Blogger's Note: In her State of the County address yesterday, Executive Tara Zrinski spent several minutes reviewing its history from the time it was owned by the Moravians. Several years ago, I spent a day or two compiling a brief history, relying heavily on records at Easton Library's famous Marx Room. What I've learned is that, since its existence, somebody has always been trying to kill Gracedale, including me. It was almost named Valley of the Nuts. Just as important, Gracedale has consistently redefined itself over the years. 1. The early days. - Gracedale is part of what was originally a 600-acre farm, settled by the Moravians in 1745. Single dudes had to live on a similar-sized farm called Christian Springs, where they had access to plenty of cold showers. Gracedale was for the married folks.
How did it get its name? There were actually two factions. One group of prissies wanted to call it Gnadenthal. Being German, that sounds pretty tough, almost like a name for one of the Transformers. But it actually means Dale of Grace, or Kindness, a point made by Zrinski..
Another group of Moravians, led by Ronald Von Angle, wanted to call it Neissthal. That's another German name and it sounds pretty tough, too. But it translates to Nutty Valley, or Valley of the Nuts, supposedly because of all the hickory and walnut trees.
For some reason, Valley of the Nuts sounds perfect to me, but Moravians had a love feast and went with Kindness.
2. Indian Attempt to Kill Kindness. - Everything went dandy for the married Moravians at Gnadenthal, a farm of "unsurpassed fertility." But in 1763, a group of Indians on their way home from Bethlehem were provoked and robbed. The response was an uprising that coincided with other uprisings elsewhere, and quickly spun out of control. One of the places ravaged, in East Allen Township, is now the home of late County Executive John Stoffa. I kid you not! Andrew Hazlet was the unfortunate owner.
In an account published by none other than Ben Franklin, we learn that Hazlet attempted unsuccessfully to defend his home from attack. "Hazlet attempted to fire on the Indians, but missed, and he was shot himself, which his wife, some distance off, saw. She ran off with two children, but was pursued and overtaken by the Indians, who caught and tomahawked her and the children in a dreadful manner; yet she and one of the children lived until four days after, and the other child recovered. Hazlet's house was plundered."When word of this and other atrocities reached the Moravians at Gnadenthal, they stockaded the entire farm, which was then considered the "bread basket of Pennsylvania." Fortunately for the Moravians, they had built up such a good reputation with local Indians that most actually assisted in defense. In fact, several Native Americans have been buried with Moravians
3. The first poorhouse. - In 1837, Pennsylvania imposed one of those "unfunded mandates" on Northampton County, requiring it to construct a home "for the Employment and Support of the Poor." According to Express Times historian James Wright, "The philosophy then current in America was that the poor could provide some relief for themselves by doing agricultural labor to defray the cost of their care through the sale of farm produce." Moravians were somehow induced to part with 235 acres for $90 per acre, along with a large dwelling house, stone barn, outbuildings and an excellent spring.
An almshouse was added in 1838, a three-story stone structure that still stands today and is known as the Greystone Building. Total cost? $6,284.99.
4. Life in the poorhouse. - In its first year of operation, Northampton County had 117 "paupers" in residence, administered by exactly one steward (for the dudes) and one matron (for the dudettes). If someone got out of hand or refused to work, the steward could lock him in a dark cell and feed him nothing but bread and water for 48 hours.
Social reformer Dorothea Dix visited Gnadenthal twice. Dix was an advocate for the poor and mentally ill. She believed mental asylums were a humane answer to the cages, stalls and pens in which the mentally afflicted were housed in yesteryear's version of group homes. Kinda' the exact opposite of today's approach. She gave the home high marks.
5. Cholera's Attempt to Kill Kindness. - Did you know there was a cholera outbreak in 1849? It's a vicious disease that attacks the intestines, causing diarrhea and nausea, leading to dehydration, shock and death. There was no vaccine at the time. It hit poorhouses and factories hardest. In Bucks County's poorhouse, 120 of 150 residents died. The Durham Iron Company was hit hard, too. People refused to leave their homes for fear of contracting the disease.Some of Gnadentahl's residents did unfortunately contract cholera and die, but comparatively few. Once again, Kindness dodges a bullet.
