A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 26

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On May 23, 1902, the Cleveland Medical society united with the Cuyahoga County Medical society to form the present flourishing Academy of Medicine of Cleveland.

The Cleveland Medical Library association originated through the general recognition of the necessity for the establishment in this city of a large general medical library, which should supply more fully than was otherwise prac- ticable, the growing needs of the medical profession. With this ob- ject in view, the Cuyahoga County Medical society for a number of years had devoted a considerable portion of its annual income to the purchase of books and journals, which were deposited upon the shelves of the Case library. In like manner the Society of the Medical Sciences had accumulated a considerable

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fund for the establishment of a library. And when, in 1893, the Cleveland Medical society was organized, the zeal and energy of the new society were likewise enlisted in the promotion of an object, the desirability of which was apparent to all.

Accordingly, in 1894, a joint committee was appointed by these societies to consider the best means of organizing a medical library, and to draw up a suitable constitution for its administration. The personnel of this committee was as follows: from the Cuyahoga County Medical society, Drs. H. E. Hander- son, M. Rosenwasser and Henry W. Rogers; from the Society of the Medical Sciences, Drs. Isaac N. Himes, Dudley P. Allen and B. L. Millikin; from the Cleveland Medical society, Drs. W. H. Humiston, J. E. Cook and P. Maxwell Foshay.

On November 7, 1894, the society was organized under the title of "The Cleveland Medical Library Association," a constitution was formally adopted, and Dr. Joseph E. Cook was elected the first president. At once the Cuyahoga County Medical society donated to the association its books and journals al- ready collected and the balance in its own treasury, amounting to the sum of four hundred and nineteen dollars and thirty-five cents; the Society of the Medical Sciences contributed its check for two thousand dollars, and the Cleve- land Medical society offered its own collection of books and the sum of one hundred dollars.

At first the books and journals of the association were deposited in the Case library, the trustees of which had generously offered their shelves, together with the services of their librarian, for this purpose. By 1897, however, the burden assumed by the Case library was found to be so great that the trustees notified the association that they did not feel willing to support it for more than another year, and it was apparent that some other system must be speedily adopted.

Accordingly an earnest effort was inaugurated to secure funds to purchase a suitable building for the library. An appeal was made to both the medical profession and the general public with such happy results that the association was enabled, on January 22, 1898, to purchase the property upon which the library is now located. After considerable repair and some alterations, the build- ing was opened to the profession on December 12, 1898.

In 1905 it was discovered that the weight of the accumulating books was proving an undue burden upon the library building, which had been constructed for a private residence and that some relief to this constantly increasing strain must be speedily provided. It was therefore determined once again to make a vigorous effort to erect in the rear of the existing building a fireproof book- stack, capable of providing for the needs of the library for a considerable num- ber of years, and to add thereto, if possible, a comfortable and commodious auditorium for the meetings of the academy and similar societies.

Thanks to the zeal and energy of the officers of the association and the generosity of numerous friends among the laity, both these purposes were ac- complished. The new library and auditorium were formally opened to the public, October 8, 1906, with an admirable address by Dr. 'Abraham Jacobi, of New York city.

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The presidential roster of the Cleveland Medical library association is as fol- lows : Dr. Joseph E. Cook, 1894-95; Dr. H. E. Handerson, 1895-1904; Dr. Dud- ley P. Allen, 1904-6; Dr. H. G. Sherman, 1906.

The city directory of 1874 notices the organization, March 13, 1874, of the Cleveland Medico-Legal society, with the following officers: President, Dr. WV. J. Scott ; vice president, J. E. Ingersoll, Esquire; secretary, C. H. Robinson ; corresponding secretary, Conway W. Noble, Esquire; treasurer, Dr. T. Clarke Miller ; librarian and curator, Dr. H. H. Powell; first chemist, Dr. M. L. Mead; miscroscopists, Drs. I. N. Himes and W. P. Rezner.

The regular meetings of this society were held at the Forest City house on the first Friday of each month, but, so far as known, no records have been pre- served to the present day, and our knowledge of the activity of the society is limited to the fact that its name is mentioned again in the directory of 1875, when Dr. Scott was again its president. It is probable that the society, after an existence of a few years, perished of inanition.

