USA > Indiana > A History of Indiana from its exploration to 1922 > Part 22
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F. Lauenstein James T. Walker
Jas. T. Walker Marcus S. Sonn- tag
W. A. Hester W. A. Hester
1902-1903
James T. Walker
Alfred W. Emery
F. W. Cooley
1903-1904
Marcus S. Sonn- tag Alfred W. Emery
Jas. T. Walker
Marcus S. Sonn- tag Alfred W. Emery
F. W. Cooley
1906-1907
Fred W. Lauen- stein
Alfred W. Emery
Jas. T. Walker
F. W. Cooley
1907-1908
Major A. C. Ros- encranz Major A. C. Ros- encranz Major A. C. Ros- encranz
John R. Brlll
Fred W. Lauen- steln
F. W. Cooley
1910-1911
Major A. C. Ros- encranz
J. U. Schnelder
Marcus S. Sonn- tag
J. U. Schnelder
Jas. H. Tomlin
1912-1913
Major A. C. ROB- encranz Major A. C. Ros- encranz Major A. C. Ros- encranz
Marcus S. Sonn- tag
1914-1915
Abe Strouse Abe Strouse
J. U. Schnelder Howard Roosa J. U. Schnelder Howard Roosa C. B. Enlow C. B. Enlow |C. B. Enlow
Howard Roosa J. U. Schnelder Howard Roosa J. U. Schneider Howard Roosa Danlel Wertz Danlel Wertz
Jas. H. Tomlin Jas. H. Tomlin L. P. Benezet L. P. Benezet L. P. Benezet L. P. Benezet
1917-1918
Abe Strouse Abe Strouse
1918-1919 ...
1919-1920 1920-1921 ...
Abe Strouse Abe Strouse
L. P. Benezet
1889-1890
1890-1891
1891-1892
1892-1893
1893-1894
1894-1895
W. A. Hester
1895-1896
Chas. E. Scoville Aaron M. Well F. Lauensteln
Aaron M. Well Fred Lauensteln Charles E. Scoviile
Jas. T. Walker
F. W. Cooley
1904-1905
F. W. Cooley
1905-1906
James T. Walker
Marcus S. Sonntag
John R. Brlil
F. W. Cooley
1908-1909
John R. Brill
Fred W. Lauen- steln
F. W. Cooley
1909-1910
Jas. H. Tomlin
1911-1912
Marcus S. Sonn- tag J. U. Schnelder
Marcus S. Sonn- tag J. U. Schnelder
Jas. H. Tomlin
1913-1914
1915-1916
1916-1917
Abe Strouse
H. Q. Wheeler H. Q. Wheeler H. Q. Wheeler Wllllam Baker E. J. Rice Chas. Butterfleld
1867-1869
Isldor Esslinger
A. M. Gow A. M. Gow
1869-1872
Chas. Lauensteln
1872-1873
Chas. Lauenstein
Wm. F. Parrett Wm. F. Parrett and Dr. H. W. Cloud
John M. Bloss
1876-1877
R. D. Richardson T. C. Bridwell
John M. Bloss
1877-1878
1878-1879
1879-1880
Adolph Pfafflin J. W. Wartmann
John W. Roelker J. W. Wartmann Alex Gilchrist
John Cooper John Cooper
1882-1883
1884-1885
R. F. Schor
Jas. T. Walker C. J. Kehr
1886-1887
Dr. Isaac T. White
J. E. Iglehart
John W. Roelker
J. W. Layne
J. W. Layne J. W. Layne
J. W. Layne J. W. Layne J. W. Layne
W. A. Hester
1897-1898
1898-1899
1899-1900
Marcus S. Sonn- tag
Alfred W. Emery
Fred W. Lauen- stein
Jas. H. Tomlin
John M. Bloss John M. Bioss
1857-1860 . .
PHYSICIANS AND THE PUBLIC HEALTH
None of the professions holds a place of higher importance in the scheme of modern civilization than does that of the physician. Hu- manity owes an inestimable debt to the skill and learning of the phy- sicians and surgeons. The stamping out of disease, the curbing of pestilence and the care of the sick are all provinces of the doctor of medicine. His science has made possible healthier children and men, and has made the conquest of regions scourged with malaria and other fevers reality instead of a dream. But in this county perhaps the most important phase of the work of the medical profession has been the institution of various public health measures, such as city sanita- tion, food and water inspection, and the examination of school children and factory employees.
