USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Metropolitan Boston; a modern history; Volume I > Part 37
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The Peter Bent Hospital was built near the Harvard School of Med- icine, and is conducted as a general hospital, somewhat on the same basis as the Massachusetts General. Dr. Herbert B. Howard, the first super- intendent, held that office until succeeded by the present incumbent, Joseph B. Howland. The eminent staff of doctors has been organized by Harvey Cushing, surgeon-in-chief, and Henry A. Christian, physician. Built just before the World War, the hospital is an example of the lux- urious widespread plant now being displaced by the more economical, if less beautiful, many-storied structures. In 1925 the out-door depart- ment cared for 60,291 cases. There are 178 beds in the general pavilions of the hospital, with a special section with 47 beds for private patients.
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Robert Breck Brigham Hospital-The Robert Breck Brigham Hos- pital is built upon Parker Hill, Roxbury, and although a mile away faces squarely towards the older institution. Opened in 1914, it was taken over shortly later by the federal authorities for the care of sick and in- jured American soldiers, being returned to the trustees in 1922. The hos- pital plays the rôle of both home and hospital. Where the average patient remains in the other Brigham institution from sixteen to eighteen days, he, or she, may stay in the Robert Breck as many months or even years. It is performing a service very different from other hospitals in the concentration of its efforts over a long period on a few, in its con- structive treatment of the chronic ill, and in the methods used. Where the older institution aids 13,504 in a year, as it did in 1925, the Robert Breck Brigham cared for 502 in that same period, but they were of the sort for which there is no place in the busy general institution.
Children's Hospital-The principal organization that specializes on the making of sick children well is the Children's Hospital founded in 1869, and carried on by the money given to it by citizens having an interest in bringing back the young to health and happiness. From Rut- land Street to Washington Street to Huntington Avenue, each time out- growing its quarters, the hospital buildings now occupied were erected on Longwood Avenue in the Fenway, beginning with 1914. With the In- fants' Hospital, a legally separate institution but in practice and manage- ment, one, the impressive plant has 275 beds ; at Rutland Street, the num- ber was 20, at Huntington Avenue 80. To run the hospital cost $392,967 in 1925, and during that same year it required for its work a staff of 20 resident and 60 consulting doctors and 192 nurses. A total of 19,352 were cared for during the year. In the out-patient department from 200 to 300 children are visited daily, and 57,000 visits are made yearly. There is a convalescent home in Wellesley Hills, operated as a part of the hospital. The home had built for it in 1925 a splendid solarium, the gift of Miss Mary Weld, a memorial to her father, Dr. Charles G. Weld.
New England Hospital for Women-The battle waged by the women for recognition in medicine was protracted, but has long since been won. The founding in 1863 of the New England Hospital for Women and Children was one of the big guns fired in this battle. The stated objects of this hospital, which were then unlike any other in the city, were to provide for women medical aid of competent physicians of their own sex; to assist educated women in the practical study of medicine ; to train nurses for the care of the sick. Beginning in a small house on Pleasant Street, the hospital has grown until it now (1927) occupies four large buildings and several smaller ones on Columbus Avenue, in
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Roxbury. The first building of this group, the Medical, was erected in 1872; the large Surgical building was added in 1899. The work of the institution has far outgrown the original equipment; although with ac- commodations for 147 patients, the hospital is one of the largest. Plans are under way to replace the small Kimball cottage in which the chil- dren receive treatment. Until 1924 the hospital was directed by a staff made up wholly of women, but there is now a courtesy staff of forty men. The hospital's training school for nurses bears a high reputation. Organized in 1872, under Dr. Susan Dimock, it was the first in this coun- try to give instruction in the three departments of medicine, surgery and obstetrics. The hospital, as a whole, is a monument to the efforts of Dr. Marie Elizabeth Zakrzewska, who, although she had made a name for herself as a physician in Berlin, Germany, found on her arrival in this country that it was impossible to earn a living at her profession. After mastering our language she was graduated from the Cleveland Medical College, becoming, in 1859, a teacher in the New England Female Med- ical College in Boston. Realizing that such a school lacking a hospital, also lacked the facilities for practical training, she, with the aid of Lucy Goddard, Ednah B. Cheney and others, founded the present hospital. Among her friends were Lucy Stone, probably Blackwell, Julia Ward Howe and William Lloyd Garrison.
