went downtown once a day and you could catch a ride with him if you had time off and wanted to go down town.

The green house was between the main building and the infirmary. The greenhouse produced many potted plants and cut flowers for the wards. It also produced the cabbage, tomato, and other vegetable plants that were set out in the truck gardens in the spring.

The first canteen was run by Jim Wirth. He had a supply of razor blades, pencils, stationery and other sundry items. As I recall it, when I first started at the hospital Jim had this supply of items in his office across from the employees dining room. His future wife, Pearl and I used to go in there to see him. It was very handy to have this supply of items to purchase as otherwise you would have had to go downtown, and most of the time you had to walk.

In the same short hall with this little store there was a post office. The post office also handled books and served as the library. You would go into the library and pick out what you wanted and then would take it up to the postal window to check it out.

(Source: Cherokee County Historical Society Newsletter, Special August - September Issue, Vol. 12, No. 7, 1977, pgs. 11-12)