In the earlier years of the history of the county, the practice of medicine was an arduous task. The doctor's calls had usually to be made on horseback, in all kinds of weather, and over roads often made wellnigh impassable by rains and snows. His few medicinal reme- dies were carried on his saddle, and arriving at some isolated cabin he would bring cheer and comfort to the invalid. Heavy was the handi- cap which he carried in his batttle with disease. Obscure and limited knowledge all too often made him unsuccessful, but he was then, as now, the good Samaritan of the community.
There were then many sicknesses which the medical profession knew not how to cure. Indeed, there were even some which now no longer prey upon mankind, diseases which have apparently gone for- ever. Of these, the dreaded milk sickness, which commonly prevailed in the fall of the year, was one of the worst. Neither the observation of the farmer nor the knowledge of the doctor could determine its origin. Some thought that the cow contracted it from water, others from some peculiar wild grass or weed, but no one could certainly determine. Of this, however, they were sure, to drink the milk or eat the flesh of a diseased animal was to contract the disease. Sometimes persons would suffer for years without knowing the real nature of their illness, while others would die in the course of a few months. But what science could not do in discovery or eradication in this dis- ease as well as some others, time has done, and nothing has been heard for the past half century of the once fatal milk sickness.
A great amount of missionary work, or public education, has been done by the medical profession, in order that the layman might be brought to ways of healthier living. We now have a highly organized and efficient board of health, whose diversified duties and their prac- tical performance assures to all the utmost in protection from disease, but in the early days of the county, all that stood between the pioneer and sickness was the local physician with a knowledge of medical mat- .
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGII COUNTY
ters almost primitive compared to the mental equipment of the most ordinary of practitioners of today. In no profession has advancement been more rapid than in this-a discovery in the science that was at the time considered epochal was in ten years an obsolete theory. Al- most within the memory of the present generation has come sterili- zation, making operations something beside an even gamble with death from blood poisoning, and anaesthesia, and countless other rev- olutionary innovations which have all come within comparatively re- cent years.
The first physician in Vanderburgh county of whom we have any record was Dr. Hornby, an Englishman, who settled near McCutchan- ville in 1818, and for some years gave the people such attention as a medical knowledge gained in a drug shop enabled him to give. In Evansville, the first medical man was Dr. William Trafton, who came here in 1820 from Lewiston, Maine. His education in medicine in- cluded attendance at medical lectures at Dartmouth college. He was not only a pioneer in point of time, but in research and discovery as well, and his own observations brought him to the treatment of cer- tain fevers with quinine instead of cathartics and calomel. Almost at the same time as the advent of Dr. Trafton, came Dr. Shaw, but his frail constitution could not stand up under the hardships of the times, and his death occurred soon after his arrival in Evansville. Dr. Har- vey Phillips, a New Yorker, who performed the first major operation in the county, also died shortly after coming here in 1822, his period of practice covering three years in this community.
With the growth of the town the number of practitioners increased accordingly. Among the better-known of the early physicians were the Hutchinson brothers, A. P. and Isaac, who came here in 1833. Dr. Bray, one of the most brilliant medical men ever to grace the local fraternity, came in 1835, while others were Dr. Lane, Dr. G. B. Walker, Dr. Daniel Morgan, Dr. L. L. Laycock, Dr. Lindley, and William Trafton.
The first medical society, named the Evansville Medical Society, was organized here in 1845, and to govern its members this society adopted a code of ethics which for the loftiness of its ideals is a re- markable document. The society continued until 1873, when the Drake Medical Society came into existence. The latter organization endured until 1878, the year of the organization of the Vanderburgh County Medical Society. The society has always been a jealous guar- dian of the best principles of the profession, its meetings have been drawing cards for the best talent in this entire region, and through its agency many sweeping reforms and improvements in the way of sani- tary measures have been fostered.
For nearly forty years, Evansville was the proud possessor of a medical college, known as the Evansville Medical College. This praiseworthy institution had its inception on March 1, 1846, when a number of the luminaries of the local profession met in the office of Drs. Trafton and Weever. These men organized, adopting articles and by-laws for the government of the college, and Dr. L. L. Lay-
203
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
cock was elected dean. He was also chosen professor of theory and practice, S. R. Wilcox was professor of materia medica and therapeu- tics, G. B. Walker professor of obstetrics, C. S. Weever professor of anatomy, M. J. Bray professor of surgery, and C. A. Foster profes- sor of chemistry. The college opened with a course of lectures, the first of which came on November 5, 1849. The college opened with forty-one students, and the course consisted of five lectures a day, five days a week, and two lectures on Saturday. The first graduating class, nine in number, received diplomas on February 23, 1850. The college was successful from the first, the classes increased in size, and the course was augmented by additional medical subjects from year to year. The faculty was increased, and from time to time changes were made in the various chairs. Under the control of the faculty and supported by the city was the College Dispensary, not only a feature of great value to the student who could thus gain practical experience in medicine and minor surgery, but was likewise a blessing to the city, for it provided a hospital for those who needed one. The college con- tinued until 1884, when it was deemed advisable to abandon it.
