The Ruth Sabin Home

One of the most useful institutions of the county is the Ruth C. Sabin Home for elderly ladies, situated on the southern outskirts of the city of La Porte, on Michigan Avenue. This institution was en­dowed by Mrs. Ruth C. Sabin, who contributed $58,000 to establish it.  The home was opened in the fall of 1889 and has been in operation since that time. It has accommodations for twenty-two inmates. When these notes were taken by the writer there were twenty-three inmates, one of the ladies con­senting to take a relative into her room for a short time until there was a vacancy. Several had made application for admission, which had been granted to three and they were waiting for vacancies. The home is built of brick, in a very thorough and substantial manner. It has elegant large high-posted rooms, spacious hallways and staircases and is heated by steam and kept at a pleasant temperature.

It is cool in the summer and warm in the winter; an inmate of the home need not be sensible of the changes of tempera­ture without. The dining hall is large, well lighted and cheerful. The food is abundant, of the best quality, properly cooked, well served, and all the culinary arrangements are conven­ient, sanitary and kept scrupulously clean and neat. The best of medical attendance is pro­vided. The home has modern conveniences and protection from fire. An atmosphere of com­fort pervades the entire institution. A piano is in the upper reception room. In the winter, plants grow and bloom in the spacious halls, and creeping vines hang in festoons down the central court. In the summer, flowers bloom and the lawn is green out of doors.

Religious services are held at stated times in the great hallway, which are supervised by a committee of La Porte ladies appointed for the purpose; and as the dif­ferent ministers of the city all respond cordially when called upon to officiate in those services, each inmate of the home is very likely occasion­ally to have the services of her own church. Be­sides this the inmates are free to attend the services of their own churches wherever and whenever they please, if able to do so; and if not, the carriage of the home serves them in this re­spect so far as it can be made to do so conven­iently.

The expense of conducting the home is $4,200 annually, or $350 per month, of which about one-third goes for help, another third for food, and the balance for other expenses.  Any elderly lady of good moral character and habits, who is ac­cepted by the board of management, can become an inmate of the home for the rest of her natural life, by the payment of $500 at the time of her entrance and nothing afterwards.    This amount however, does not cover the expense of caring for her.     It is necessary to put $2,500 with it; or in other words it requires the interest of $3,000 to care for each inmate.  But there are some who have not paid this amount.    They are in every way worthy and nice people, deserving and needing the home and desirable for the home, and they have been received.  As instances of this there are seven who all together did not pay over $400.    A few special cases have been taken for nothing.    How is this?   How can the home be sustained at this rate? Very easily; and this is what has made the home a success. From the beginning it has been the policy of the manage­ment to make the home of such a high character and so desirable that wealthy people would seek to became inmates and put their money into it. In several instances this has been the case.   Even Mrs. Sabin herself, who made the original be­quest, at first retained her own residence but finally gave it to Wabash College and went to the home and passed her days there.  

When the home was first organized a committee visited similar homes in Chicago and elsewhere and ob­tained   their   methods,   rules,   etc.,  but it was soon found that the Ruth C. Sabin home could not he run successfully by applying a cast iron rule to every case, and that there must be some flexibility about it.     This policy has saved the home.    To become an inmate is so desirable that several ladies of some wealth made application. The reply was, "We can not take you because you have enough to take care of yourself."   "But we want to come,"    “Well, then if you are more than able to pay the $500 admission to come into this home, you must make it  possible for some special cases to come who can pay only a part of it, or none of it.    In other words, you must put your money into the home."'    Accord­ingly   several   have   done so.    One   lady paid $1,000; another paid $3,200; another paid $1,000 for herself, and $500 each for four more, and then brought a niece from a distance and paid $1,000 for her.    One lady on becoming an inmate gave the home her property, which was valued at $10,000.   The home realized $9,000 out of it.  In this way the home has been sustained. 

Out of the original $58,000 endowment, $26,000 was spent for the ground and buildings, and since that time over $40,000 has been spent for the care of the inmates.   The endowment has increased $10,000, or from $58,000 to $68,000.  The home has never asked assistance, it has never wanted for anything, and every year has added something to the permanent fund.  The board of management are seeking to make it absolutely self-sustaining.    They are as follows:

Officers—Hart L. Weaver, president; Martha E. Talmadge, vice president; Elizabeth H. Williams, secretary.

Trustees—Mary R.  Scott,   Martha E. Talmadge,   Rachel   Bowers, Ophelia Closser, Julia B.  Kendall,   Elizabeth   H. Williams,, Anna J. Crumpacker,  Charles H. Truesdell, Julius Barnes, George L. McLain, William A. Martin, James H.  Buck, Charles Bosserman, H. L. Weaver, William Niles.

              Source:  “A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of La Porte County, Indiana”, Rev. E.D. Daniels, 1904

Daily Herald, La Porte, Wednesday, February 28, 1894 - Silently and almost unnoticed by those who watched by the bedside, life departed from the body of Mrs. Ruth C. Sabin, and soared away to the other shore. The sufferings of some weeks' duration have come to a sudden termination. Very peacefully was the cold hand of death laid upon the sufferer. Shortly before the last came she sank into a deep slumber and gently slept her life away. Not even the quiver of an eyelid indicated the fact that the struggle with the inevitable was going on. Mrs. Sabin was the founder of the Ruth C. Sabin home for elderly women. She was born May 24, 1802, being in her 92nd year at the time of her death. For many weeks past Mrs. Sabin had been very feeble and at times her life seemed to be but a question of hours. For the last week death had been constantly looked forward to, the call being expected at every moment. The funeral will be held Frid ay at 10 a.m. at the home. Rev. E. B. Newcomb will officiate, and the other ministers will be invited to assist. The interment will take place at Union Mills, where deceased's former pastor, Rev. S.E. Smith, will officiate. The public will be invited to go as far as the city limits.

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