USA > Ohio > Cuyahoga County > Cleveland > A history of Cleveland, Ohio, Volume I > Part 27
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St. Luke's Hospital, on Carnegie avenue, under the administration of the Methodist church, was opened for patients in 1908.
PUBLIC HYGIENE.
During the first quarter of the nineteenth century it is fair to infer that practically no attention was devoted to the sanitary affairs of the village of Cleveland. At least we read of no measures proposed for improving the sani- tary condition of the community, and the general apathy and ignorance relative to public hygiene, prevalent at that time, warrant the belief that our own village was no exception to the rule.
From this point of view the advent of the cholera in 1832 may, perhaps, be looked upon as a blessing in disguise. It awakened communities and officials to a realization of the duties and responsibilities resting upon them with relation to the health and life of themselves and their friends and neighbors, and led to the study of a subject of vital importance to every community, but to which their attention had not been heretofore directed.
The prompt action of the officials of Cleveland in the emergency which con- fronted them in 1832 has been already mentioned, and the constitution of the first board of health of the village has been described. Whether, after this emergency, the appointment of a board of health was regularly maintained, we have no satisfactory information, but in 1837 the City hospital is said to have been under the administration of such a board, which consisted of the mayor of the city and three members of the city council, "chosen from that body an- nually"-an expression undoubtedly implying regularity of administration.
The composition and activity of the boards of health during the cholera epidemics of 1849, 1850 and 1854, have also been noticed.
The real origin of our present sanitary system, however, will be found in "An ordinance creating a board of health and defining its duties," passed by the city council, January 10, 1856, and providing for the appointment of "one per- son (to be called health officer) and such deputies as the council may, from time to time, appoint." A single, responsible, executive officer, with the necessary assistants, was the original conception of a board of health, and through all the changes of the last half century, the existence of the health officer has been
* The new St. Anne's Maternity hospital, formally opened Feb. 7, 1910, on Woodland avenue and East Thirty-fifth street, is the modern and improved successor of this ancient institution.
211
HISTORY OF CI EVELAND
steadily maintained. A roll of the incumbents of this important office since its creation will, therefore, possess some interest, and is furnished below: Dr. Fred W. Marseilles, 1856-61 ; Dr. Samuel Leslie, 1861-62; Dr. W. H. Capener, 1862-63; Dr. Isaac H. Marshall, 1863-66; Dr. John Dickinson, 1866-70; Dr. Thos. Hannan, 1870-71; Dr. James F. 'Armstrong, 1871-72; Dr. N. P. Sackrider, 1872; Dr. H. W. Kitchen, 1872-74; Dr. E. H. Kelly, 1875; Dr. Frank Wells, 1876-77; Dr. Guy B. Case, 1878; Dr. W. B. Rezner, 1879-81; Dr. Geo. C. Ashmun, 1881-91 ; Dr. Jamin Strong, 1891-92; Dr. Geo. F. Leick, 1893- 94; Dr. J. L. Hess, 1895-98; Dr. Geo. F. Leick, 1899-1900; Dr. Daniel Heim- lich, 1901 ; Dr. Martin Friedrich, 1901.
In 1859 the original ordinance of 1856 was repealed and a new ordinance adopted providing for a board of health to consist of the mayor of the city, the city marshal, the acting director of the infirmary, and "one skilful physician, to be styled acting health office." This ordinance was again variously modified at different dates, and in 1870 the board consisted of the mayor, the city physi- cian, the director of the infirmary, the health officer, several laymen and the chairman of a committee of the council, called "the committee on health and cleanliness." This chairman was usually (though not invariably) a member of the medical profession.
In 1876 the board of health was formally abolished, and the sanitary admin- istration of the city was confided to the board of police commissioners.
In 1880, however, the board of health was restored and continued to exist until 1892, when it was again abolished and its duties relegated to a bureau of the department of police.
The latter system was in turn replaced by an independent department of health in 1903, which in 1907, was once more abolished and the duty of public sanitation confided to a bureau of the department of public service.
