USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 > Part 192
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I The following persons were purchasers in 1781: John Telles (or Selles), for John Holker, consul-general of France, John Bromberger,
1666
HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.
the surplus ground upon the island outside of the reservation for the hospitals. Those buildings re- mained for some years. In September, 1783, the health-officer was notified by Council to secure sup- plies for the bedding there. Repairs were made in 1783 by Gunning Bedford. In 1790, George Bryan, Samuel Miles, and Peter Dehaven were appointed trustees of "that part of Province Island which be- longs to the State, and of the hospitals thereon." In 1794, Governor Mifflin recommended to the Legisla- ture the adoption of a better system for the preserva- tion of the public health than had yet been adopted. The result was the passage of a general health law, the establishment of a health office, with twenty-four inspectors, appointed by the mayor and corporation of the city and justices of the Northern Liberties and Schuylkill. There was a health officer and a con- sulting physician and a resident physician, who was to remain constantly at the pest-house. These offi- cers composed the Board of Health, and they were specially directed to put the hospitals on State Island in a condition of repair.
The yellow fever of 1797 tested the power of the Board of Health to deal with infectious diseases with such a strain that it was evident that the system was by no means perfect. The authority of the Legisla- ture was again appealed to, and in 1798 the Board of Health was again reconstructed, with more extensive jurisdiction. The buildings at State Island, and others that were authorized to be built, were directed to be used for hospitals and store-houses, to be known as " the Marine Ilospital of the Port of Philadelphia." During the fever of the previous year the Wigwam property, on Race Street and Schuylkill Front [now Twenty-second], had been used for a yellow fever hos- pital, and was known at one time as "the Hospital of the French Republic," and in 1797 was the City Hos- pital. The old Board of Ilealth was abolished, and in its stead was erected a new corporation, called "the Managers of the Marine and City Hospital." They were to have the general powers of the old board, with authority to levy a hospital tax, regulate the length of quarantine, to borrow money for public use in case of emergency, and to do other needful things. The twelve managers were to be appointed, as the mayor. aldermen, and citizens of Philadelphia, and the justices of the peace of Southwark, Moya- mensing, and Northern Liberties. In 1799 these managers bought a piece of ground on Tinicum Island, on the Delaware, north of Darby Creek, about ten miles from the city. The plot was bounded by Darby Creek, Plumb Hook Creek, and the Dela- ware River, and was in the jurisdietion of the county of Delaware. The original plan was that the build- ings should consist of a steward's house, fifty feet
Philly Wager, Franc . Bally, George Hobacker, John Wilcox, Mnj. WIl- Un Armstrong, Flijah Wead, Joseph Allston, George Henry, Charles MOJE William Turnbull. The full amount of these malen amounted, na tejerted in 1782, 1: 1117, .51 4s. 11d. Continental.
square and three stories high, on the right and left of which were to be the lazaretto buildings for the dis- eased and convalescent, each sixty feet long by twenty- two wide. At convenient distances, on the same line, were apartments ·for the resident physician, quaran- tine-master, and other houses. Subsequently other buildings were erected, including a temporary lodg- ing-house for emigrants who were not sick. Adjoining the lazaretto the United States government has es- tablished an inspection station, occupying about nine acres of ground, a building for the storage and examination of goods, and warehouses in which property can be placed which is brought in sickly vessels, in case it shall be necessary to detain them. Little Tinicum Island lies in front of the lazaretto, and the channel between is a good place for anchor- age, and has the additional advantage of being out of the general course of river traffic, which is east of Little Tinicum. Surrounded by fine shade-trees, and open to the breezes from the Delaware River, the quarantine station is cool and attractive in summer, and by its natural advantages compensates, in some degree, for the detention which passengers by vessels are sometimes compelled to undergo.
