WOODRUFF, MABEL ALICE

WOODRUFF, MABEL ALICE (30 Dec. 1893-30 Aug. 1963) was one of Cleveland's first psychiatric social workers and the founder of Ingleside Hospital.

Woodruff was born in Windsor, Ohio, the daughter of Ulrich and Florence (Pond) Woodruff.. She grew up in Niles and Oberlin, Ohio, and graduated from Oberlin College. Afterwards she worked as a rehabilitation worker in the Army Medical Corps during WORLD WAR I.

In 1922, she came to Cleveland and worked for Lakeside and City Hospitals. Woodruff soon became aware of the inadequate conditions in many private mental health hospitals, and spearheaded an investigation into Cleveland's private sanitariums.

In response to the need for quality private mental health care she founded Ingleside Hospital in 1935. She began the hospital with a $1,300 in borrowed money and housed it in a rented house on Ingleside Ave. In 1936, Woodruff gained the assistance of George Holmes, and later his wife Dorothy. She continued to work at City Hospital during the day and used some of her income to pay the hospital's bills out of her own pocket.

In 1937, Ingleside was incorporated as a nonprofit institution with Woodruff as director. By the early 1960s, Ingleside, located at 8811-21 Euclid, and its Eldercare Center near Chardon, Ohio, were rated among the top 12 private mental hospitals in the U.S.

Woodruff's health began to fail late in 1962. She died in Cleveland and was buried at Westwood Cemetery, Oberlin. She never married, and was survived by a brother, A. Byrne Woodruff.


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