The following contains the names of the medical members of our boards of health during the last half century: Dr. J. F. Armstrong, 1872-74, 1880-82; Dr. Geo. C. Ashmun, 1880-81; Dr. D. H. Beckwith, 1886-88; Dr. E. J. Cutler, 1875; Dr. A. J. Cook, 1881-84, 1886-90; Dr. Wm. T. Corlett, 1883-85; Dr. F. Fliedner, 1883-85; Dr. A. G. Hart, 1880; Dr. H. J. Herrick, 1881; Dr. W. H. Humiston, 1882-86; Dr. B. W. Holliday, 1888-90; Dr. H. W. Kitchen, 1880-82; Dr. Isaac H. Marshall, 1870-74 ; Dr. J. D. McAfee, 1903-07; Dr. William Meyer, 1875; Dr. John Perrier, 1887-89; Dr. Norris B. Prentice, 1870-74; Dr. Marcus Rosenwasser, 1903-07; Dr. Philip Roeder, 1872-74; Dr. Elisha Sterling, 1873-74 ; Dr. W. J. Scott, 1880-87; Dr. Proctor Thayer, 1870-71, 1875; Dr. F. L. Thomp- son, 1889-91 ; Dr. Frank J. Weed, 1874, 1876-77 Dr. Thos. G. Cleveland, 1872-73.
The titular city physician, provided to care for the sick poor, appears first upon the records also in 1856, and the first incumbent of this office was Dr. Thos. G. Cleveland, who held the position in 1856-57. His successors were : Dr. G. C. E. Weber, 1857-61 ; Dr. S. R. Beckwith, 1861-63; Dr. T. P. Wilson, 1863-64; Dr. Isaac H. Marshall, 1864-71.
After 1871, the size of the city and the increasing demands of the poor and unfortunate, created so great a necessity for gratuitous medical service, that the single city physician was replaced by our present system of district physicians, whose number has varied with time and circumstances.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Few citizens of the present day can fully realize the sanitary condition of our city about the middle of the nineteenth century. The mild eyed cow and the cosmopolitan pig divided with the honest citizen the right of way through the dusty and unpaved streets. Well to do burghers were contented and happy to reside in dwellings without cellars, or to partake of their meals in damp and dusky basements, now regarded as unfit for human habitation. Scanty back- yards were honeycombed with shallow and lightly covered pits of decaying gar- bage, and horrible uncemented cesspools received the noisome excreta of entire families, whose water supply was furnished by the family well, but a few yards distant. These dangerous wells, hallowed by long domestic use and the glamour of popular poetry, persisted for years after the introduction of the lake water, and many of them, indeed, were closed only by the special order of the health authorities of quite modern days. Nor were our public institutions in much better condition. In 1860 Dr. Marseilles reported both the county jail and the city prison "incurable nuisances" until connected with a system of sewers, and in the following year he said of the latter institution, "The basement is but a privy vault." A general system of sewerage was adopted in 1861 and completed a few years later, and a new city prison was erected in 1864. In 1861 a "chain gang" was employed to clean the streets, and as late as 1866 the Mayor, Mr. H. M. Chapin, said :
"There is much that needs to be done by the board of health in cleaning the city of filth and enforcing sanitary regulations; but, in the present chaotic state of the health ordinance, the board have not felt justified in making any ex- penditure. I would earnestly beg of you (the city council) to pass, at the earliest day possible, the ordinance relating to health, now before the council, so that the city may be put in a cleanly and healthful condition before the heat of summer."
Contagious diseases were rife and rarely reported to the authorities, isola- tion and disinfection voluntary and worthless, and in 1863 Dr. Marshall reported of the pesthouse, on Croton street, that he found only two or three beds fit for use, almost no furniture and no means whatever for the removal of the sick from their homes to the beds provided for their comfort-and the doctor, very properly, ordered himself the necessary conveniences, and reported his action to the board of health.
The vital statistics of the period were limited to the report of interments in the city cemeteries, published weekly by the city sexton in the daily newspapers, and furnishing data not entirely reliable even on the simple question of numbers and absolutely worthless in a scientific point of view, on the more important question of the causes of death. Nevertheless, the following figures of these reports may possess a certain interest for the modern reader, and are given for what they are worth : Number of interments in the year 1845, one thousand, three hundred and fifty-four; in 1856, one thousand, two hundred and fifty-seven; in 1864, one thousand, five hundred and twenty-five; in 1865, one thousand, six hundred and eighty-seven; in 1866, one thousand, three hundred and eighty- four ; in 1867, one thousand, four hundred and forty-seven ; in 1868, one thousand, four hundred and sixty-five.
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Formal and classified reports, based upon physicians' certificates and permits for interment from the health office, were recommended by Dr. Dickinson as early as 1866, but this system was not adopted until 1873, when Dr. H. W. Kitchen published the first of these reports so indispensable to the intelligent action of the authorities. At this time the number of deaths during the year was two thousand, six hundred and forty-one, and the mortality rate was calculated at nineteen and two tenths per thousand on a population of one hundred and thirty- seven thousand. The more important vital statistics of the city of Cleveland, from 1873 to 1908, are furnished in the following table :
Vital Statistics, 1873-1908.