In the meantime, however, the Hospital Medical College was or- ganized chiefly through the efforts of Dr. A. M. Owen. The charter for this college was granted in 1872. The faculty was of the highest order. During its existence about fifty physicians were awarded dip- lomas, but with the death of Dr. Walker in 1887, and the resignation of Dr. Owen on account of the demands of his private practice, the college suffered such severe blows that it was closed.
Hospitals. Besides the College Dispensary, previously mentioned, the United States hospital was opened in 1857 with Dr. M. J. Bray as post-surgeon. He continued in that office until 1861, when Dr. J. P. DeBruler was appointed to the position, and in 1862 Dr. J. B. Johnson held the office, remaining at the head of the institution until it was sold to the Sisters of Charity after the Civil war, the name then being changed to St. Mary's hospital. While it was the United States hos- pital the medical staff was composed of members of the college facul- ty, who held clinics twice every week.
The City hospital, which was organized by Drs. Pollard, Hartloff, Edwin Walker, Hodson, Kerth, Mcclurkin, Linthicum and others, re- ceived its first patients in 1883.
The Walker Hospital is the outgrowth of the old Evansville Sani- tarium, which was organized and built by Drs. Edwin Walker and Abraham M. Owen in 1894.
At that time, the idea of the use of hospitals was not well developed nor practiced by the citizens of this country, but the necessity of better surgical and medical treatment was beginning to be realized, and the doctors realized it when they decided to build the institution, knowing that it would give them a better opportunity to take care of their patients.
The Evansville Sanitarium had a capacity for 30 patients. There was established a training school for nurses, which was operated as a part of the hospital, all of which has steadily grown until at the present
204
IIISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
time, there is a capacity of 75 patients with a class of 40 pupil nurses in the training school.
The change from The Evansville Sanitarium to The Walker Hos- pital occurred in 1914. From 1899 to 1918 the institution was operated by Drs. Edwin Walker and James Y. Welborn, as a private, general hospital, taking in as much charity work as any institution could afford to do. During this time the staff has been increased and at the present time there are eight physicians and surgeons in the building, giving their entire time to this work together with several associates, who give a part of their time to the work. This association of physicians is known as a "clinic." taking care of all of the patients about the hos- pital and office. This is the development of the idea, very prevalent the last quarter of a century, that physicians when grouped can study out specialties and work to a better advantage for the patient than they can when they are working alone. It is due to this, that the suc- cess in this hospital has been as grcat as it is.
Since 1916, Dr. James Y. Welborn has been chief of the staff and has operated the hospital, using all of the latest ideas and methods of treatment of diseases of medicine and surgery, also using the Radium and Deep Therapy, all the very latest methods of laboratory and X- Ray work, thus giving patients the best that can be had anywhere.
The following is the present staff: Surgeons, James Y. Welborn, M. D., F. A. C. S .; Wm. R. Davidson, M. D., F. A. C. S .; Wm. E. McCool, M. D., F. A. C. S .; W. Randolph Hurst, M. D .: D. V. Mc- Clary, M. D .; asociates, Pierce Mckenzie, M. D .; consulting obste- trician. C. L. Seitz. M. D., pathologist ; C. S. Baker. M. D., anesthetist ; I. C. Barclay, M. D., internal medicine; Dalton Wilson, M. D., house physician; W. W. Hcwins, M. D., urologist ; K. T. Meyer, M. D., roentgenologist ; W. A. Biggs, D. D. S., dentist.
In order to fulfill the great demand in this country for graduate nurses, the training school has been increased and the method of tcach- ing and training these nurses has been the very best. At the present time there are 40 pupils who receive their instruction from eight doc- tors and five graduate nurses.
In 1918, a new nurses' home was built on the premises; this has given this school an advantage, very important during these times, namely, that there have been more applicants for entrance than could be accommodated, thercby insuring the very best class of young women as students.
