Families waiting for return of memorial bricks before Delaware County Memorial Hospital is demolished
The former Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Upper Darby is set to be demolished later this year to make way for a new career and technical education center. Before the building comes down, the Upper Darby School District is working to save important items that are still inside.
Hundreds of engraved memorial bricks line the walls in the lobby of the former hospital.
Melissa Harris, of Drexel Hill, is hoping to reclaim one honoring her grandfather. The inscription reads: "C MILLIGAN LOVE JO, MELISSA AND JO."
"The bricks are very important to people because they got them to honor their loved ones that passed in the hospital," Harris said.
Harris' grandfather, Charles Milligan, died at Delaware County Memorial Hospital from complications of a heart attack in 1986.
Harris said she contacted the Upper Darby School District more than a year ago to ask about retrieving her grandfather's brick, but still doesn't know when she'll be able to pick it up.
"There was follow up emails probably about three or four and then haven't heard anything," Harris said.
In an email to CBS News Philadelphia, the Upper Darby School District asked families for patience and said every requested memorial item will be returned before demolition begins.
The district said it has received 39 requests for items from the former hospital site, including 25 memorial bricks, three memorial tiles and 11 additional items. Those other requests include a memorial plaque, a boat anchor, photographs, 10 lockers from the Millbourne Police Department and pieces of furniture.
According to the district, D.M. Kelly Masonry, LLC, of Springfield Township, is carefully removing the requested memorial items at no cost to either the school district or the families. Families and organizations were contacted earlier this month with information about picking up their belongings at the district's administration building.
For Harris, her grandfather's brick is more than a keepsake.
"It was like something that we did for him," she said. "I hate to see it just smashed to the ground. If they're demolishing the hospital, I'd rather have it, place it somewhere nicer or put it out by his grave."
The Upper Darby School District is also partnering with the Upper Darby Historical Society to preserve meaningful pieces of the former hospital's history that can be shared with the community after the building is demolished.
