The architecture of this facility no doubt gave credence in the minds of more than a few that hospitals are places one goes to die.

The vehicle appears to be a department store delivery van.

[Very plausible. - tterrace]

Like those faux tree hitching posts along the street. At least those stubs would keep the rope from slipping off as easily.

Also, is that a block of ice strapped to the vehicle's radiator? Maybe the thing was prone to overheating if it went faster than 5 miles an hour.

The seemingly endless variety of Harper Hospital's huge American Gothic style brick building and its dependencies sprawled over a four-acre campus, and housed one of the nation's most innovative teaching hospitals, staffed by Wayne State University's School of Medicine. The hospital's original wood buildings of the 1860s were replaced by this complex in the mid-1880s, which remained in use until it was demolished in 1970. The architect was Elijah E. Myers (1832-1909), a prolific and famously litigious designer of dozens of important public buildings, including the state capitals of Michigan, Texas and Colorado, city halls and courthouses all over the United States, and the old Brazilian Parliament building in Rio de Janeiro.