The Board of Health was reorganized in 1806. It was to consist of five members, appointed annually by the Governor of Pennsylvania, two of whom might be physicians. It was requisite that three of the mem- bers should reside in the city, one in Southwark, and one in Moyamensing. The Governor also ap- pointed a quarantine-master to reside at the lazaretto, a resident physician at the same place, and a con- sulting and health officer to reside at Philadelphia. This body made a very material change in the system connected with the management of health affairs. By act of Jan. 29, 1818, the Board of Health was reconstructed and directed thereafter to be composed of twelve members. Of this number, City Councils were to eleet six, Commissioners of Northern Liberties two, Penn township one, South- wark one, Moyamensing one, and Kensington one, annually. Under this act the Governor of Pennsyl- vania appointed the lazaretto physician, port physi- cian, health officer, and quarantine-master, who, as to the manner of discharging their duties, were under direction of the Board of Health.
Varions changes have been made in the health laws from time to time. In 1882 the power of ap- pointing the principal remained with the Governor, but members of the Board were elected by City Councils.
PORT PHYSICIANS OF PHILADELPHIA,
Dr. Thomas Graeme,! in office
, 1718
Dr. Zachary Lloyd, appointed ..
Sept.
14, 1741
Dr. Thomas Boud, appointed.
Sept. 22,1741
Dr. James Hutchinson, consulting.
, 1790
Dr. Benjamin Rush, resident.
-, 1790
Dr. James Mease, resident.
-, 1795
Dr. Samuel Duffield, consulting.
-, 1795
Dr. James Hall, appointed ..
-, 1799
Dr. Samuel Duffield, appointed.
Jan.
27.1:00
1 Sce 1 C. R., 524. Dr. Graeme died Sept. 4, 1772, nged eighty-four.
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
1667
Dr. John Syng Doreey, appointed ... -, 1813
Dr. Alexander Knight, appointed.
April 15, 1814
Dr. Josiah Stewart, appointed.
July 24, 1827
Dr. William Carll Drewster, appointed. March 21, 1831
Dr. John A. Elkinton, appointed. March 26, 1836
Dr. Isaac N. Marselis, appointed .. Feb. 9,1839
Dr. Henry D. Dletrich, appointed. March 5, 1845
Dr. William Henry, appointed.
.Dec. 14, 1848
Dr. David Gilbert, appointed
.Feb.
6, 1852
Dr. J. Howard Taylor, appointed. Feb.
16, 1855
Dr. Eliab Ward, appointed. May
31, 1856
Dr. S. F. Brown, appointed.
March 9, 1858
Dr. John D. Trenchard, appointed .. .Jan.
30, 1861
Dr. H. Ernest Goodman, appointed ..
Jan.
21,1867
Dr. Walter Atlee Hoffman, appointed. Feb.
11, 1873
Dr. Philip Leidy, appointed.
Oct.
7, 1874
Dr. Thomas B. Reed, appointed. Nov.
8,1882
Dr. Philip Leidy, appointed ..
Nov.
13, 1882
Dr. Robert H. Allison, appointed. -, 1883
LAZARETTO PHYSICIANS FOR THE QUARANTINE STATION AT TINICUM, ON THE RIVER DELAWARE, IN PENNSYLVANIA.
From the Philadelphia Directories.
Dr. Michael Lieb, appointed. Sept. 19, 1800
Dr. Nathan Dorsey, appointed
-, 1805
Dr. George Buchanan, Appointed.
.July 4, 1806
Dr. Edward Lowher, appointed. -, 1808
Dr. Isaac Hiester, appointed. -, 1809
Dr. Thomas Mitchell, appointed.
May 27,1813
Dr. Joel B. Sutherland, appointed
May
1, 1816
Dr. George F. Lehoinn, appointed.
March
4, 1817
Dr. Joshua W. Ash, appointed.
March 29, 1836
Dr. Wilmer Worthington, appointed.
Feb.
9,1839
Dr. Jesse W. Griffiths, appointed.
.April
5, 1842
Dr. Joshna Y. Jones, appointed
Dec.
14, 1848
Dr. T. J. P. Stokes, appointed.
Feh.
16, 1855
Dr. J. Howard Taylor, appointed
May
31,1856
Dr. L. S. Filbert, appointed.
Jan.
30, 1861
Dr. Thomas Stewardsop, appointed.
May
21, 1864
Dr. George W Fairlamb, appointed.
May
3, 1865
Dr. William S. Thompson, appointed .Jan.
