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NPS Forth 10-900-a (8-88) United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet OMB Approval No. 10240018 Section number 8 Page 4 Children's Disoensary St. Joseph County IN classes.were also offered. In 1921 dental care became available. followed by an eye. ear. nose. and throat clinic. An oaeratina room provided a place for tonsillectomies and circumcisions. In 1922 the dispensary added a weekly cardiac clinic. By this time it was clear the Children's Dispensary needed considerably more space. That year the organization purchased property in the 1100 block of West Washington with the help of a large donation. Already surrounded by a brick wall on three sides and fronted with an iron fence. the land contained a garage with living space above and an excavated basement for a house that was never completed. A.fund drive was begun, and early in 1925 construction began on the new Children's Dispensary facility, designed by local architect Willard M. Ellwood. (His remaining extant works include several residences and some downtown hotel buildings.) It opened in December of the same year.. Unfortunately, Dr. Hansel. who had remained the dispensary's medical director until 1916. had not lived to see this fulfillment of his" dream. A tireless proponent of public health. he was president of the City Board of Health as well as a member of the South Bend Clinic at the time of his premature death from a heart attack in 1919. The new building contained thirty rooms. including a gymnasium. a spacious lobby, a kitchen. offices. classrooms. hospital wards. and operating rooms. The gym was not so much intended for recreation as for a place to conduct various therapeutic exercises. The Children's Disoensary was fully equipped to give free comprehensive health care to needy children through age sixteen. as well as innumerable support services to improve their lives at home. There were. perhaps. ulterior motives beyond pure altruism. South Lend Mayor Eli Seebirt had noted at the corner -stone ceremonies that "bad health leads to idleness and idieness leads to immorality and crime." After World War II needs and the neicrhborhood changed. The original mainstay of the Children's Dispensary. the long-lived milk fund. was discontinued in 1951. and in 1956 the South Bend Parks and Recreation Board took over administration of the gymnasium for use as a senior citizen center. At the end of 1966 the entire medical operation of the Children's Dispensary was absorbed by Memorial and St. Joseph hospitals, although the organization continues as the administrator of Camp Miilhouse. (An outgrowth of the earlier fresh air camps at Pottowatami Park. Camp Millhouse began in 1940 on an eleven -acre tract donated for a "sunshine camp.") United Community Services rented the dispensary building. which was renamed the Hansel Center. Today it is a neighborhood center offering various counseling services and housing_ n siavcare-. f a c i 1 itv.