Hedgecroft Hospital & Clinic At 5010 Montrose Blvd.

[PapillionWyngs]

I know that it was converted from a mansion and was in Montrose. My Aunt was a visitor there many times. I absolutely LOVED the antebellum stair case. Surely someone else remembers this. IF not, I will feel older than my 50 years! Lifetime Houstonian!

[PapillionWyngs]

I know that it was converted from a mansion and was in Montrose. My Aunt was a visitor there many times. I absolutely LOVED the antebellum stair case. Surely someone else remembers this. IF not, I will feel older than my 50 years! Lifetime Houstonian!

Well, I Googled it again to see what I'd get, and I got very little...just parts of some CV's where people had worked there. I must admit that I am very disappointed. This was a beautiful mansion, and I was sure that someone, somewhere would remember it. The staircase had the original red carpet on it and was blocked off. You had to use the elevator to get upstairs.

Does anyone know how I can find any information on it? I'd be happy to dig online or in person. I'd like to see pictures if any existed.

Thanks for your help.

Its a memory of my childhood that I just want to see again.

[PapillionWyngs]

Well, I Googled it again to see what I'd get, and I got very little...just parts of some CV's where people had worked there. I must admit that I am very disappointed. This was a beautiful mansion, and I was sure that someone, somewhere would remember it. The staircase had the original red carpet on it and was blocked off. You had to use the elevator to get upstairs.

Does anyone know how I can find any information on it? I'd be happy to dig online or in person. I'd like to see pictures if any existed.

Thanks for your help.

Its a memory of my childhood that I just want to see again.

Still doing EXTENSIVE research. It could possible have been the Link-Lee Mansion that houses the University of St. Thomas. Does anyone know about that structure?

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

I never thought i would ever hear of anyone that had or have fond memories of a nut house

[PapillionWyngs]

I never thought i would ever hear of anyone that had or have fond memories of a nut house

Well, I wasn't the one in it, and it was/is a beautiful structure.

[SamHouston]

So all I found was this bit:

Link

"The asylum was a large uninhabited home, a long dorm set up out back and a couple of other small houses. It was just down the street from the Church (walking distance). I believe it became a police dog training spot in the past 20 years, but is probably high end condos now. Sort of the Webster, Gray, Bagby area."

Also

Link 2

"Clinic is now St. Thomas University main building."

But the St. Thomas website says the main building (Link-Lee Manison) has a different history, and the AIA guide confirms this.

[PapillionWyngs]

So all I found was this bit:

Link

"The asylum was a large uninhabited home, a long dorm set up out back and a couple of other small houses. It was just down the street from the Church (walking distance). I believe it became a police dog training spot in the past 20 years, but is probably high end condos now. Sort of the Webster, Gray, Bagby area."

Also

Link 2

"Clinic is now St. Thomas University main building."

But the St. Thomas website says the main building (Link-Lee Manison) has a different history, and the AIA guide confirms this.

Thanks so much for the information and help.

[PapillionWyngs]

Thanks so much for the information and help.

According to my 83 year old mother, it was on Montrose Blvd.

[PapillionWyngs]

According to my 83 year old mother, it was on Montrose Blvd.

Can't someone help me research this????? It was a beautiful mansion. Seriously. Someone? Somewhere?

[wendyps]

Sorry Pap, by the lack of responses, I think you might be the authority here. Trust me, on this site, if someone even thinks they know an inkling on something...they speak up! :>

Try the Texas room at the old library building downtown...they have all kinds of old information and photos!

[gnu]

Can't someone help me research this????? It was a beautiful mansion. Seriously. Someone? Somewhere?

how about 5120 montrose...or...4817 montrose?

http://www.chron.com/CDA/archives/archive.mpl?id=1987_469098

from the chron archives:

Nell's first Hedgecroft was a big house at 4817 Montrose.

"I drove around the block proudly surveying my purchase from W.E. Sampson ($1,500 down and a loan from the late Jesse H. Jones, who was a Houston financier and publisher of the Houston Chronicle for the remainder) and trying to decide what to call it," she said. "There was a big hedge, and to `Hedge' I added `croft,' which means `small enclosure for limited tillage.' That's exactly what we had."

Then came the serious polio epidemics.

Because of the large number of patients and the lack of support funds, it became necessary to incorporate Hedgecroft as a non-profit corporation.