21, 1867
Dr. J. Howard Taylor, appointed. Ang.
11, 1870
Dr. D. K. Shoemaker, appointed
Nov.
4, 1873
Dr. W. T. Robinson, appointed.
-, 1878
Dr. D. K. Shoemaker, appointed. -, 1879
Dr. W. T. Robinson, appointed.
-, 1880
QUARANTINE-MASTERS FOR THE LAZARETTO STATION, TINICUM.
Thomas Egger, probably in office -, 1800
Capt. William Lake, in office. April -, 1809
Christopher O'Conner, in office
May
1,1816
Capt. Thomas Moore, in office May
19, 1818
Henry Kenyon, io office ...
Aug. 16, 1819
Joseph M. G. Lescure, in office.
March 31, 1831
Stephen Horne, in office ... March 29, 1836
Benjamin Martin, in office ..
Feb. 9,1839
Alexander Mckeever, in office.
April
6, 1842
Capt. John H. Cheney, in office
March 13, 1848
William V. Mckean, in office ..
Feb.
12, 1852
Matthew Van Dusen, Jr., in office -, 1854
Jacob Pepper, in office.
Feb, 16, 1855
Lewis R. Denin, in office.
March 9, 1858
Robert Gartside, in office.
Jan.
20,1861
Nathan Shaw, in office ..
April 15, 1864
Thomas O. Stevenson, in office
April 20, 1867
Robert Gartside, in office.
Feb.
28, 1870
Dr. John H. Gihon, in office ..
Ang. 11, 1870
Dr. A. W. Mathewe, in office.
-, 1874
Dr. C. C. V. Crawford, in office.
-, 1879
Horace R. Maneely, in office.
June
5,1883
The United States Naval Asylum1 and the United States Naval Hospital (the latter of quite re- cent erection ) are on the site of the old Pemberton mansion, occupying a tract between the Gray's Ferry road, Bainbridge Street, Sutherland Avenue, and the Schuylkill River. The place was known as the " Plantation," and British officers, under Lord Howe, occupied it, when, in 1777, the owner, James Pem- berton, was at Winchester, Va., where he had been banished. James Pemberton left behind him a plucky and loyal wife, Phobe Pemberton, who wrote
several fiery letters to Howe, protesting against the depredations upon her farm by his troops. The prop- erty passed out of the hands of the Pembertons into those of the Abbott family, and in 1826, Surgeon Thomas Harris, of the United States navy, was author- ized by Mr. Southard, then Secretary of the Navy, to purchase it for seventeen thousand dollars. The house, as we see by the pictures that have been pre- served, was then a small and cosey family mansion of the colonial type, the front door reaching to the cornice below the dormer-roof, and the square balus- trade above the roof commanding a long vista of the Schuylkill. The money that satisfied the purchase was derived from the naval fund, and an nnexpended balance of fifty thousand dollars from the Marine Hospital fund. These moneys were mainly the accu- mulation of the assessment of twenty cents a month laid upon each person in the naval service. The legislation upon the subject dates back to 1810, when Congress passed the act appointing the Secretaries of the Navy, the Treasury, and of War a board of commis- sioners of naval hospitals, and gave them large powers of action. During the year 1826 the old hospital at the navy-yard (now all swept away) was abandoned, and the mansion on the Schuylkill was occupied in its place. Of this hospital Dr. Harris had charge, and continued there until 1833, when the asylum building was nearly finished. Among his patients were the late Admiral Farragut, Twiggs (who was afterward killed at the storming of Chapultepec), Bainbridge, Hull, Levy, Izard, Newell, Ogden, How- ard, Philip Voorhees, Engle, and Mercer,-some of the greatest naval fighters of the United States. The new asylum building was commenced in 1827, when Dr. Harris and Mr. Strickland were commissioned to superintend it. Dr. Harris was a native of Pennsyl- vania, and was surgeon of the United States sloop-of- war " Wasp" when she defeated and captured the English ship "Frolic" in the gallant action of Oct. 18, 1812.
