THROWBACK THURSDAY: Celebrating Women’s History Month: Phebe Tyler (1843-1931)
The Maple Avenue Hospital in DuBois was granted a charter by the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County on May 6, 1912.
The land and $10,000 were donated by John E. DuBois for the development of the hospital. The doors to Maple Avenue Hospital were opened on Oct. 8, 1918.
The Articles of Incorporation included “the educating and instructing of persons in the art of nursing.” Phebe Tyler, being a woman of broad education, pledged $15,000 to be used for the Phebe Reed Tyler Memorial Nurses’ Home.
When the initial donation was found to be insufficient, Phebe contributed more money and managed the project until it was completed even though she was mainly confined to her bed.
The Phoebe Reed Tyler Memorial Nurses’ Home was opened in July of 1923.
At the time it opened, the building contained rooms for two students with running water in every room, baths, both shower and bathtubs.
There were private rooms for the supervisors, a large living room with a fireplace, library and music room along with a comfortable porch.
The nursing school was affiliated with the Western Pennsylvania and Allegheny General Hospitals of Pittsburgh and by the Presbyterian Hospital of Philadelphia.
Phebe Tyler was born April 10, 1843, the daughter of David and Isabell (Mahaffey) Tyler. The village of Tyler was named for her father, one of the pioneer families that settled in Huston Township in 1848.
David Tyler, realizing that his family should have a good education, employed a governess for his daughters, and Miss Phebe learned to speak French and German with fluency.
Miss Tyler also contributed greatly to welfare and charity. She was an active member of the Presbyterian Church of Penfield and in her own community. No one ever went by her home who was in need that was not helped.
In the speech she delivered at the dedication for the Nurses’ Home, it was reported in The DuBois Express Miss Tyler said, “This building I have built, not for show, glory or advertisement, but for a nurses’ home. For of all people who deserve a bed to sleep in and a place to rest, it is a nurse.”
The building operated as a nurses’ school until 1932 when state regulations became too complicated. The building then served as doctors’ offices for many years.
In 2018 the building was demolished for the expansion of the Penn Highland DuBois East Campus Behavioral Health Hospital.