It must not be overlooked, that owing to the strenuous efforts of the American College of Surgeons the hospitals of this country have been greatly improved. The College does not authorize nor force the hospitals to make improvements but they set the pace of such which would tend to make an A 1 hospital and all hospitals make every effort to meet these demands. It is a distinction which this hospital enjoys and of which everyone is very proud, that all of the methods as re- quired by the College are already in existence in this hospital, and have been for many years ; such as, the taking of patients' histories has been done for thirty years ; a laboratory maintained by an expert for fifteen years and an X-Ray department for the last twenty-five ycars, and in
205
HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
every other respect the demands of the American College of Surgeons had practically been in vogue many years.
The Walker Hospital, while it is non-sectarian, is operated entirely by protestants .
The first contagious diseases of small pox hospital was built in 1884, and did much to curb small pox through segregation of those afflicted with the disease, then much more prevalent than today.
At present there are six hospitals in the county : Deaconess Hos- pital at 614 Mary street, of which Dr. George C. Dunlevy is president of the board; St. Mary's hospital at No. 1113 First avenue, the Cath- olic institution ; Walker hospital at No. 712 South Fourth street, of which Dr. James Welborn is president; Hayden hospital at No. 20 Walnut street, of which Dr. J. W. Phares is manager ; the Hospital for the Insane on the Newburg road, a state institution of which Dr. Laughlin is superintendent; and Boehne Camp, a tuberculosis hos- pital located on the upper Mt. Vernon road, of which Dr. Johnson is the head.
There have been two medical journals published in Evansville. The first, the Western Retrospect of Medicine and Surgery, was established in 1872 and published by Drs. H. M. Harvey, H. A. Lewis and W. M. Newell. It had a limited circulation and continued for but a short time. The other journal was the Indiana Medical Reporter, a monthly issue edited by Drs. A. M. Owen, J. W. Compton, J. E. Har- per, Archibald Dixon and J. Gardner. It appeared in 1880, was popu- lar, but continued for only about two years.
Of the medical profession Evansville may well be proud. Every department is most efficiently represented, and there is little need of its citizens worshiping at the altars of foreign gods and seek relief elsewhere.
Protection of the people by improvements in sanitary conditions, inspection of foods and examination of school children has been brought to its present efficiency largely through the efforts of the members of the medical profession. The Vanderburgh County Medi- cal Society has been unremitting in its advocacy of hygienic reforms, and its policy of educating the public, though occasionally met with unreasoning resistance, has been materially responsible for higher standards of health protection in cases the physician is most con- cerned.
The sanitary inspection, the quarantining of contagious diseases and similar duties for the territory within the county not included in the city of Evansville, where such duties are attended to by the city board of health, come under the county board of health. To the county health officer monthly reports are made by the city board of health, and he is in reality the superior medical officer of the county. It is he who reports to the State Board of Health.
The board of health of Evansville is departmentized into various inspection bureaus, the food and milk inspection divisions, the plumb- ing inspector and the contagious disease divisions. The duties of the board are: the enforcement of sanitary laws, collection of vital statis-
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
tics, maintenance of a smallpox hospital, providing a clinic for the treatment of venereal diseases, and the employment of a laboratory for the detection and diagnosis of infectious diseases and also chemical and bacteriological examinations of food, milk and water.
The department of health for Evansville is at present officered as follows : Dr. A. M. Hayden, president ; Dr. Earl Conover, vice-presi- dent ; and Dr. Wallace C. Dyer, secretary. The food inspector is Frank X. Schneider and the milk inspector, perhaps the most import- ant division of the department, is Walter Zumstein. During the past year the milk inspection division made chemical analyses of 2,499 samples of milk, 844 samples of cream and 244 samples of butter, while 299 samples of ice cream were gathered and analyzed. 688 bac- teria cultures were gathered, 865 dairy farms inspected and six ordered to discontinue selling milk. 118 health certificates were filled, 401 inspections of milk plants were made. and 251 creamery inspections. In addition to this other important work was done. In his annual re- port to the mayor, Mr. Zumstein said : "We now have more than 2,000 head of tuberculosis free dairy cattle supplying Evansville with milk products, and we at the present time have more than eight hundred signatures of herd owners in Vanderburgh county whose herds will be tested in the near future, making this county a tuberculosis free area. I feel that we are doing wonders by eradicating all tuberculosis cattle from the herds supplying us with milk and dairy products.".
The free dental clinic of the city is also one of the important works of the board of health. During the past year. this clinic, of which Dr. C. W. Brumfield was the head, gave attention to 2,402 school children, while at the clinic 1,435 operations were performed. This phase of the public health is rapidly assuming its proper place as a matter of vital concern to the city, for many of the ills of humanity are traced to diseased teeth.