Forsyth Dental Infirmary-The Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Chil- dren on the Fenway, is another of the unique institutions of Boston, whose founding has somewhat of the romantic in it. A man sitting in a dentist's chair remarked that he had a half million dollars which he would like some time to give to some worthwhile charity. The dentist, an old friend, suggested a dental infirmary for children, a very novel sort of an institution for the time. It is only within recent years that it has been recognized how many children have defective teeth, or are suffering from related troubles. The gentleman in question was James Bennett Forsyth, the elder of four brothers. Upon his death, his unsigned will was found to have bequeathed a very large sum to the suggested charity. Mean- while George Henry Forsyth, a second brother, had died, and the sur- viving brothers, the heirs, determined to not only carry out the pro- visions of the will, but to add to the amounts mentioned, to provide a memorial to them both. The sum of $2,000,000 thus became available for an endowment, while expenditures for the building for the Infirmary totaled more than half this sum. The Infirmary has every modern con- venience or necessity of such an institution. Seventy-five dentists, with as many chairs, give free treatment to all the children of Boston who desire ; there is room provided for further expansion up to a limit of IIO chairs. Other rooms in the building give space for various treatments,
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including that of ear and throat. Connected with the infirmary is a Post- graduate School of Orthodontia, whose aim is to educate specialists and teachers; the science is taught eclectically. During the year 1925, 76,792 individuals were aided by the Infirmary.
Roxbury Institutions-Roxbury, coeval in settlement with Boston, has been the home of many hospitals, both public and private. Several have been mentioned; others that might well be are the Boston Psycho- pathic Hospital; Roxbury Eye and Ear; St. Luke's Home for Conval- escents, founded in 1872; Elm Hill Private, and the Frederick L. Taylor. Just beyond in West Roxbury is the United States Veterans' Hospital. This latter institution, under the capable direction of Dr. Edgar O. Cross- man, with the aid of E. L. Shubert and C. P. Bodwell, is doing a splen- did work in the rehabilitation of a few of the 26,000 of the soldiers and sailors of the World War for whom there has been no armistice, since they are still fighting what are to them very real battles for their country. Of this great number, only 257 are cared for in the Veterans' Hospital, where every measure is being taken to restore their unhinged minds. The hospital is located in what were formerly the buildings of the Boston Parental School, and consists of some twenty scattered structures. The expense of the work is borne by the National Government.
Jamaica Plain Hospitals-Jamaica Plain, with its Bussey Institution built in 1871, and having a station of the Massachusetts State Board of Health which had its origin in 1849, a year of unusual sickness, the beau- tiful Arnold Arboretum, and many wonderful sites for institutions, has several of note. The Adams Nervine Asylum, not far from the Arbor- etum, dates back to 1873 when, by the will of Seth Adams, it was estab- lished "for the benefit of such indigent, debilitated, nervous people who, not insane, . . . as may be in the need of the benefit of a curative insti- tution." The plant of this establishment is now valued at nearly one mil- lion dollars, and about two hundred are cared for in it annually. The Faulkner Hospital, opened in 1903, is the gift of George Faulkner and his wife, Abby L. A. Faulkner, for the people of the old town of West Rox- bury ; 1,829 persons were served during 1925; the several wards contain beds devoted to surgical, medical and obstetrical work. The Talitha Cumi Maternity Home has accommodations for about thirty prospect- ive mothers who are, as yet, unmarried. It was founded in 1836, when to give aid to an erring sister tarred the giver. Even in the face of social ostracism, a few good women secured the funds for the Home, and per- sisted in the face of every discouragement, of which perhaps the hardest to bear was clerical. The Home was first established in Brookline, being removed to Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain in 1912. The name of the insti- tution is taken from the words of Jesus: "And he took her by the hand
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and said unto her, 'Talitha Cumi' which is being interpreted, 'Damsel, I say unto the, arise'" (Mark, V, 4). Other hospitals in Jamaica Plain are : Emerson, Forest Hills, and Reede hospitals, and the Jamaica Plain Dis- pensary.