Year
Births Reported
Deaths
Rate per M.
Remarks
1873
2,641
19.20
Population, U. S. Census (1870), 93,018
1874
3,61I
2,190
1875
3,623
2,962
18.28
Diphtheria prevalent.
1877
5,090
2,903
17.9I
1878
4,934
2,710
16.72
Diphtheria prevalent.
I879
4,838
3,038
17.36
1880
5,113
3,156
19.60
Population (1880), 160,146.
188I
5,152
3,727
20.02
1882
5,512
3,563
18.85
1883
6,177
3,399
17.4I
1884
6,510
3,732
18.00
Measles prevalent.
1885
6,325
3,574
17.43
I886
6,547
3,525
17.40
1887
6,71I
4,139
19.02
I888
7,357
4,414
18.78
1889
7,666
4,414
18.36
1890
8,227
5,058
19.08
1891
8,682
5,204
19.17
1892
9,108
5,227
18.02
1893
9,267
5,261
18.15
1894
9,242
5,663
17.43
1895
9,044
5,167
15.89
1896
8,927
4,859
14.71
1897
9,135
5,007
14.30
1898
9,146
5,040
13.62
1899
7,775
5,556
14.06
1900
7,645
6,104
15.45
Population (1900), 381,768.
190I
8,037
5,834
14.95
Sharp epidemic of small-pox.
1902
8,389
6,134
15.33
1903
9,166
6,799
16.18
1904
9,124
6,476
15.06
1905
10,919
6,424
14.06
1906
II,20I
7,353
15.64
1907
10,700
7,678
15.35
1908
12,010
7,177
13.93
Population (1890), 261,353.
In this table the figures in the column of deaths may be safely assumed as substantially accurate. The number of births reported is, doubtless, somewhat less than the actual number of children born within the given period, and the mor- tality rate per thousand living is generally too small also, from the inevitable tendency to overestimate the population in the intercensal periods. On the whole, however, the reduction of the death rate during the last thirty-five years is sat- isfactorily demonstrated.
On the pages of the various health reports of the last thirty-five years (in addition to numerous facts of sanitary importance) we find several papers worthy of special mention. Among these we may enumerate a report on epidemic dis- eases, made in 1873 by a committee consisting of Drs. Thos. G. Cleveland, J.
Sharp epidemic of small-pox. Typhoid fever prevalent.
1876
3,227
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HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
F. Armstrong and H. W. Kitchen; a report on vital statistics and the ventila- tion of schools, by Dr. E. H. Kelley, health officer in 1875; a paper entitled "Filth in its Relation to Disease," by Dr. Frank Wells, health officer in 1876, and the report of four cases of death resulting from the imprudent entrance of workmen into an unventilated cesspool, recorded by Dr. Guy B. Case, health officer in 1878.
A solution of the perplexing problem of the removal and destruction of the garbage of a large community was essayed as early as 1868, when a large barge was anchored in the river for the reception of this waste, and three times each week this barge was towed out into the lake and its contents dumped into our water supply "one mile from the city." The dangers of this primitive and dis- gusting system were early recognized, and various means for their diminution were from time to time adopted, but it was not until 1898 that the problem was satisfactorily solved by a contract with the Buckeye Refuse and Destruction Company for the removal and destruction of this disgusting refuse. In 1903, on the expiration of this contract, the entire plant of the company was purchased by the city authorities, and the work has been since satisfactorily performed under the direction of the board of public service.
Among the more important advances of recent date in the science of mu- nicipal sanitation, mention should be made of the establishment of a special children's hospital in 1900; the inauguration of a bacteriological laboratory in 1901; the provision of a free sanatorium for tuberculosis patients in 1903; the foundation of the Cleveland Farm colony in Warrensville in 1904, and the initiation of the municipal inspection of school buildings (1905), meat (1905) and milk (1906). These advances, so little known to the average citizen, but of vital importance to the community, bid fair to place Cleveland in the front rank among the healthful cities of the United States.
EPIDEMICS.
The sanitary history of Cleveland is remarkably free from severe epidemics of any kind, though the presence of infectious diseases is, of course, frequently recorded.
We have already described the visitations of Asiatic cholera in 1832, 1834, 1849, 1850 and 1854. In 1866, also, seventeen cases of cholera with twelve deaths were reported, and in 1867 four cases, all of whom recovered. The earlier visitations were both more severe in themselves and more alarming to the community from their novelty and the inexperience of both physicians and the laity. With our present knowledge of this disease and its prevention it seems scarcely probable that it can ever again occasion serious alarm.