To give a slight idea of the enormous amount of work done by the sanitary officers and nurses of the board of health, the following bare statement of the past year's accomplishments is given: Flags put up for contagion, 1035; houses inspected, 3897 ; alleys ordered cleaned, 1560; yards ordered cleaned, 1212; cisterns and cellars, 872: chicken coops, 472; furnish garbage cans. 960; remove ashes and trash, 1240 ; wash water in alleys and streets, 628; funerals attended for contagion, 3; vaults cleaned and marked so in office, 912; visits to quarantines, 312; weed notices served, 9217 ; rooms fumigated for contagion, 1512; colin bacillus found in cisterns, 165 ; buildings condemned as unsani- tary, 8; specimens of water taken for analyzation, 1232; cultures taken by nurses. 500; Widals for typhoid fever, 50; malarial smears, 50; smears for diphtheria, 58; trips to hospital, 782; trips, 276; miscel- laneous trips, 26,963; measles, 600; whooping cough, 200; typhoid fever, 8; cerebral spinal meningitis. 1; deaths from contagion, 3; deaths. 1922, 1035; death rate 12.1; births, 1576; birth rate 18.3.
A branch of the public health service which is doing a most im- portant work in the city is the United States Public Health Service
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
clinic, which is doing much toward curing and checking venereal diseases.
There is probably no part of city government which has assumed a position of such importance in so comparatively short a time as has the health department. An increasing realization on the part of the people of the importance of proper inspection and sanitary laws, largely induced by the educational efforts of the medical profession, has done much toward facilitating the work of the physician, -- bacteri- ologist and dentist in pushing forward sanitary reforms.
BANKS AND BANKING
There is no doubt but that in the pioneer days, before the advent of banks in this region, some current tender was used besides coins, bank notes and the like, commonly called legal tender. Corn, tallow, furs, whisky, flour and many other commodities were accepted as payment for debts, and indeed some such provision on the part of the pioneers was imperative, for there was but very little coin or paper money in circulation this far west at the time of the organization of Vanderburgh county. It was felt, however, that some monetary sys- tem would have to be established in order that trade and commerce might be facilitated, and consequently the first constitutional conven- tion, held at Corydon in 1817, directed that the Vincennes bank should be made into a state bank. Several branches of this bank were estab- lished at various points in the state, but the ideas of banking held by those in charge of all these institutions, save only the one at Madison, were so reckless that disaster quickly attended their operations. Un- limited inflation was caused by the carefree way in which each bank printed and signed paper notes and there was gross mismanagement in the making of loans. Any speculator seemed to have no difficulty in obtaining loans of nearly size for the most fantastic schemes of de- velopment. The people were enthusiastic about internal developments in the state, but for this a great deal of money was needed. The banks obligingly printed the money and passed it out freely to investors in all kinds of improvement schemes. Wildcat speculating brought wild- cat money, and the total collapse of these banks soon came about. Things went from bad to worse in the years 1821, 1822 and 1823, until at last the bank notes of the State bank and all its branches, with the exception of the one at Madison, became quite worthless. This disas- trous attempt at banking on the part of the state discouraged the peo- ple from further experiments in the financial world for about ten years. They preferred to use the bank notes of more firmly estab- lished and reliable banks of other states and cities, such as Cincinnati, Louisville and the like, although at best all the banking institutions of the middle west were wildcat to a considerable degree, the curse of in- flation retarding the growth. and progress of the new country in no small measure. Reputable merchants and manufacturers from the east were not prone, in those days, to establish themselves in states where at the whim of some hare-brained bank manager their entire fortunes might be swept away, the victims of bad money and poor loans.
Yet the population of Indiana kept increasing apace, the very in- ternal improvements, roads, canals, etc., which had been the primary causes of the failure of the first state bank, attracting people from the east. Steady streams of settlers came in by the Ohio river, the National road and other avenues of travel, until the state government
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HISTORY OF VANDERBURGH COUNTY
was confronted again with the necessity of establishing some sort of a banking system. It was either follow that course or watch the new ยท state's development become paralyzed from lack of financial arteries adequate to the needs of the commerce of its citizens. The legislature debated the question pro and con, and finally, in 1834, chartered the State Bank of Indiana for a period of twenty-five years. Thirteen branches of this bank were established, and in the first year of the charter one was established at Evansville.
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