6. Transition for Almshouse to Retirement Community. - Sometime around WWI, other agencies began to provide services to the poor, making poorhouses increasingly irrelevant. The population that did exist got older and more infirm. Farmers have to be hired to till many of the fields. The population diminished as staffing needs doubled.
7. 1951: The Birth of Gracedale. - As the poorhouse died a slow death, County officials embark on a new project, a nursing home. By the end of 1951, a new and modern institution costing approximately two million dollars was completed and placed in service. The retirement home's new name, Gracedale, is the English translation of Gnadenthal. Three physicians and four pastors were always on call.
In 1951, Gracedale still had 100 pigs and 500 laying hens.
8. 1975: Unions Threaten to Kill Gracedale. - In the wake of Indians and cholera comes the union, with a third attempt to kill Gracedale in 1975. Following an AFSCME vote to strike on July 21, 1975, leaflets were passed out that demonstrate pretty clearly just what these union workers really then thought of the residents. "It is obvious that Gracedale must be closed for an indefinite period of time. Some residents can go home with relatives or friends, hospitals should be notified to be ready to admit the ill, while our County Home may be able to care for the balance. ... Call the Commissioners. Demand your rights. Together we shall overcome the Commissioners' brand of politics in Northampton County."
This threat to kill Gracedale, of course, failed. But no matter how much unions claim to care about the residents, their 1975 leaflets indicate they were willing to subject residents to removal, all for the sake of a few bucks.
9. 2011: Attempt to Sell or Lease Gracedale Fails. - In the wake of rising costs, then Executive John Stoffa proposed the sale or lease of Gracedale. Despite arguments that the best way to save Gracedale was to sell it, voters decided overwhelmingly to keep it.
10. 2011: Third Part Administrator Hired. - After the attempted sale of Gracedale failed, a third-parter Administrator - Premier Health Care Services was hired to manage the home. County Council adopted an ordinance providing that all funds that went to Gracedale would stay there, which would prevent the county from using any profit to run other operations. By 2015, census had risen to 681, and the county went two years in a row with deficiency-free surveys.
11. 2019: Third-Party Administrator Replaced With In-House Administrator. - Despite the success shown by Premier, the county decided to return to an in-house administrator in 2019.
12. 2020: COVID and the Great Resignation. - A COVID pandemic was particularly deadly to senior citizens, and many staffers decided to resign. Things got so bad at one point that then Exec Lamont McClure called in the National Guard. Many staffers never returned, and Gracedale began to rely heavily on agency nurses.
2025: Gracedale Placed in Provisional License Status. - As a result of a number of elopements., Gracedale was placed in Provisional I license status. That has since been downgraded to Provisional II.
Conclusion. - Over its lengthy history, Gracedale has evolved from working farm to stockade to poorhouse. In its last seventy-five years, it has been a nursing home. What Zrinski has proposed amounts to another step in its evolution.
Conclusion. - Over its lengthy history, Gracedale has evolved from working farm to stockade to poorhouse. In its last seventy-five years, it has been a nursing home. What Zrinski has proposed amounts to another step in its evolution.
Sources:
NORTHAMPTON COUNTY COMM'RS TO NAME NEW ALMSHOUSE "GRACEDALE", Easton Express, 12/24/51.
COMMONWEALTH MAGAZINE, GRACEDALE (July 1952)
TRENDS AT "GRACEDALE": MORE AND OLDER GUESTS, MORE WHO ARE INFIRM, Easton Express, 8/18/53
GRACEDALE: Moravian Setting for Modern Northampton County Courthouse, by Edward F. Reimer
MODERN MEDICAL CENTER SETS GRACEDALE APART FROM OLD COUNTY HOME, Easton Express, 8/18/53
10-STORY GRACEDALE TOWER IS DEDICATED, Free Press, 2/19/1975.
