Gratiot Community Hospital begins to take shape: The Board of Trustees breaks ground north of the Michigan Masonic Home for the new hospital on May 13, 1954. From left were Everett Thompson, Jim Redman, Miss Lou Nickerson, Earl Brenneman, Lynn Miller, and Robert Anthony; brickwork goes up at a rapid pace in late July 1954; A view of the hospital from the northeast as it awaits doors and windows in early November.

In early March 1954, the public in Gratiot County learned that a new community hospital would finally be built. After nearly two years of planning, advertising, and pledges, actual construction of the new facility began with the goal of opening in 1955.

As soon as a construction plan was advertised, a large number of general and sub-contract workers eagerly bid for work on the new hospital. When totaled, the new bids amounted to nearly $724,000, with Fred Trier Construction of Saginaw offering the lowest general construction bid. Bids for plumbing, heating, and electrical went to Miller Davis of Kalamazoo ($456 448) and Kent Electric of Casnovia ($62,811). By the time these bids came in, the Board of Trustees realized it had a problem, as the then-current project savings account left it $30,000 short. Not only that, but to receive federal funding, the hospital project had to have all the money by May 1 to secure the release of federal funds. The hospital project now needed $30,000 to start construction on June 1.

In response to this financial problem, the Board of Trustees asked people to pay their future pledges now. Many in rural Gratiot County had earlier made their pledges with the understanding that they could pay them over time; however, the Board asked people across the county to help. It turned out that good progress was made in the two weeks after this request, but the project still needed more money. As the deficit gap narrowed, Board members decided to sign the contracts to begin construction. The struggle to pay early pledges continued into 1955, but did not stop the early work on the hospital. As the hospital project progressed, Federal funding came in installments, enabling the Board to announce that groundbreaking for the new Gratiot Community Hospital would take place on Thursday, May 13, 1954.

A brief ceremony took place on that spring day as Miss Lou Nickerson, who served on the Smith Memorial Hospital board for parts of three decades, first turned over the sod. Nickerson stood next to the other Board members, who eagerly watched the historic moment. Those who joined Nickerson included Everett Thompson, Jim Redman, Earl Brenneman, Lynn Miller, Robert Anthony, and Dr. Harry Wallman. To get the entire group photographed for the groundbreaking ceremony, Nickerson turned the sod over twice for the cameras.

Soon, actual construction began. By the time the first Federal funding check of $116,500 arrived in early November, progress had gone well ahead of schedule, and the hospital building would be enclosed in early December, making an April-May 1955 opening feasible. Throughout late summer 1954, photographers captured the initial brickwork on the rapidly emerging walls, a view of the hospital from the northeast, and doors and windows going into place.

The biggest indication that the hospital would soon open came when the Board of Trustees unanimously hired Arthur B. Allaben of Grand Rapids as its first administrator. Allaben had spent the last year and a half as assistant administrator at Ferguson-Droste-Ferguson Hospital in Grand Rapids. A graduate from Northwestern University with a degree in hospital administration, he did his residency at Wesley Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. A World War II veteran, Allaben also graduated from James Milliken University, was married, and had a ten-month-old child. Administrator Allaben started his duties in Alma on January 1, 1955.

As 1954 came to a close, big things appeared to be in store for the new Gratiot Community Hospital.

Copyright 2025 James M Goodspeed