•February 21, 2018•

By Myke Feinman
Of The Paper (Dwight, Illinois)

The Keeley Cure initially had gold in it, but the real gold was in the number of satisfied alcohol or other drug-addicted customers who were cured and the social support system from the community of Dwight.

Lynn Neville brought the history of the Keeley Institute to life for those attending a recent meeting of Dwight Historical Society at the Prairie Creek Public Library in Dwight.

The location was appropriate because the building itself is the former clubhouse utilized by patients at the Keeley Institute, located adjacent to the Country Mansion restaurant, also a former Keeley building.

Dr. Leslie E. Keeley, the son of a country doctor, was born in 1832 in New York. He headed West as a young man, graduating from Rush Presbyterian Medical College in Chicago. In 1864, he enlisted and served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

“As an assistant field surgeon, he knew opiates were used as anesthesia, as well as alcohol, and the opiates, alcohol and tobacco were also often used in excess by the soldiers ... and they became addicted,” Neville said.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.