Dorchester Institutions-Dorchester, the largest town in New Eng- land in 1634, was annexed to Boston in 1838. A place of homes, it has a number of private hospitals, and several others of long history and use- fulness. The Boston Home for Incurables, founded in 1882, is now bet- ter known as the Palmer Memorial Home. It is devoted to the aid of the poor, afflicted with incurable diseases. The St. Mary's Infant Asylum and Lying-in Hospital was organized in 1874 by the Sisters of Charity, St. Vincent de Paul. There is also the Boston Convalescent Home, the Mattapan Institution for the Tubercular, St. Margaret's Hospital, the McCreight Sanatorium, the Dudley Private Hospital and the McDon- ald's Convalescent Home. At East Boston are the Maverick Dispensary, and the Strong Hospital, among others. Charlestown has several na- tional government institutions just outside the city limits.
List of Boston Medical Institutions in 1927-The following is a 1927 list of the Boston hospitals and dispensaries with their locations :
Adams Nervine Asylum, 990 Centre Street, Jamaica Plain.
Angell Memorial Animal Hospital, 184 Longwood Avenue.
Bay State Hospital, 310 Bay State Road.
Berkeley Infirmary, 44 Dwight Street.
Beth Israel Hospital, 45 Townsend Annex; 67 do. and 255 Walnut Avenue.
Boston City Hospital, 818 Harrison Avenue, South Depot, 745 Massachusetts Avenue, Relief Station, Haymarket Square, and 14 Porter E. B.
Boston Dispensary, 35 Bennet Street.
Boston Floating Hospital, office 244 Washington Street, Room 43 on shore depart- ment. 40 Wigglesworth-Roxbury (Street).
Boston Home for Incurables, 2049 Dorchester Avenue.
Boston Lying-In Hospital, 16 McLean Street, 14 Rollins Street and 221 Longwood Avenue.
Boston Nursery for Blind Babies, 147 South Huntington Avenue.
Boston Psychopathic Hospital, 74 Fenwood Road, Roxbury.
Boston Sanatorium, 249 River Street, Mattapan; Out Patient Department I New- land Place.
Boston State Hospital, East Group, 425 Harvard Street, Dorchester; West Group, Walk Hill, corner Canterbury Street, Mattapan; Psychopathic Department, 74 Fenwood Road.
Boston Work Horse Relief Association, 109 Northampton Street.
Brigham, Peter Bent, Hospital, 721 Huntington Avenue.
Brigham, Robert B., Hospital for Incurables, 125 Parker Hill Avenue, and office, 18 Tremont Street, Room 1102.
Carney Hospital, 30 Old Harbor Street; Out-Patient department, 140 Dorchester Street.
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Channing Home for Consumptive Woman, Pilgrim Road, corner Francis Street. Children's Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue. Christian, Dr. A. F., Private Hospital, 401 Marlborough Street. City Hospital Relief Station, 14 Porter and Haymarket Square. City of Boston Health Unit, No. 1, 17 Blossom Street.
Codman Square Hospital, 3 Aspinwall Road.
Commonwealth Avenue Hospital, 619 Commonwealth Avenue.
Commonwealth Hospital for Animals, 26 Cummington Street. Conant Hospital, 202 Bay State Road.
Convalescent Home, City Hospital, 2150 Dorchester Avenue.
Deaconess Hospital, 15 Deaconess Road.
Detention Hospital, The, 112 Southampton Street.
Dispensary for Women, 633 Massachusetts Avenue. Dorchester Cottage Hospital, 32 Moultrie Street.
Dudley Private Hospital, 32 Harvard Avenue, Dorchester. East Boston Relief Hospital, 14 Porter Street, East Boston. Eliot Private Hospital, 107 Audubon Road.
Elm Hill Private Hospital, 241 Walnut Avenue, Roxbury.
Emerson Hospital, 118 Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain. Faulkner Hospital, Center Street, corner Allendale Street, Jamaica Plain. Fenway Hospital, 298 Newbury Street.
