This is a 4" x 2-1/4" black and white photograph of three buildings, a barn and a water tower. Utility poles line a dirt road to the left and a fence surrounds the property. Printed on the photograph is: The Bethphage Mission, Axtell, Nebr.
Excerpted from: Ninth Biennial Report of the Nebraska State Board of Charities and Correction and State Prison Board Report for Biennium Closing November 30, 1918 (Lincoln: Nebraska State Board of Charities and Correction, 1918), p.12
Historical Notes
The Bethphage Mission at Axtell was owned and operated by the Swedish Lutheran Church. It was designed to care for epileptics, insane, aged and incurables. In 1918, there was a children's department and a day school. Fees were paid through charitable contributions if a patient's family or friends could not pay. On December 1, 1916, 65 patients in residence; over the next two years, 52 were admitted and 41 discharged, so that on December 1, 1918 the number of patients was 76. Today it is run by the Desert Ministries and focuses on helping the developmentally disabled..
