What marked the buildings here were the dormitories, which were made without sash or glass, so that the children at night were sleeping practically in the open air, even in the winter.

The executive committee of the preventorium, at first with some hesitation, determined to help the general tuberculosis campaign by giving employment by preference to tuberculous patients with the arrested disease—those who had been discharged from the various sanatoriums.

[2] In March 1909, Straus offered his interest in the Lakewood Hotel property for the care of poorly nourished children who were exposed to tuberculosis in their homes.

He felt convinced that if these children became more physically fit by a visit to the countryside, with good food, fresh air, and a proper amount of rest and exercise, they would develop a definite resistance to this disease.

[2] In order to start this work, Straus asked Marcus M. Marks to undertake the organization of such an institution for the prevention instead of the cure of disease, a preventorium rather than a sanatorium.

[2] The cottage was adapted, under the personal direction of Frances Cleveland, widow of the President, the porch being arranged for six beds and the house for fourteen, these quarters being for girls.

There was at once a great demand for admission and a long waiting list of children anxious to be taken from their crowded homes to the healthy, free surroundings of the country, and the directors were soon nonplussed anew with the need for a large institution.

[2] On November 9, after 92 children had been cared for, and all had shown steady improvement, Marks made the announcement that the institution was in successful operation.

Occupation of mind and body will second the good effects of the fresh, fragrant air of Lakewood, which, with its dry, porous soil, offers an ideal location for a Tuberculosis Preventorium.

Miss Dorothy Whitney has munificently endowed this department by a gift of $100,000, the interest of which will pay for instructors, tools and materials.

"In the winter of 1909–10, organized and determined opposition among the residents and property holders of Lakewood developed to the presence of the Preventorium, even though it was known that the institution did not admit any children who were tuberculous and who could in any way be a source of danger to their neighbors.

He felt that the opposition was so ill-founded and so inhuman that it would soon defeat itself, but it was represented to him by a newspaperman that, as the originator of the plan to save children of tuberculous families from the harm that threatened them, the public desired from him some expression of his views upon the effort that was being made to throttle the Preventorium.

He replied:[2] "It is incredible to me that any one should be so devoid of love and sympathy for his fellow creatures that he should say to the children who are threatened with the living death of tuberculosis, 'You must get off my part of the earth.'

The method is to take young children who are not yet sources of infection, snatch them away from the poisoned air of their homes, and make them well and strong, as can be done nowhere so well as in Lakewood.

"At this point, Arthur Brisbane came to the rescue with a gift of a 170 acres (69 ha) farm at Farmingdale, New Jersey 7 miles (11 km) north of Lakewood, with a beautiful hilltop as a building site.

Others could be bettered by sending the tuberculous member to a sanatorium, by giving instruction in cleanliness and hygiene and the proper disposal of sputum, and by considering needs with relief organizations and obtaining aid or additional assistance.

No children who were known to have been exposed to any of the acute contagious diseases within three weeks of the date of their final examination for the Preventorium were eligible at that time.

The presence in the house in which the children live, of any acute contagious disease at the time of the final examination, also temporarily disqualified them.

Moreover, the presence of hypertrophied tonsils, adenoids, carious teeth, or pediculi or nits in the hair could be a cause of non-acceptance until such conditions are corrected.

In order to save time and labor for all parties concerned, it is, therefore, requested that nurses have these conditions remedied before bringing the children for examination.

It consisted of plenty of good food, a 24-hour day in the open air, an intimate acquaintanceship with the fields and the woods, and a practical lesson in cleanliness and hygiene.

It was managed, however, to keep each child up to its proper grade in school, so that it lost no time on its return to the city and was submitted to no undue strain.

To test out the practicability of an "infantorium", an adjunct to the Farmingdale Preventorium with twelve cribs was opened and a report of the findings was made in January 1918.

However, it required very little persuasion to convince a tuberculous mother that she was putting her infant in harm's way, and to assure her of the advantages of separation from the baby as well as for herself.

The ultimate disposition of these infants proved to be less of a problem than was anticipated and in only two instances was there any difficulty, one baby being retained over time at the preventorium and another almost two years old being returned to its tuberculous mother.

The buildings were placed on a knoll 70 feet (21 m) above the surrounding land, which had a gentle slope to the south, and a growth of timber on the north, giving good protection from the winter winds.

The basements contained bathing facilities, and the wings were arranged as sleeping wards, with open fronts, ceilings 8 feet (2.4 m) high, and windows in the rear walls.

The dressing rooms in the centre sections were furnished around the walls with benches divided into individual lockers, used to store the toys and personal belongings of the children.

On the rear walls were racks to hold toilet articles and in the centre was a stone wash-trough with hot and cold water faucets.

[4] The Administration building was of frame construction, with a shingle roof, except the outside walls, which were of hollow tile, covered externally with cement stucco and placed on a concrete foundation.