Florence Crittenton Home and Hospital, 10 Perthshire Road.
Forest Hills Hospital, 29 Morton Street, Jamaica Plain.
Forsyth Dental Infirmary for Children, 140 Fenway. Harley Hospital, 6 Windermere Road.
Harrison Avenue Medical and Surgical Dispensary, 229 Harrison Avenue. Hart Private Hospital, 95 Moreland Street.
Harvard Medical School, 240 Longwood Avenue. Haymarket Square Relief Station, Haymarket Square.
Home for Nervous Patients, 46 Burroughs Street, Jamaica Plain. Home of the Good Samaritan, 25 Binney Street.
Horne Sanitarium, 30 Beaumont Street. Huntington, Collis P., Memorial Hospital, 695 Huntington Avenue. Infants Hospital, 300 Longwood Avenue.
Jamaica Plain Dispensary, 26 South Street, Jamaica Plain.
Lawrence Ashton Hospital, 109 Northampton Street.
McCreight Sanitarium, Home Hospital, 58 Bowdoin Avenue, Dorchester. MacDonald's Convalescent Home, 47 Ocean Street, Dorchester.
Macleod Hospital, 845 Beacon Street.
Massachusetts Charitable Eye & Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street. Massachusetts Dispensary, 92 Compton Street.
Massachusetts General Hospital, Blossom Street, treasurer's office, 50 State Street, Room 54.
Massachusetts Home, Binney Street, corner Deaconess Road.
Massachusetts Homeopathic Hospital, 82 East Concord Street; Out-Patient De- partment, 750 Harrison Avenue; Evans Memorial, 80 East Concord; Robinson Memorial, Stoughton Street; Department for Contagious Diseases, 296 Allston Boulevard; Convalescent Home for Men, 23 Everett Street, Dorchester ; Home for Nurses, 748 Harrison Avenue, and Hayes Memorial for Contagion, 296 Allston Boulevard.
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Massachusetts Women's Hospital, 53 Parker Hill Avenue. Maverick Dispensary, 18 Chelsea Street, East Boston. Medical Mission Dispensary, 36 Hull Street. New England Baptist Hospital, 91 Parker Hill Avenue. New England Deaconess Hospital, 15 Deaconess Road.
New England Hospital for Women and Children, Dimock Street, Roxbury.
Northampton Street Veterinary Hospital, 255 Northampton Street.
Osgood, Frederick H. Co., 50 Village Street (Veterinary). Palmer Memorial Hospital for Incurables, 560 Blue Hill Avenue, Dorchester.
Parkway Sanitarium, 31 Linnet Street, W. R.
Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, 721 Huntington Avenue, Roxbury. Plymouth Hospital, 12 East Springfield Street.
Reede Hospital, 86 Elm Street, Jamaica Plain.
Riverbank Hospital, 169 Bay State Road.
Robert Breck Brigham Hospital, 125 Parker Hill Avenue.
Rockledge Home, 3 Parley Vale.
Roxbury Eye and Ear Infirmary, 24 Warren Street, Roxbury. Roxbury Hospital (Salvation Army), 85 Vernon Street, Roxbury.
St. Elizabeth Hospital, 736 Cambridge Boulevard.
St. Luke's Home for Convalescents, 149 Roxbury Street, Roxbury.
St. Margaret's Hospital, 96 Cushing Avenue, Dorchester.
St. Mary's Hospital, 90 Cushing Avenue.
St. Mary's Infant Asylum and Lying-In Hospital, Everett Avenue and Jerome Street. Salvation Army Maternity Hospital, 202 West Newton Street.
South End Dispensary and Hospital, 24 Milford Street.
Strong Hospital, I Monmouth Square, East Boston. Talitha Cumi Maternity Home and Hospital, 215 Forest Hills, Jamaica Plain.
Taylor, Frederick L., 45 Centre Street, Roxbury. U. S. Marine Hospital, office, Custom House.
U. S. Veterans' Hospital, No. 36, No. 44, 255 Spring Street, W. R Vincent Memorial Hospital, 125 South Huntington Avenue. Washington Home, 41 Waltham Street.
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