An effort for the revival of a medico-legal society, as a section of the Cuya- hoga County Medical society, was made in 1894, when a medico-legal section was organized under the direction of the following officers: President, Hon. C. W. Noble; vice president, Dr. W. J. Scott ; secretary, Dr. F. K. Smith ; librarian, Dr. H. J. Herrick ; curator, Dr. W. T. Corlett.

The section maintained an active existence during 1895, 1896 and 1897, under the presidency of Dr. B. W. Holliday and Hon. Alexander Hadden, but the last records found in its minutes bear date March 17, 1898, soon after which the society is believed to have succumbed to the dry rot which affects so many similar institutions.

During the present year (1909), however, the society had been once more revived as a section of the Cleveland Academy of Medicine, and it is hoped that a more successful issue awaits the new enterprise.

MEDICAL COLLEGES.

In 1863. Dr. Gustav C. E. Weber, who, on the resignation of Dr. H. A. Ackley, in 1856, had been elected the professor of surgery in the Cleveland Medical college, resigned his chair in that institution and organized a new college under the name of "The Charity Hospital Medical College." The original faculty of this institution was composed as follows: Dr. G. C. E. Weber, dean and professor of civil and military surgery ; Dr. Leander Firestone ( 1819-1888), professor of obstetrics and the diseases of women and children; Dr. Addison P. Dutcher (1818-1884), professor of the principles and practice of medicine ; Dr. M. S. Castle, professor of legal medicine; Dr. Jacob Dascomb, professor of chemistry and toxicology; Dr. J. H. Salisbury, professor of physiology, his- tology and practical anatomy; Dr. Robert N. Barr, professor of anatomy ; Dr. William J. Scott, professor of materia medica, botany and pharmacy; Dr. Abraham Metz (1828-1871), professor of ophthalmology.

Clinical teaching was made a prominent feature of the new college, and the wards of the St. Vincent's (charity) hospital, completed in the following year, were opened to the teachers and students for this purpose. The didactic lec-

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tures were delivered in rooms rented in the Hoffman block (on the site of the present Cuyahoga building), corner of Superior street and the public square. The first class of the Charity Hospital Medical college graduated in 1865, and classes have been graduated in every year (except 1881) since.

In 1869 the college was affiliated with the University of Wooster, forming the medical department of that institution, and continued in this relation until 1896. in 1873 the didactic lectures were delivered in the old Brownell Street school building, on the corner of Brownell street and Central avenue, which had been remodeled to suit the needs of the institution, and was utilized for this purpose until the close of the last century.

In 1874 the school inaugurated a special summer course of medical lectures, designed for the benefit of young men engaged in business during the period of the usual winter session. The regular winter course was also maintained until 1888, when it was abandoned, and the summer course alone continued until 1893. In the latter year the winter course was resumed, and both courses main- tained until 1895, when the summer course was indefinitely abandoned.

This college has always been a coeducational institution.

In 1881 an earnest effort was made to unite the two regular colleges into one large medical institution, under the auspices of the Western Reserve uni- versity. Many of the professors of the medical department of the University of Wooster resigned their chairs, and were at once elected to similar chairs in the old Cleveland Medical college, now the medical department of the Western Reserve University. But the trustees of the University of Wooster declined to recognize the movement, and filled with new teachers the chairs thus vacated, and the work was resumed as usual in 1882.

In 1896, however, the school severed its connection with the University of Wooster and, under the new title of "The Cleveland College of Physicians and Surgeons," became affiliated with the Ohio Wesleyan university, as the medical department of that institution.

The present commodious college building of the Cleveland College of Physi- cians and Surgeons was erected as the result of this change of relations, and was opened for purposes of instruction in the year 1900.

The establishment of the Cleveland School of Pharmacy was due to a resolu- tion introduced into the Cleveland Pharmaceutical society by Mr. E. A. Schel- lentrager, October 6, 1882. This resolution provided for the appointment of a committee of three members of that society, to arrange for a course of lec- tures on pharmaceutical chemistry for the benefit of the drug clerks and ap- prentices employed in the pharmacies of the city. The resolution was adopted and the committee was appointed, with full power to act. This committee consisted of Mr. E. A. Schellentrager, chairman; Mr. Edward Classen, Mr. Hugo Linden, and at once instituted a course of one weekly lecture on pharma- ceutical chemistry, held in the assembly room of the Pharmaceutical society, in the city hall. The scope of the lectures was enlarged from year to year, and new professors provided, until at present, the faculty consists of seven teachers, and the school enjoys an attendance of about seventy-five students. The dura- tion of the course has also been extended to three years.