Smallpox was rife in the city during the period from 1860 to 1873, and even rose to the dignity of a threatening epidemic in 1901 and 1902. Gratuitous vaccination was offered to all in 1873 and again in 1902, and in the latter year the compulsory vaccination of school children was enforced with very satisfac- tory results. It depends largely upon the intelligence of the community and- the energy of our sanitary authorities, whether the city shall ever again be disgraced by an epidemic of a disease so certainly and easily preventable.
215
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
Diphtheria prevailed extensively in 1875 and again in 1878, but neither invasion could properly be characterized as an epidemic. The disease is almost always with us, but has been robbed of most of its terrors by the resources of modern treatment.
A severe invasion of measles was recorded in 1884 by Dr. Ashmun, though scarcely rising to the importance of an epidemic.
An epidemic of influenza (la grippe) prevailed in 1898-99, and occasioned considerable mortality, either directly or by its influence upon other diseases.
Typhoid fever, always present with us to some extent, prevailed extensively in 1903 and occasioned considerable alarm as an indication of the pollution of our water supply. But the completion of the new lake tunnel in 190417 and the prospect of the speedy completion of the great intercepting sewer, give reason to hope that, for the present at least, we may enjoy a reasonable exemp- tion from the ravages of this filth disease.
THE PESTHOUSE.
That gloomy relic of medieval ages (about whose walls cluster a host of gruesome tales and memories), persisted until quite modern times, or until modern euphemism wisely converted the name into the less repulsive "Hospital for Contagious Diseases." A decent respect for its ancient and malodorous reputation may claim a few lines in a history of medical Cleveland.
The earliest "pesthouse" noticed in our history was established in 1832 on Whiskey island, to receive and care for the victims of the Asiatic cholera, then newly arrived. In the subsequent visitations of 1849-50 a similar cholera hos- pital was organized in the Cleveland Center block, corner of Columbus and Division streets, on what was then known shortly as "The Flats," and in 1854 the pesthouse was located upon Michigan street.
These locations, however, were merely selected to meet an emergency, and were not appropriated for permanent use. In 1852 the authorities purchased on Croton street (now Croton avenue, southeast, between Forest and Humboldt streets, Thirty-fourth and Thirty-seventh streets, southeast, a plat of land contain- ing six acres, and soon after located upon this plat a more permanent "pesthouse." In 1871, however, Dr. Marshall, the city physician, recommended its removal to a more remote position, because the increasing proximity of inhabited dwellings rendered its present location somewhat dangerous, and in 1876 the site of the present West Park cemetery in Brooklyn 18 was purchased and fitted up for hospital purposes. In 1898 this plat was exchanged for other property on Lorain street, and a pesthouse built in the town of Newburg. The remoteness and inaccessibility of this latter location, however, led to its abandonment in 1901 and the building of a pesthouse on the grounds of the City hospital, which was utilized in the epidemics of smallpox of 1901 and 1902. In 1903 the pest- house was finally removed to its present location on the city farm in Warrens- ville, and the old building converted into a sanatorium for the tuberculous. The
17 Begun in 1895.
18 On the Ridge Road, near the crossing of Big Creek.
216
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
latter institution was likewise removed to the Warrensville farm in the year 1906.
It would, doubtless, prove interesting to record here how the early pathology of Edinburgh, London and Leyden yielded gradually to that of Paris, and how the influence of the latter school, at a later period, waned before the more brilliant lights of Berlin and Vienna : how the vigorous therapeutics of blisters, emetics, bleeding, calomel, jalap, antimony, etc., the sheet anchor of our fathers, faded slowly (aided by the Hahnemannian apotheosis of infinitesimals) into a practical therapeutic nihilism: how the saddlebags and "one hoss shay" were metamorphosed into the trim coupé or more imposing automobile of the up-to- date physician, with his modern armamentarium of stethoscope, hypodermic syringe, clinical thermometer and pocket case of stereotyped tablets and granules : how the keen observation, independence and all round knowledge of our early colleagues have been largely lost, and replaced by the often one sided and deceptive fiat of the modern specialist: how the humane and sympathetic side of medical practice has withered before the dazzling light of modern exact diagnosis and scientific objectivity. But these facts are neither obscure, nor are they peculiar to the experience of our own city. They may be studied at leisure in our encyclopedias and general treatises on medical and social history.