During the cholera period of 1832 he was conspicu- ous for his active general practice, as well as for his attention to his naval duties. In 1832 the asylum was under roof, and as the hospital fund had been exhausted, Congress made a considerable appropria- tion to complete it. In 1833 the powers of the com- missioners of hospitals were transferred to the Sec- retary of the Navy, and the asylum building was occupied, although it was by no means completed. The edifice and the land have cost two hundred and twelve thousand six hundred dollars, of which four- ninths were appropriated by Congress, and the rest came from the hospital fund. It faces nearly east, and is constructed of a grayish-white marble, with a granite basement. It is three hundred and eighty feet in length, and consists of a centre, with a high, broad flight of marble steps and imposing abutments and a marble colonnade and pediment in the bastard classic style, which was all the fashion at the period of its
1 The main facts are derived from "Some Account of the Origin of the Naval Asylum at Philadelphia," by Edward Shippen, medical direc- tor United States navy, and published in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography.
March 5, 1845
Dr. James S. Rich, appointed.
-, 1854
Dr. Henry Pleasants, appointed.
March 13, 1858
Dr. D. K. Shoemaker, appointed.
1668
HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.
erection. The first pensioner or beneficiary received into the asylum after its opening was Daniel Kliess, and the second William Williams. In the winter of 1836-37, which was a very cold one, the fruit-trees surrounding the house were cut down by order of Commodore Barron, to furnish firewood. This act, which was much deprecated at the time, was in the end productive of good, as it led to the planting of the noble trees now adorning the place. On Aug. 1, 1838, Commodore James Biddle was made governor of the asylum, on account of complaints that had been made of its previous administration. Biddle had entered the navy in 1800, and was conspicuous for his gallant services, which included the capture
plaster, giving the north half to the beneficiaries and the southern to the hospital proper. It is not neces- sary to revert further to the causes which led to this curious state of things, but only to state the fact as a part of the history of the institution. The division of the building did take place, but the arrangement did not last very long.
Commodore Barron was ordered to the asylum about this time, but, owing to these difficulties, would not remain. Better counsel at last prevailed, and the ar- rangement of the building was restored to its former condition, and so remained until the erection of the new hospital gave up the whole establishment to the pensioners.
"'The Plantation". Pemberton's. Site of the Naval Asylum
of the British sloop "Penguin," in 1813, by the Amer- ican sloop "Hornet," of which he was the commander. During his term as governor the classes of midship- men who were preparing for their examination were placed in the asylum, and remained there until the Naval Academy was established at Annapolis, about 1845.
The various uses to which the building was at this time put, and the quartering there of a number of officers, professors, and employés, and an unfortunate difference between the executive and medical author- ities regarding the quantity of room occupied, pro- duced a state of things which led to the division of the building into two parts by a wall of lath and
During the course of the late war the necessity for a separate naval hospital became manifest, and it was therefore determined to remove the bodies of those buried in the cemetery, on the back part of the premises, and to place the hospital there. Medical Director Shippen says that in his opinion it was the very worst of situations for a hospital, but a large and expensive building was erected there that has never been filled to one-half its capacity. Ile adds,-
" As to tho nay lum, time prevents me from entering into the anecdotal history of the place, but I may say that many curious characters havo been inmates of the institution, while hundreds of old men, who have deserved well of their country, have here passed their declining years in tranquillity and comfort, and many of them have attalned a very great age.
1669
MEDICAL PROFESSION.
" At present the number of the beneficiaries ranges from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty, and they die (either from acci- dent or the diseases of old age) about as fast as the new onea come in.
" Under the regulations no one is eligible for the place who has not passed twenty years in the naval service, although there are many ex- ceptions to this rule in cases of serious disability in the line of duty.
" Upon coming into the establishment a beneficiary has to give up to the hospital fuod any pension of which he may be in receipt, as is emi-
UNITED STATES NAVAL ASYLUM.