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The school secured an act of incorporation as early as 1886, but, for various reasons, did not avail itself of the advantage of this act (which authorized it to confer the degree of pharmaceutical chemist, Ph. C.) until 1896, when it was reorganized with the following officers :

President, Mr. E. A. Schellentrager; vice president, Mr. G. L. Hechler ; treasurer, Mr. John Krause; secretary, Mr. Joseph Feil.

During the interval between 1882 and 1896 it was continued under the direc- tion of a committee of the pharmaceutical society, of which Mr. E. A. Schellen- trager was the continuous chairman.

In 1904, largely through the energetic efforts of Professor H. V. Arny, the school was reorganized and a corps of fifteen trustees elected, and at the same time the veteran president, Mr. E. A. Schellentrager, resigned, and was suc- ceeded by Mr. L. C. Hopp.

Since 1900 the lectures of the school have been delivered in the building of the Cleveland Gas Light & Coke Company, 421 Superior avenue, where all modern facilities for teaching are supplied.

In September, 1908, the School of Pharmacy became affiliated with The Western Reserve University, of which it forms the pharmaceutical department.15

A characteristic and generally beneficent development of sanitary education in the last years of the nineteenth century has been the organization of the training schools for nurses connected with our larger hospitals, and which (provided the element of commercialism can be satisfactorily controlled) prom- ise many. advantages to the community.

The earliest of these training schools seems to have been that connected with the Cleveland General hospital, which graduated a class of nurses June 14, 1898. The school of the city hospital was organized in 1897, that of the Charity hos- pital in 1898, and the school of Lakeside hospital in 1899.

MEDICAL JOURNALS.

Several partially successful attempts to establish and maintain a local med- ical journal in Cleveland were made at an early date by the homeopathic physicians of this city.

The earliest of these journals, edited by Drs. A. W. Oliver and John Gilman, appeared under the title of "The Northern Ohio Medical and Scientific Exam- iner," in February, 1848, but perished after an existence of only three months.

In October, 1851, Drs. J. H. Pulte and H. P. Gatchell renewed the attempt, by the publication of "The American Magazine, devoted to Homeopathy and Hydropathy," which maintained a feeble existence until December, 1853, when it seems to have been merged into "The Quarterly Homeopathic Magazine." The latter journal survived thereafter but a single year.

A more successful issue followed the publication of "The Ohio Medical and Surgical Reporter," a bi-monthly journal, established by Drs. D. H. Beckwith, N. Schneider and T. P. Wilson in 1867, which, under various editors, survived the vicissitudes of eight years, and suspended publication in 1876.

15 For these facts I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. E. A. Schellentrager, the ven- erable ex-president of the school.

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In 1900, a new journal, under the old title of "The Ohio Medical and Surgi- cal Reporter," was established, and has maintained its existence to the present time.

The earliest regular medical journal established in Cleveland was "The Cleveland Medical Gazette," founded by Dr. G. C. E. Weber, the successor of Dr. Ackley in the chair of surgery of the Cleveland Medical college. The first number of the "Gazette" appeared in July, 1859, and the journal continued under the sole editorship of Dr. Weber until December, 1860, when (though still retaining its own name) it was combined with "The Cincinnati Lancet and Observer," under the joint editorship of Dr. Weber of Cleveland, and Drs. E. B. Stevens and J. A. Murphy of Cincinnati. In December, 1861, however, the disturbed condition of the country and the unpromising outlook for the future led to the abandonment of the enterprise, and the journal suspended.

In 1885 a more successful essay of medical journalism was made by Drs. A. R. Baker and Samuel W. Kelly, who, at the suggestion of Dr. Weber, re- vived the old "Cleveland Medical Gazette" and continued its publication with fair success until 1902, when it was merged into the "Cleveland Medical Journal."

In 1896 "The Cleveland Journal of Medicine" was begun under the joint editorship of Drs. P. Maxwell Foshay and Henry S. Upson, but, after a career of five years, was merged with the Cleveland Medical Gazette into our present local journal, "The Cleveland Medical Journal."

HOSPITALS.