The present chapter must be limited to those humbler data, whose local char- acter and comparative insignificance render them specially liable to be lost in the gathering twilight of the past, and which, once lost, would probably be regarded as scarcely worthy of the labor of recovery. Gathered at odd intervals, and for various purposes, they are here grouped together in the hope that they may be useful for future reference, and may serve, at least to some extent, to preserve the more recondite records of a brilliant century.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE DENTAL PROFESSION OF CLEVELAND .*
Dr. Benjamin Strickland, the first located dentist, began the practice of dentistry in this city in 1835. At that time, there were probably not more than five hundred dentists in America, and Cleveland's population was only five thousand. In 1837, he was located at the corner of Water and Superior streets. In 1845, his office was at 145 Superior street, and later at 15 Euclid avenue. Dr. Strickland was highly respected by both the dental and medical professions of this city. At the organization of the Northern Ohio Dental association, in this city, in 1857, he called the assemblage to order, and the following year was elected its president. He was annually reelected, and served the society in that capacity for eight years. He died in 1889 at about eighty years of age.
In the 1837 directory, appears the firm name, "Coredon & Sargeant, Surgeon Dentists, 6 Franklin Building." As their names do not appear in the next direc- tory (1845), their stay must have been short. In this directory (1845) appear the names of four dentists. Two of these names, Samuel Spencer and William Bailey, do not again appear. The name of Dr. M. L. Wright, 94 Superior street, appears for the first time. Dr. Wright was a graduate of the Cleveland Medical college (now medical department of the Western Reserve University). His son, M. L. Wright, and three grandsons, Harry D., Martin L., and Wm.
* The details in this chapter were furnished by a prominent member of the dental profession.
William H. Atkinson
Franklin S. Slosson
Benjamin Strickland, came to Cleveland in 1835. First dentist in the town
B. F. Robinson PIONEER DENTISTS
217
HISTORY OF CLEVELAND
W., are now in practice on the west side. The writer believes this is the only in- stance of three generations having begun the practice of dentistry in this city. However, three generations of the Robinson family practiced in this city.
An important accession to the dental profession of the city was made in 1846 in Dr. F. S. Slosson. Dr. Slosson was born in 1803 and died in this city in 1887. He was an active and progressive member of the profession. He was elected, in 1857, the first president of the Northern Ohio Dental association, and again served the society in that capacity in 1866.
Dr. B. F. Robinson, the first of the Robinson family of dentists, located in the city in 1850. He died in 1889 at the age of eighty years. This year ( 1850) the city had a population of seventeen thousand, six hundred and the names of seven dentists appear in the directory.
The following year ( 1851) Dr. W. P. Horton, Sr., located in the city. He is still in active practice. This same year, Dr. N. H. Ambler came to the city. and formed a partnership with Dr. B. F. Robinson. Dr. Ambler practiced dentistry in this city until the time of his death in 1888. Ambler Heights took its name from him. Dr. H. L. Ambler is a nephew of the late Dr. Ambler.
The year 1853, marked an epoch in the dental profession of this city by the acquisition of that magnetic personality, Dr. W. H. Atkinson.
He was born at Newton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1815. He began the study of medicine at Meadville, Pennsylvania, in 1840; and graduated an M. D. from the medical college at Willoughby, Ohio, in 1847. He located and practiced his profession at Norwalk, Ohio, where, through a traveling dentist, he became interested in dentistry. In Cleveland he formed a partnership with Dr. Frank S. Slosson. Two years later, he took Dr. Charles R. Butler (whom the profession of northern Ohio honors as its dean) as his first student. Later, they entered into a partnership which lasted until Dr. Atkinson removed to New York city in 1861, where he lived until the time of his death in 1891. Dr. Atkinson was an intense student, had a wonderful memory and was a brilliant orator. He enjoyed a large practice and was reputed to have received fabulous fees, yet through his generosity, he died a poor man. Any confrere desiring knowledge was always welcome to a position at the side of his operating chair and dining table. He is often spoken of as the father of altruistic dentistry. He undoubtedly was the most potent factor in removing the "no admittance" sign from the dental laboratory door. The dental historian, Dr. Burton Lee Thorpe, describes him as follows: "William Henry Atkinson, A. M., M. D., D. D. S., Leader, 'Teacher of Teachers,' Prophet, and Past Grand Master Dental Enthu- siast.
"The flash of wit, the bright intelligence, The beam of song, the blaze of eloquence, Set with their sun, but they left behind The product of an immortal mind."
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