On September 22nd, 1830, the Supervisors of Wayne County appropriated the sum of $1,200 and appointed a committee which purchased a 17-acre tract of farm in Hamtramck Township, now the north-west corner of Gratiot and Mt. Elliot Avenues in Detroit. The location at that time was in farmland, two miles from the City limits. A contract was let on October 4th, 1832, for the construction of a two-story wooden structure subsequently named the Wayne County Poorhouse. It was 66 feet long, 25 feet wide, and had 16-foot posts facing the Fort-Gratiot Turnpike. It was used as a Poorhouse until 1838.

A 6-foot hallway divided the lower floor into two section: Two rooms, 15 feet by 25 feet, on the east; and four rooms, consisting of an “eating” room, a pantry, and a bath, on the west. The upper floor was divided into six rooms. This building was finished in December, 1832, and in January, 1833, was placed under the administration of Mr. J. P. Cooley.

The following March the state legislator Council passed an amendment to the poorhouse law conferring on the board of Supervisors the powers formerly conferred on the Board of Directors. The latter practically deprived the Directors of all authority in the management of the Poorhouse and delegated the functions to a committee of it’s body. By 1834 the Poorhouse had become almost uninhabitable; and the inmates, greatly neglected. A Catholic Female Officiation, organized for the releif of the sick and the poor of Detroit, petitioned the Board of Supervisors to take steps for the betterment of conditions. Many prominent citizens of Detroit seconded the efforts for a change in the affairs of the Poorhouse; but in order to bring about the desired changes, it was necessary to change the Poor Law, which gave the Board of Supervisors, then composed of 12 memebers from the townships and 7 members from the city, the administration of the Institution. On March 7, 1834, an ammendement was passed authorizing the Board of Supervisors to appoint at it’s pleasure one or more Superintendents to be accountable to the Board to direct and mange the Poorhouse. Under this act, the Board of Superintendents of the Poor was established to oversee the Poorhouse of Wayne County, which Board was to become the oldest administrative Board in continuous exsistence in the State of Michigan, and which is probably still in service in the Midwest.

The first Superintendent of the Poor was Reverend Martin Kundig, a German Roman-Catholic priest, who was selected in part due to his assiduous work with the Detroit cholera epidemic of 1833. The Reverend Kundig continued as the Superintendent of the Poor until 1839, at which time the County Commissioners divised plans for a larger County Farm at some distance from Detroit.

[ This information presented in whole from “A History of the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric, and General Hospital Complex at Eloise, Michigan” by Alvin C. Clark; pages 2-3. ]