Mention has already been made of the early military hospital erected by Captain Sholes in 1813, and of the city hospital on Clinton street in 1837. The latter institution seems soon after to have either fallen into "innocuous desue- tude," or at least to have degenerated into a simple infirmary or almshouse, in which latter role it was the legitimate parent of the city infirmary, begun in 1850 at the corner of Scranton avenue and Valentine street, and completed in 1855. This infirmary was designed to accommodate both the insane of the city, and the sick and infirm poor, and furnished also facilities for clinical instruc- tion to the physicians of the day.

The Marine hospital was begun by the United States government as far back as 1847,16 but pushed forward with such dignified deliberation that it was not opened for service until 1852, and even then was not entirely completed. Its administration from that period until 1889 was directed entirely by surgeons appointed from civil life, but in the last mentioned year partial charge was assumed by surgeons of the Marine Hospital department. The list of civil sur- geons who have directed its affairs is as follows: Dr. Chas. A. Pierce, 1851, susperseded; Dr. M. L. Hewitt, 1851-3; Dr. H. A. Ackley, 1853-57; Dr. J. I. Todd, 1857-59; Dr. R. S. Strong, 1859-60; Dr. W. H. Capener, 1860-61; Dr. M. L. Brooks, 1861-65; Dr. N. B. Prentice, 1865-69; Dr. George H. Blair, 1869- 1873; Dr. J. F. Armstrong, 1873-77; Dr. Proctor Thayer, 1877-80; Dr. Guy B.

16 The land (nine acres), on the corner of Erie and Lake Sts., was purchased as early as 1837 for the sum of $12,000.

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Case, 1880-89. In 1875 the hospital was leased to the City Hospital associa- tion for the term of twenty years, though certain wards were reserved for the use of the government, and in 1896, on the evacuation of the building by this association (now entitled the Lakeside Hospital association), the administra- tion was resumed under the direction of surgeons of the Marine hospital ser- vice. The roll of the latter is as follows: P. A. Surgeon S. T. Armstrong, 1889- 90; P. A. Surgeon P. M. Carrington, 1890; P. A. Surgeon A. W. Condict, 1890; P. A. Surgeon S. D. Brooks, 1890-94; P. A. Surgeon Emil Prochasza, 1894; P. A. Surgeon R. M. Woodward, 1894-97; P. A. Surgeon D. A. Carmichael, 1897-98; P. A. Surgeon H. W. Wicks, 1898-99 ; P. A. Surgeon W. J. Petit, 1899- 1902 ; P. A. Surgeon J. B. Green, 1902-3; P. A. Surgeon H. S. Mathewson, 1903- 1908; P. A. Surgeon C. W. Wille, 1908.

In 1852 the legislature authorized the erection of an insane asylum in New- burg, and the building was completed in 1855. It was burned down, however, in 1872, but rebuilt at once in a more substantial manner, and it has since been greatly enlarged and improved.

St. Vincent's (Charity) Hospital. This institution, the first of the great general hospitals of Cleveland, is one of the many results of the energy and charitable zeal of Bishop Amadeus Rappe, the Roman Catholic bishop of Cleve- land, who for many years had solicited funds for its erection among all classes and creeds of our citizens. The experiences of the Civil war added weight to his personal arguments, and the building was begun on the corner of Central ave- nue and East Twenty-second street in the year 1863, and opened for service in I866.

The same period witnessed the humble beginnings of the present Lakeside hospital. This originated in a "Home for the Friendless," organized in the parlors of the "Old Stone Church" during the Civil war, and designed especially for the care and aid of refugees from the south. A private dwelling was rented for this purpose on Lake avenue, nearly opposite the present Lakeside hospital, where temporary assistance was furnished to the sick and needy. At the close of the war the organization was maintained for other charitable work, and in 1866 it was incorporated as The Cleveland City hospital, under the presidency of Mr. Joseph Perkins. It was not, however, until 1868 that any proper hospital work was undertaken. In that year an alliance was formed between a number of the prominent regular and homeopathic physicians of the city and their respective clienteles, and an organization known as the Wilson Street Hospital association was formed, under the presidency of Mr. H. B. Hurlbut. A two story frame building was rented on Wilson street (now Davenport avenue), opposite Clinton park, and the work was begun under the joint direction of both schools of medicine. But little experience was necessary to demonstrate the impracticability of such an arrangement, and in a short time the homeopathic physicians decided to dispose of their stock in the new institution and organize a hospital of their own. Mr. Hurlbut generously offered to purchase the in- terests of the seceding physicians, and soon after purchased and presented to the association the hospital building and the lot upon which it was located. The

