Dr. Devitt’s Dream – Part I

Men’s Sleeping Porch: Photo courtesy of Phoebe Ministries

ALLENWOOD--As you travel south on Route 15 from Williamsport, a couple of miles after crossing the border of Lycoming and Union counties, you will enter the community of Allenwood in Gregg Township. Famous for the federal penitentiary located nearby, Allenwood is also the home of Tom Weaver’s pizza and ice cream shop.  A century ago, Tom’s grandfather, George, was raising his family near town on land at the foot of White Deer Mountain.

One hundred and fifty miles away, a physician in the Philadelphia area was treating patients with tuberculosis, a respiratory disease that was then considered incurable.  Dr. William Devitt, however, was convinced that an effective treatment for his TB patients included fresh air and fresh food, and he dreamed of establishing a rural retreat for them.  A graduate of Bucknell University, Devitt often vacationed near Lewisburg and eventually determine that the Allenwood area was the best location to establish his innovative treatment facility.

A Dream Becomes Reality
In April of 1912, Dr. Devitt struck a deal with George Weaver. For a total of $850, Weaver sold 60 acres of wooded and cleared land to Dr. Devitt.  A solitary barn stood on the property, which was where the first 10 patients were housed until cottages were built for them.  Ten “shacks” featuring open-air sleeping porches were ready for occupancy by July for a $5 monthly fee.  Twenty-two additional cottages were soon built, making it possible for additional patients to be treated at this central Pennsylvania sanatorium, known as Devitt’s Camp.

[Image of Devitt’s Camp – overview: Photo courtesy of Phoebe Ministries]

Between 1912 and 1925, the camp cared for almost 700 patients, including many veterans of WWI. According to a historical account of the camp, The Story of Devitt’s Camp, published in 1937, the first cabins were “simple affairs, light but sturdy, and designed to admit the greatest possible amount of air and light. [They] were open to the front, where the ill practically lived on sleeping porches.” Accommodations for both the patient and his or her family were provided and treatment included daily sunbaths, regular activities and exercise, including walks to the central dining hall for meals.

[Devitt’s Camp Dining Hall: Photo courtesy of Montgomery Area Public Library]

A 42-bed hospital facility, a dormitory for nurses, a recreational building, and a dining hall were constructed, thanks to community donations and other fundraising efforts.  In 1921, the year that electricity was installed at the camp, donations from the Montgomery American Legion purchased a moving picture machine to show movies at the recreation building.  By 1930, the Milton Rotary Club funded the installation of cement sidewalk

Family Operated
In 1922, Dr. Devitt and his wife moved to the camp permanently and raised their two children, Helen and William Jr., there.  When camp director, Herbert Norton, died in 1925, Dr. Devitt took over the camp’s operations until William Jr. was appointed superintendent of his father’s camp in 1936.  By then, patients were charged up to $30 per week and the camp was considered one of the premier TB treatment facilities in the eastern United States.

[Dr. and Mrs. Laura Devitt: Photo courtesy of Devitt family]

The Devitt family was devoted to their patients and Dr. Devitt is especially remembered for the compassion he regularly exhibited. Following the death of a patient at the camp, Dr. Devitt reportedly told her husband, who had returned from military service during WWII to settle his wife’s affairs, that “I [Devitt] should be thanking you for fighting for our country. Your wife’s account is settled. You owe us nothing.”

Supported by the Community
The camp offered employment to many local residents.  By the late 1930s, about 60 people, including doctors, nurses, technicians, and maintenance people, lived and worked at the camp.  During the summer months, area schoolgirls were often hired as kitchen help.  Two of those teenagers, both of whom still live in the Elimsport area, recall the summer of 1942 when they each earned about $9.00 a week working at Devitt’s Camp.

Betty Bower was 16 years old when she and several of her friends from Watsontown High School were hired to help prepare meals and deliver food trays to the patients’ rooms. Leona McCormick was another one of the girls who received free room and board and rose early – by 5:00 AM – to help shell beans, peel potatoes, and prepare meals using produce purchased from local farms.  During their few hours of free time, Betty and Leona recall afternoon strolls to nearby Spring Garden and Allenwood to buy ice cream with their friends.  At the end of their summer at Devitt’s Camp, the girls returned home with plans on how to spend some of their well-earned money.  “After all,” says Betty, “a tube of lipstick was 10 cents back then!”

[Map of Gregg Township, Union County: from http://www.usgwarchives.org/maps]

Coming up in Dr. Devitt’s Dream - Part II:
Bill Devitt,  the oldest of Dr. William Devitt’s four grandsons who was raised “next to the vast woods along White Deer Mountain,” shares memories of growing up at Devitt’s Camp during the 1930s and ‘40s.