Description:
The Purple Heart House at 274 W. Van Buren St. — a home converted into a club for patients at Percy Jones General — was "decommissioned" on Oct. 1, 1947, after more than 29 months of service. Created in what was known as "the old Fordham house" just around the corner from the hospital, the house was operated by the Percy Jones clubs of the Wilcox-Rich and Kellogg companies, affording patients a place to entertain visitors or simply to relax. The Oct. 19 edition of the Enquirer and News reported that the house provided lodgings for more than 1,300 relatives who came to Battle Creek to too their sons for the first time back from combat.