Nell turned over her ownership to the corporation and became founder, president of the board and executive director. With donations from generous Houstonians - particularly Jones and Houston Endowment Inc., which is the charitable trust established by Jones and his wife, Mary Gibbs Jones - the former residence of the Harris Mastersons (parents of Harris Masterson III), at 5120 Montrose was acquired.

You can probably find more about Hedgecroft, if you can find the book cited in the article:

Today the Hedgecroft name, which once streamed across a familiar white-columned building flashes from the lavender jacket of a book, "The Castlemaker," written by Hedgecroft's founder, Nell Harris.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00...4987351?ie=UTF8

[patsy]

I know that it was converted from a mansion and was in Montrose. My Aunt was a visitor there many times. I absolutely LOVED the antebellum stair case. Surely someone else remembers this. IF not, I will feel older than my 50 years! Lifetime Houstonian!

Yes, I remember Hedgecroft Hospital on Montrose. My grandmother was given shock treatments there. It was kinda spooky. You could keep an eye on the place while enjoying a burger at the Dobbs House across the street. I think there is a wine bar in the Dobbs House location now. Also lifetime Houstonian and just a bit older than you! Lots of good memories of this sleepy little town.

[patsy]

So all I found was this bit:

Link

"The asylum was a large uninhabited home, a long dorm set up out back and a couple of other small houses. It was just down the street from the Church (walking distance). I believe it became a police dog training spot in the past 20 years, but is probably high end condos now. Sort of the Webster, Gray, Bagby area."

Also

Link 2

"Clinic is now St. Thomas University main building."

But the St. Thomas website says the main building (Link-Lee Manison) has a different history, and the AIA guide confirms this.

Link-Lee Mansion was built by J. W. Link, founder of Montrose. It was the largest house in Houston at the time and was meant to be a proud entrance to the boulevarded Montrose addition. The Link family sold the home to T.P. (?) Lee, a Houston oilman and in 1947 it became the administration building for the University of St. Thomas. Visitors can still marvel at the stained glass and heavy beamed ceilings. Thank God the wrecking ball bypassed this jewel. They removed the palm tree lined boulevards that I remember from the 1950's.

[sevfiv]

c. 1955

[PapillionWyngs]

c. 1955

Thanks everyone for your help. That is cleared up for me now.

[JimBob]

A good friend of mine in the late 60's said she had been a patient at Hedgecroft. I think she mentioned electric shock. When the hospital closed they sold the fixtures, etc., and I bought the gram scale that had been used in the infirmary to measure out the daily doses of drugs for the patients. How cool is that? It still has the "Hedgecroft" label attached. It's never been used since.

[Joanie]

It is almost 10 years ago this topic was active. Still, I want to try to gain some information about Hedgecroft Hospital and clinic or rehabilitation center. I am from the Netherlands and I am investigating a nurse who worked on this hospital or clinic in 1962. Probably  she worked here since the late '50s, possible even sooner.

I wonder if the name nurse Louise Welters does ring any bells. Or perhaps Mills, a M.D.

[Bill Lins]

There was a mention of Hedgecroft Hospital in today's Chronicle in an article regarding the polio epidemic in the early 1950s- Google "Hedgecroft Hospital Houston" and you'll find links with pictures of the original mansion and the entrance, and one of the expansion in 1952.

[MaggieMay]

This source seems pretty good.  Hedgecroft was located at 5010 Montrose. 

The building was originally the home of Neill Turner Masterson, son of Harris Masterson I and father of Harris Masterson III. The Masterson family only lived there until about 1925 and it became home to the Sterling Mutual Life Insurance Company.

Beginning in 1949, Hedgecroft Hospital was located on Montrose Blvd. at the current site of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston Administration Building. The Hospital, opened in 1942, was run by Nell H. Stone and underwent a 10,000 square foot modern expansion in 1952 to house polio patients ... Later it became a mental institution and then was torn down in 1970.

I seem to remember that Roky Erickson was a patient at one time...

[DAVID MORGAN]

YOU WERE SEEKING INFORMATION ON HEDGECROFT HOSPITAL.  