ALMSHOUSES, FACTORIES HIT BY 1849 CHOLERA EPIDEMIC, James Wright, Looking Back, The Easton Express, 12/31/89, page C-6.
GRACEDALE FOUNDED AS MORAVIAN SETTLEMENT, JAMES WRIGHT, Easton Express (date unknown)
GRACEDALE: Moravian Setting for Modern Northampton County Courthouse, by Edward F. Reimer
29 comments:
It's long been a very expensive political football that ignores good stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and resident welfare. Disgraceful. This county demonstrably hates its elderly.
I wanna bring back pigs.
You could argue that this county is a poor steward of taxpayer dollars, but nothing in this story remotely suggests that the county demonstrably hates its elderly. Quite the opposite.
Look in a mirror.
Its evolution is downhill. It will get even worse under the current talk, no walk admin and petty council. Stoffa had it right, but the taxpayers reacted with emotion instead of common sense. That knee-jerk reaction and consistent lack of a sound plan is now costing millions of taxpayer money. Throwing more money at it won't work. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Love hearing the history ! Thank you
Serious question: all of us who are aging have consider long term care, in the event our care becomes too much for family. Where do you see yourself going, Bernie?
June, 2012 to November, 2015 is the last period of time Gracedale flourished. Maybe research who was administrator at that time, Bernie. The decline began again from then to present. It’s the administrator/executive duo that have made Gracedale succeed or fail. Its present duo is failing. There are so many reasons for it. By the way, vaccine mandates from McClure resulted in good employees leaving Gracedale. Placing inexperienced people in charge of a large facility didn’t help either. An executive with no clue for two terms was disastrous for Gracedale. This one truly doesn’t understand you can’t expand it until you fix it. Sigh!
Thank you for an interesting summary! I always enjoyed reading Jim Wright's articles.
that's hateful. Stop throwing the noble Poland Black, the pig that conquered the west, under the bus.
If you wanted to make your headline accurate, you should change it to “Gracedale: Two Centuries of Failure”
No one and I mean no one should support this pipe dream of Tara’s that she pulled out from somewhere to hide the actual problems that are Gracedale. It’s typical of people in charge with no clue and even some of the new Democrats on Council are beginning to see the light. How can you build Gracedale city when you are on the verge of closure?
Let’s admit we only had 3-4 good years with Premier.
Government functions like this aren’t supposed to turn a profit. They are to provide value and eliminate nonsense that impedes that core function. Somebody has to go. The Executive isn’t going anywhere. She is an elected official. She does however have the responsibility to make those difficult decisions. The Director of Human Services is the responsible person after all. It’s crazy to make excuses and eliminate that responsibility from that position. She’s gotta go.
That statement is far from true. In the early nineties not only was Gracedale fully staffed, we were the example statewide for how a County owned Nursing Home should be operated. It went downhill when the County Executives started to cut their labor costs and began screwing the employees with low wages and cutting their benefits. Almost 100% of the County's problems are because of the poor wages paid to our employees. We are sixty prison guards short staffed and all of it is due to poor wages. We are short staffed at Gracedale and just about every department in the County. It all started when they changed the wage scales which screwed the employees immensely. Until you correct the wages you will continue to have problems. Your finance director turned down the job because of the poor wages the County Commissioners wanted to pay her. Are you people blind. It's all about the wages. Correct the wages!!!!!!!!
Yes, Jim Wright was a source. His stuff was always interesting.
I wouldn't say it "flourished", at least not in comparison to its best years. Bu yes, Premier did turn things around as Administrator. Two years in a row with no deficiencies and cash flow returned. But after D Freeman left, it began to slip again. Vaccine mandates were not from McClure, but the feds. They were mandatory.
