Hospital celebrate 175 years of service

This year marks the 175th anniversary of Patterson Cat and Dog Hospital, considered Detroit's oldest veterinary practice and the city's oldest operating small business.

It was 1844, and there was no electricity.

James Patterson began taking care of Detroit’s horses and farm animals.

Patterson, an English immigrant, founded his veterinary practice that year in what is now downtown Detroit, somewhere on Griswold Street. It sprung up at a time when horses provided the main form of transportation, and plenty of farmland meant plenty of farm animals.

His son, Elijah Patterson, took over the practice and moved it to an interim location before settling at the current spot, 3800 Grand River, in 1909. The first floor could house 25 horses. Some patients arrived via horse ambulance, a relic now on display at The Henry Ford Museum’s Greenfield Village.

Elijah Patterson’s son, James, took over his father and grandfather’s practice in 1926. Since horses were being replaced by automobiles, he converted it into a small animal hospital with cat and dog kennels, labs and operation rooms.

In 1966, it was purchased by Eugene Miller, who modernized and maintained the operation until 1985, when the clinic’s current owner, Dr. Glynis Graham, followed her heart back home to the only place she had ever really wanted to be. 

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Patterson Vet Celebrates 175 years