Maybury State Park

A couple of weeks ago, I had to go up to some training in Novi.  That meant I ended up taking Beck Road to Grand River Avenue.  As I was heading there, I passed Maybury State Park.  I thought that it might be an interesting place to visit.

Since I was still out and about, I decided to check it out.  I guess it might be more interesting than I thought.  It turns out at one time it was a sanatorium for the city of Detroit.  This was where they sent people who were infected with tuberculosis.  I don't know how much is left of the hospital but they still had this sign.

Tuberculosis is also known as "consumption" because of the weight loss that some of the victims undergo.  It mostly affects the the lungs but can spread to other organs.  If left untreated, it will kill about 50% of its victims.  The disease is spread through coughing or spitting.  It can mostly be treated with antibiotics but like so many other things, there are strains that becoming resistant to some of the more common antibiotics.  The disease has been around since ancient times.

Until the development of antibiotics, people who were discovered with tuberculosis were sent to quarantine areas.  Maybury State Park was originally built as one of these places in 1919.  The effort to create this space was lead by William Maybury who was a retired real estate tycoon.  He figured that people could recover in nice surroundings.  As treatment got better, the need diminished and the last person left Maybury in 1969.  In 1975, it became Wayne County's first State Park.