BURRIDGEG

From an old cut

The old "water cure" on Sawtell avenue. eighty rods south of Kinsman street; two and a half miles from the courthouse. -From an advertisement in 1856

From an old cut Charity Hospital as it appeared in 1865, when first built

HOSPITAL COLLEGE

From an old cut

Homopathic Hospital College in 1874, Prospect street

Brainerd Glas

Courtesy Dr. A. B. Schneider

From an old cut Cleveland Homeopathic medical college. 1852- 1868. This building stood near the Haymarket

CLEVELAND MEDICAL COLLEGE

From an old cut

Cleveland Medical College. This interesting Cleveland City Hospital formerly United States Marine building was erected on corner St. Clair and Hospital Erie Sts., 1843-4. It was a familiar land- mark and was replaced in 1886-7 by the present fine building on the same site.

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institution, thus placed firmly upon its feet, soon demonstrated that it was filling a useful and, indeed, necessary sphere of action, and developed rapidly beyond the limits of its present accommodations. Accordingly, in 1875, it leased from the United States government the old Marine hospital for a period of twenty years, and at the same time assumed the almost forgotten title of The Cleveland City hospital, although it was in no way under the administration of the city. When however, in 1889, the city authorities decided to build a proper city hospital for the rapidly growing community, the association changed its corporate name to The Lakeside hospital, the title which it now bears. At the expiration of its lease of the Marine hospital, in 1895, the plans for the erection of its present spacious and commodious buildings were in process of execution, and active hospital work was suspended until the opening of the new Lakeside hospital, January 14, 1898. In this hospital the clinical instruction is placed entirely in the hands of the faculty of the medical department of the Western Reserve University.

The Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital was organized in 1868, and was located originally in the old "Humiston Institute," where some fifty beds were fitted up for hospital purposes. In 1872 the faculty of the Homeopathic Hos- pital college purchased the site now occupied by the Homeopathic hospital on Huron road, and remodeled the building located thereon for hospital purposes. The new building upon the same ground was opened in 1879.

St. Alexis Hospital was organized in 1884 by the Sisters of St. Francis, under the direction of Bishop Gilmour, of Cleveland. Its first home was a frame building, formerly a schoolhouse, on the corner of Broadway and McBride streets, and its early struggles for success were severe and prolonged. Its present fine hospital building was opened in 1897, and the institution is now one of our most popular general hospitals, while its wards afford a field for clinical instruc- tion unsurpassed in the city.

University Hospital. After the failure of the effort to unite the medical departments of the Western Reserve university and the University of Wooster in 1881, in the readjustment of the hospital privileges of the city the latter in- stitution found itself deprived of the clinical privileges heretofore enjoyed in the wards of St. Vincent's (Charity) hospital. Accordingly its energetic dean, Dr. Frank J. Weed ( 1845-1891), organized in 1885 a hospital, under the direct control of the faculty of the medical department of the University of Wooster, in a large dwelling on the southeast corner of Central avenue and Brownell street. This took the name of University hospital, and was administered as a hospital until 1894, when it was superseded by the Cleveland General hospital, located at No. 1914 Woodland avenue. The latter institution continued the work until 1908, when it was abandoned.

St. John's Hospital, located at No. 7911 Detroit avenue northwest, was an offshoot of St. Alexis hospital, organized in 1892 by Bishop Gilmour, for the benefit of the west side of the city.

The City Hospital was erected on the grounds of the infirmary in 1889, and is the first city hospital proper (under the administration of the city officials) since the days of the old hospital on Clinton street in 1837. Its wards are open

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for the instruction of the students of medicine of all the medical colleges of the city.

The St. Clair Hospital was organized in 1891 at 4422 St. Clair street, to administer to the needs of that section of the city.

The German Hospital, located at 3305 Franklin avenue, northwest, was organized in 1893 to meet the special needs of our large German population.

The Lutheran Hospital, located at 2609 Franklin avenue, northwest, was organized in May, 1896. The management is in the hands of the Lutheran church.

The Maternity Home, on Marion street, was organized by Bishop Gilmour in 1873 as a lying in hospital for the poor of the city, in which capacity it has rendered noble service for more than thirty years .*

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A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I, Part 26

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Orth, Samuel Peter, 1873-1922; Clarke, S.J., publishing company
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago-Cleveland : The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1262