Do you remember way back when people used to go to hotels built especially for health purposes? Did you know there was one in Bay Minette – the Campbell Sanitorium? My Aunt Rosie and Uncle Carl …
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Do you remember way back when people used to go to hotels built especially for health purposes? Did you know there was one in Bay Minette – the Campbell Sanitorium? My Aunt Rosie and Uncle Carl moved from Ohio with a community of Amish in the early 1900s. There were several other families who were tired of the cold winters up north and rode the L&N train to the depot in Bay Minette. As soon as they got off the train, they saw the three-story Campbell Hotel on Railroad Street. They registered to stay a few nights while arranging to move to the colony area on the Pensacola Road east of town.
Aunt Rosie was so crippled with arthritis that Uncle Carl thought the warmer climate might help ease her pain. While at the Campbell Hotel, Uncle Carl heard guests talking about the treatments they were having, calling the hotel a Sanitorium. There were classes in nutrition and exercise led by Dr. Jerome Campbell and his sister-in-law Nurse Mary Campbell. Health treatments offered there as well: hypnotherapy and 'electrographic' stimulations.
At the risk of being shunned, Uncle Carl enrolled Aunt Rosie in the Sanitorium for treatments that could possibly ease her pain. She was given a room upstairs and, in a few months, her health improved. Carl and Rosie stayed in Bay Minette even after most of the other Amish returned to Ohio after the 1916 hurricane.
My mother told me about the Campbell Sanitorium one day when we went to the Bay Minette cemetery to visit her parents' graves. They were buried next to Aunt Rosie and Uncle Carl. They still are.
Lately my memories were sparked when I saw a photo of the Campbell Sanitorium. To learn more, I paid a visit to one of Dr. Campbell's descendants, George Noonan, Senior Vice President of First Bank. In his office in Foley, he showed me the diploma his great-grandfather had earned from the New York Institute of Science in 1900.
Jerome Campbell was working for the L&N Railroad in the 1890s, while completing a correspondence course. The institute trained students in advanced medical practices: hypnosis and electrotherapy. At this time, these new discoveries led to the establishment of curative hospitals focusing on wellness, much like health spas of today.
Jerome heard of the famous Battle Creek Sanitorium owned by the Kelloggs and the Greenbrier in West Virginia; he wanted to establish a similar one in Bay Minette, so with his 1900 graduation certificate, he became Dr. Campbell. His home on Railroad Street was enlarged into a hotel, then a third story was added to house patients. Rumors ran wild about the patients in the third floor – those who were there for treatment with "psychotherapeutics." The diploma lists hypnotism as one of the certifications and it was used as a part of the treatments offered. Magnetic Therapy treatments involved electrotherapy; battery powered instruments issued shocks to affected areas as medicinal remedies. Before you gasp too hard, think of the TENS devices so many of us use today.
Medical batteries were advertised for sale by companies such as Voltamp Electric Manufacturing Company. They were hand cranked to produce the current flowing through wire attached to the area of treatment either with direct or alternating current. It was recognized by the medical profession as an effective treatment. Some today classify it as quackery that was rampant at the time, but then, again … modifications of the battery are in use today, as is hypnotism widely used by psychiatrists. To this day we are not sure which treatments were used for Aunt Rosie, but evidently they worked.
The sanitorium was well-respected and stayed fully booked all year long. Dr. Campbell died while the hotel was at its peak in 1912. His widow, her sister Mary and daughter Pearl continued to operate the establishment. Some of Dr. Campbell's family lived in a part of the building and unfortunately, two met a tragic end.
My mother remembered when a fire erupted the night of Saturday, Nov. 13, 1920 on the first floor. She said they could see the flames from their home as her father jumped on his mule and rushed to help. The Baldwin Times states the three-story concrete and frame building was completely lost as was the two-story building next door. Several nearby buildings were saved by the Bay Minette Volunteer Fire Department. By this time, Aunt Rosie and Uncle Carl were no longer living there, but two of Dr. Campbell's aunts on the third floor were overtaken by smoke before they could be rescued, even with "valiant efforts by the firemen." Mrs. Mary Campbell, aged 68, and her sister, Miss Annie Byrne, 76, were both highly respected in the county and their funeral at the Noonan home was highly attended.
With a sigh, George Noonan said he often listened to his grandfathers talk about the old days in Bay Minette. He and his wife Jeannine value their family heritage and attempt to preserve it as much as possible. We should each take time to do just as he does – treasure the present and preserve the past. No one else will do it if we don't.