• HEDGECROFT HOSPITAL 1950'S. SOMEONE POSTED A SEEKING INFORMATION ON HEDGECROFT HOSPITAL ON MONTROSE BLVD. YOU CAN CONTACT ME AT 256-580-5264 OR EMAIL ME AT CMSMOJO@YAHOO.COM. I WAS A PATIENT THERE IN 1950 AND 1951."
• THE HOSPITAL MAY HAVE BECOME A "NUT" HOUSE LATER BUT IT WAS ORIGINALLY DEDICATED TO HOUSE AND TREAT POLIO VICTIMS FROM ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES.  I WAS A PATIENT THERE FROM JUNE 1950 UNTIL AUGUST 1951.  I HAVE MANY HORRIBLE MEMORIES OF MY "VISIT" THERE.  IF YOU ARE SEEKING INFORMATION YOU MAY CALL OR EMAIL ME.

[John Polk]

I was a polio patient there in 1951.  I was a lucky one with minor damage from the disease.  Like one of the previous commenters, I've had a lifetime of bad dreams from that place.  Like COVID19, no one really knew how the disease spread so parents were only allowed to visit for 15 minutes a day.  I was 5 years old so that was pretty terrifying.  I was only there seven days. I have no historical knowledge of Hedgecroft.

 

john.d.polk@att.net

[AustinTX]

In 2016, Joanie posted a request for more information on Hedgecroft Hospital in the 1960s.  It was at 5010 Montrose Blvd. in Houston TX (built 1923; demolished 1970). The building was originally the home of Neill Turner Masterson; then a polio hospital;  and then Houston's first psychiatric hospital.  It's been replaced by a modern building, the Administration building for the Houston Museum of Fine Arts. (I don't think it was ever part of St. Thomas University - that's further north on Montrose). It was across Bartlett Street from a big, beautiful old hotel/apartment building (still there, now Prosperity Bank Bldg) which had a nice restaurant. 

 

Hedgecroft was indeed a beautiful old home, with a great staircase, and lovely grounds and large shady trees, where I used to picnic on my lunch hour.  I worked there during the summers of 1966-1968, first in Medical Records and then upstairs as a ward clerk.   The staff were all professional, dedicated, kind people.  I can't compliment them enough.  ECT treatments (AKA electroshock therapy) were indeed done there, but not on every patient.  Some mental health treatments were still in a research phase, and new treatments weren't always found to be successful for specific diagnoses.  

 

The first medical chief of staff was a psychiatrist, Dr. Mills. There were about 15- 20 psychiatrists with hospital admitting privileges.  I did not personally know the psychiatric nurse,  Louise Welters, but learned of her, and that she was from the Netherlands.  She was also a World War II heroine.  I learned later that she was a licensed pilot, and recruited in America from England, to be part of England's war effort, by the Royal Air Force ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary), one of the 166 women in this women-only branch - the first women-only branch to fly. (That ATA unit has a website now, with profiles of each of these women, but few service women still survive.)  Louise (maiden name Schuurman) was recruited in America, where her father was serving as Consul General from the Netherlands in New Orleans.  She served in England throughout the war. The ATA members ferried planes manufactured in the US (many by women like "Rosy the Riveter")  across the Atlantic, for use in war by the (male) Allied pilots.  The ATA also ferried planes used in training male Allied pilots in England, from one air base to another.  Those ATA pilots learned how to fly every type of airplane used in the war effort, and had to fly from one to another type in the same day.   

 

Women pilots were not always accepted by the men, but overcame many obstacles as females in service, and did exemplary duty.  Some even died in crashes.  After the war, they were not allowed to claim veteran status as officers, not allowed pensions or benefits, nor even allowed to discuss their service in public - it was considered classified information.  It was only in the 1980s or so (decades later) that they were officially recogized and honored by the military and the government.  It was unfortunate that Louise Welters did not live to see that day.  She kept up her pilot's license and flying hours, but tragically died in a rented plane crash in 1962, near the Galveston airport.  

 

We owe much to the women who served unselfishly during this War, especially when their service was not officially recognized. 

 

(The United States soon afterwards had a Women's Air unit during World War II:  the  Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP).  They trained at Avenger Field in Sweetwater, Texas, and were also considered non-military, despite their service.  They are also honored now, and can be buried at National Cemeteries with full Military Honors. The new WASP Museum at Avenger Field is a small, but very impressive one, with profiles of each woman pilot, and several planes.  They also have a website.  The Museum is worth a trip.)

 

 

[Terrell]

Before being converted to a mental hospital, it was used to treat polio patients during the epidemic.  I was treated there for that disease in 1950 when I was 3.

 

[John Polk]

Terrell

I was five when I was at Hedgecroft for a week in 1951.