The Viaduct was built in 1922 under the Penn Central Railroad to provide safe passage from the Institution north of Michigan Avenue to the farm area south of Michigan Avenue. The picture below shows the Viaduct in it’s more recent state, with the Kay Beard and Eloise Smokestack (demolished in 2006) clearly present in the background.

[ 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; page 130. ]