1918 Hospital

The 1918 influenza pandemic was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic, the first of the two pandemics involving H1N1 influenza virus, with the second being the swine flu in 2009. It infected 500 million people around the world, or about 27% of the then world population of between 1.8 and 1.9 billion, including people on remote Pacific islands and in the Arctic. The death toll is estimated to have been 40 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest epidemics in human history. Historical and epidemiological data are inadequate to identify with certainty the pandemic's geographic origin. As a comparison, World War I claimed an estimated 16 million lives.

During the influenza epidemic of 1918-19, many houses in Niles and people were co-opted to use as emergency hospitals and staff. Two groups of staff are posed outside the Bentley homestead, which was located on Robbins Ave.

The 1920 US Census shows an Anson Bentley (President of Galvanizing Company) living at 923 Robbins Avenue. Across the street was the office of Dr. Swaney.

The Emergency Hospital and staff located in Niles, Ohio in 1918 in the Bentley home on Robbins Avenue.

The house at 923 Robbins Avenue as it appears today(2020).

Throughout the City of Niles, schools, large houses, and large factory buildings were used as hospitals where the patients of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic could be isolated and treated.