The Ruth Sabin Home
One of the most useful institutions of the county is the Ruth C. Sabin Home for elderly ladies, situated on the southern outskirts of the city of La Porte, on Michigan Avenue. This institution was endowed by Mrs. Ruth C. Sabin, who contributed $58,000 to establish it. The home was opened in the fall of 1889 and has been in operation since that time. It has accommodations for twenty-two inmates. When these notes were taken by the writer there were twenty-three inmates, one of the ladies consenting to take a relative into her room for a short time until there was a vacancy. Several had made application for admission, which had been granted to three and they were waiting for vacancies. The home is built of brick, in a very thorough and substantial manner. It has elegant large high-posted rooms, spacious hallways and staircases and is heated by steam and kept at a pleasant temperature.
It is cool in the summer and warm in the winter; an inmate of the home need not be sensible of the changes of temperature without. The dining hall is large, well lighted and cheerful. The food is abundant, of the best quality, properly cooked, well served, and all the culinary arrangements are convenient, sanitary and kept scrupulously clean and neat. The best of medical attendance is provided. The home has modern conveniences and protection from fire. An atmosphere of comfort pervades the entire institution. A piano is in the upper reception room. In the winter, plants grow and bloom in the spacious halls, and creeping vines hang in festoons down the central court. In the summer, flowers bloom and the lawn is green out of doors.
Religious services are held at stated times in the great hallway, which are supervised by a committee of La Porte ladies appointed for the purpose; and as the different ministers of the city all respond cordially when called upon to officiate in those services, each inmate of the home is very likely occasionally to have the services of her own church. Besides this the inmates are free to attend the services of their own churches wherever and whenever they please, if able to do so; and if not, the carriage of the home serves them in this respect so far as it can be made to do so conveniently.
The expense of conducting the home is $4,200 annually, or $350 per month, of which about one-third goes for help, another third for food, and the balance for other expenses. Any elderly lady of good moral character and habits, who is accepted by the board of management, can become an inmate of the home for the rest of her natural life, by the payment of $500 at the time of her entrance and nothing afterwards. This amount however, does not cover the expense of caring for her. It is necessary to put $2,500 with it; or in other words it requires the interest of $3,000 to care for each inmate. But there are some who have not paid this amount. They are in every way worthy and nice people, deserving and needing the home and desirable for the home, and they have been received. As instances of this there are seven who all together did not pay over $400. A few special cases have been taken for nothing. How is this? How can the home be sustained at this rate? Very easily; and this is what has made the home a success. From the beginning it has been the policy of the management to make the home of such a high character and so desirable that wealthy people would seek to became inmates and put their money into it. In several instances this has been the case. Even Mrs. Sabin herself, who made the original bequest, at first retained her own residence but finally gave it to Wabash College and went to the home and passed her days there.
When the home was first organized a committee visited similar homes in Chicago and elsewhere and obtained their methods, rules, etc., but it was soon found that the Ruth C. Sabin home could not he run successfully by applying a cast iron rule to every case, and that there must be some flexibility about it. This policy has saved the home. To become an inmate is so desirable that several ladies of some wealth made application. The reply was, "We can not take you because you have enough to take care of yourself." "But we want to come," “Well, then if you are more than able to pay the $500 admission to come into this home, you must make it possible for some special cases to come who can pay only a part of it, or none of it. In other words, you must put your money into the home."' Accordingly several have done so. One lady paid $1,000; another paid $3,200; another paid $1,000 for herself, and $500 each for four more, and then brought a niece from a distance and paid $1,000 for her. One lady on becoming an inmate gave the home her property, which was valued at $10,000. The home realized $9,000 out of it. In this way the home has been sustained.
Out of the original $58,000 endowment, $26,000 was spent for the ground and buildings, and since that time over $40,000 has been spent for the care of the inmates. The endowment has increased $10,000, or from $58,000 to $68,000. The home has never asked assistance, it has never wanted for anything, and every year has added something to the permanent fund. The board of management are seeking to make it absolutely self-sustaining. They are as follows:
Officers—Hart L. Weaver, president; Martha E. Talmadge, vice president; Elizabeth H. Williams, secretary.
Trustees—Mary R. Scott, Martha E. Talmadge, Rachel Bowers, Ophelia Closser, Julia B. Kendall, Elizabeth H. Williams,, Anna J. Crumpacker, Charles H. Truesdell, Julius Barnes, George L. McLain, William A. Martin, James H. Buck, Charles Bosserman, H. L. Weaver, William Niles.
Source: “A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of La Porte County, Indiana”, Rev. E.D. Daniels, 1904