9:46, Nowhere. I live in a senior community, and we are mostly aging in place. Some folks have home health care aides that stop by. I am fairly active, even with serious hip arthritis, and am actually able to do some light running in my walks after a few months of some hip strengthening exercises. If someone does not murder me or if I don't get crushed on my bike by a car, I suspect I'll die in my sleep. I do try to live every day as though it is my last.
Yeah, maybe two. Even with Premier, it began to slide after Freeman and Holland left, and this was pre-pandemic.
Zrinski considers Gracedale a core function. So did McClure. I get where they come from, and it's a good place, but nursing homes are not a core county function. The count exists to maintain the courts, manage the back end of crime, run a jail, conduct elections, administer state-mandated human services and fix county bridges. That is it.
Werner gave Freeman an accommodation, calling him a “Godsend “ upon his departure from Gracedale. The stats support that.
This is such an interesting question- how does a county take care of its frail poor? Yes most counties in PA have chosen not to have a county-owned nursing homes but they previously did- and now those previously county-owned homes are now for-profit nursing homes (see Carbon, Monroe county homes now run privately)- I have worked in these homes and let’s just say excellence is not the priority. It is Profit. Not good or bad, just capitalism. When a county’s voters choose to keep their home under country control, it becomes a political football, because the employees are unionized. Gracedale is one of the best nursing homes in the Valley, regardless of stars and provisional licenses. It has recently been targeted by the DOH field offices for offenses that other nursing homes experience on a daily basis. It’s not on its last legs and its residents are treated with professionalism and compassion. But anyone with an agenda can make it appear that it is failing. And the DOH targeting Gracedale is beyond my comprehension when there are so many other appalling nursing homes out there.
Gracedale was the only “game in town” in the late eighties early nineties and it did not stay up with the times. No one paid attention to innovation, new guidance or technology or other facilities being put in place in the valley, Cedarbrook always was ahead of Gracedale in its thinking yet the two were always compared as “sisters”. Sisters perhaps in size but not in innovation. You can’t take Gracedale from a Provisional 2 and make it a Cedarbrook until you get it out of trouble first.
My mother told me a great uncle of mine who probably had combat PTSD would stay at Gracedale during the winter months and then ride the rails all over the U.S. during warmer months. I am 80 now so not sure of any other details. Sure wish I would have paid more attention to the stories.
The county employees are jokingly asking each other if they are going to move to Zrinskis "commieville" lol. Joking aside, I think there is a lot of skepticism among the rank and file to say the least. I'll wait to see the plan before going scorched earth on it. Maybe it could work, but it would need expertise that the county does not have IMO.
They made it a core function. And they now need to manage it as a core function until that is no longer true.
When a Union Leader, a Chief Shop Steward to be clear, takes advantage of perks such as a free education such as CWEL, which is a guaranteed management career path in the way of other workers in Human Services, what would you expect?
No county employees are discussing such a thing. You just hate anyone with an idea whether it’s good or bad. Personally, I can careless what anyone wants to do but I don’t see this really helping. Almost no housing can be “affordable”. Why? Because it costs so much to built housing whether a single home or apartment building the costs are exuberant now and probably not going down anytime soon. Trump isn’t helping that by the way.
That said sure housing can be economical but how does the county do it without eating millions upon millions. See what it costs just to tie into an underground utility service such as public water or sewage. See how much it costs to complete foundation work. The amount the county would have to absorb alone makes it not realistic but will hold actual judgement till numbers are shown if it gets that far.
Oh yes they are, because I experienced first hand LOL!! Also, you apparently didn't read the post, or you have comprehension problems. I stated there was skepticism, I also stated I would wait to see the plan other than the obtuse outline Zrinski presented. Not sure how that translates to "you just hate anyone with an idea good or bad" but hey, you have a right to think what you want, even if it's fantasy land.
Bernie, agree with taking a different approach at handling Gracedale, but thus far, after weeks of problems discussed, nothing of substance or design has been publicly disclosed, only verbal intention. If the executive, and council have the backers, and funding, they should at least disclose it to the taxpayers. Can’t get public support on speeches and promises.
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