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History: The Manchester Hospital?

“Mrs. Gumpper Private Hospital“ photo from The Manchester Enterprise, 1990s.

Editors’ note: Reprinted and adapted from an article published in The Manchester Enterprise, April 30, 1992

by Marsha Chartrand

When we first purchased our home in Manchester, people would ask where we lived. One of the frequent comments was, “Oh, yes, Mrs. Gumpper house.“ Having since learned the interesting history of what is certainly by now (after 44 years) our home, I don’t mind telling people now that we live “in Mrs. Gumpper old house“ … although there are no longer as many old-timers to whom that means something.

In the late 1980s, while our children were attending story hour at the old Library (then in “the Lynch House“ on Wurster Park), the historical room was opened up for mothers to sit and visit while the library wasn’t officially open. One day, we found two small books sitting on the table — that turned out to be birth and death records for Manchester. While browsing, I found several references to births happening at “Mrs. Gump(p)er Private Hospital“ or simply, “Gump(p)er Hospital.”

Several months later, a knock at our door on a Saturday afternoon led us further into what may have happened at “Mrs. Gumpper Private Hospital.“ A woman introduced herself as having been led to find her birth parents in Manchester, only to learn her birth had been recorded in the books at the library. Since she had been adopted shortly after birth, she hoped to find traces of her birth family, which included several siblings.

As a point of curiosity, the woman wanted to know which rooms had been used for the births (we didn’t know) and who Mrs. Gumpper was (we didn’t know that, either). But her longing to learn about her origins was so strong that it made us want to find out more about what had happened in our house so many years before.

We became fascinated as we put our ears to the ground, and we learned more. We would hear tales of “the hospital“ or learn of a friend or co-worker or neighbor who actually had been born in our house. We learned that Eleanor Gumpper was evidently a nurse and perhaps a “locally famous“ midwife of sorts in the 1930s and 1940s.

Dorothy Adams Rogers was Mrs. Gumpper neighbor at 101 W Duncan from the early 1940s on. She remembered her wearing a crisp white uniform and assisting doctors at routine tonsillectomies, appendectomies, and births in the 1930s and early 1940s. Doctors would refer routine deliveries to her home/hospital. Among the doctors who signed birth certificates were Drs. Scheurer and Kent of Manchester, and Dr. Hornsby of Clinton.

After World War II, Dorothy recalled, Mrs. Gumpper stopped attending births and instead did home nursing care for elderly people, continuing this practice until the early 1950s.

At the auction when her home was sold, among the items for sale was an operating table. Dorothy had a baby bed for her first child that Mrs. Gumpper had given her. The two front rooms of the home, which might have otherwise served as a living room and dining room, were used as hospital rooms and set up with beds. A large mangle (ironing machine) was kept in the kitchen to maintain the crisp and spotless white linens she used on the hospital beds.

Marie Gilbert recollection of having her daughter, Nondus, in Mrs. Gumpper Private Hospital was that you normally needed a reservation to deliver your baby there. She had been planning a home birth; however the baby was coming early and Dr. Kent called Mrs. Gumpper to see if a room was available. The “hospital“ room was indeed prepared for another mother who had not yet delivered, so Mrs. Gumpper said to come along …

On the third day after Nondus’ birth, the mother with the reservation came to give birth and Marie was first moved to another bed, then was sent home in an ambulance to rest up in bed for another week. At that time, the normal recovery period was 10 days. On the ninth day, I was told, Mrs. Gumpper might let you sit up and dangle your feet off the bed!

Florence Paul related that she delivered her youngest son, Bob, in Mrs. Gumpper hospital on an “emergency” basis as well. Having delivered all her other children in the regular hospital, she recalls this as having a “homey” atmosphere. Both Florence and Marie recalled Mrs. Gumpper as an adept and knowledgeable practical nurse, who was very good at coaching childbirth. Florence also remembers that she was a good cook who fed them well while they were in her care!

The last baby who was born in Mrs. Gumpper hospital — which, by that time, was definitely established as the Chartrand home — was Ian Chartrand, in October 1984. That night, the Tigers were beating the San Diego Padres in Game 3 of the World Series and, closer to home, the Manchester Flying Dutchmen were playing football vs. Vandercook Lake, winning 61–0 at Alumni Memorial Field.

Footnote: Mrs. Eleanor Mary Gumpper died in Jackson, Michigan, on March 2, 1976, and is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, Manchester.

Gravesite of Eleanor Mary Gumpper in Oak Grove Cemetery, Manchester.

by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.