Dently right and proper. The beneficiaries in our asylum have each a separate room and three wholesome meals a day. They have also snf- ficient clothing and washing, with one dollar per month for spending- money and one and a half pounds of tobacco. Many have saved money before they came there, and fit themselves ont with much taste, while all are comfortable. Some, indeed, among the prudent are quite capi- taliata on a small acale. They have quite a fair library and four read- ing-rooma, with daily and weekly papers, a good open fire in each, and liberty to atuoke aa much as they please. No restraint is put upon their liberty during reasonable honrs, so long as they behave themselves prop- erly. Many who are not past all service, after coming to the house and establishing themselves, obtaio formal leave of absence, generally for a year at a time. They are apt to go to sea again, or fishing, or some other congenial employment. If the beneficiary withdraws from the asylum he is allowed to resuine any pension to which he may have been entitled before coming there."
OFFICERS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVAL ASYLUM.
SUPERINTENDENT.
1833 .- Lient. James B. Cooper, U.S.N.
GOVERNORS.
1×39 .- Commodore James Biddle. 1840 .- Commodore William W. Mckean.
1842, Oct. 1 .- Commodore James Barron.
1842, Nov. 30 .- Lient. A. 11. Foote.
1843, Feb. 23 .- Commander W. W. Mckean.
1844, May 15 .- Commodore George C. Read.
1744 .- Commodore Charles W. Morgan. 1845 .- Commodore Jacob Jones.
1850, June 15 .- Commander I1. A. Adams.
1851, May 1 .- Commodore George C. Read. 1853 .- Commodore David Geisinger.
1854, July 9 .- Comniodore George W. Storer. 1857, Sept. 1 -Capt. W. W. McKeau.
1861, May 18 .- Commodore George C. Read.
1862, Aug. 25 .- Commander Petor Turner. 1862, Sept. 14. - Commodore Frederick Engle. 1866, June 22 .- Rear-Admiral IHram l'anIding. 1869, June 28 .- Rear-Admiral James L. Lardner. 1872, June 3 .- Rear-Admiral Melanchthon Smith.
1873, April 1 .- Commodore George B. Balch. 1876 .- Bear- Admiral J. R. Madison Mullaney. 1879 .- Commodore Duoken McN. Fairfax.
188], Oct. 1 .- Vice-Admiral Stephen C. Rowan.
1883, March .- Commodore A. C. Rhind.
1883, Nov. 1 .- Commodore Francia A. Hor. 106
Pennsylvania Hospital and Male and Female Hospital for the Insane .- It was towards the close of 1750 that the first step was taken toward the estab- lishment of a hospital in Philadelphia. The credit of originating the movement is due to Dr. Thomas Boud, who began his efforts by endeavoring to obtain subscriptions. He solicited among others his friend Benjamin Franklin, who, highly approving of the project, engaged heartily in furthering his views. Franklin first prepared the public mind by writing in the newspapers, and thus succeeded in in- creasing the number and amount of the subscriptions ; but it was soon ascertained that the enterprise was beyond individual ability, and that legislative aid would be necessary to success. A memorial signed by William Plumstead, Luke Morris, Ste- phen Armitt, Samuel Rhoads, William Coleman, Edward Cathrall, Samuel Smith, Samuel Shoemaker, Samuel Ilazard, Sam- uel Sansom, Amos Strettell, John Armitt, John Reynell, Charles Norris, William Griffitts, William Attwood, Anthony Morris, Thomas Graeme, William Branson, Israel Pemberton, Joshua Crosby, William Allen, Joshua Fisher, Nathaniel Allen, Reese Meredith, Joseph Richardson, Joseph Sims, A. Morris, Jr., Jonathan Evans, Joseph Ship- pen, John Inglis, John Mittlin, and George Spafford, was addressed to the Provincial Assembly on the 23rd of January, 1751, setting forth the urgent necessity then existing for a hospital, and asking for a charter to the contributors and for pecuniary assistance. After some objection, especially on the part of the country members, who maintained that the cost of medical at- tendance would alone be sufficient to consume all the money that could be raised, which was promptly met by an offer on the part of Dr. Lloyd Zachary and of the two brothers Dr. Thomas and Phineas Bond to attend the patients gratuitously for three years, a bill was unanimously passed on the 7th of February, in- corporating "the Contributors to the Pennsylvania Hospital." The bill also appropriated two thousand pounds currency toward the building, to be paid when an equal amount should be subscribed by individuals to a permanent fund. The charter further provided that it should be lawful for all who had contributed, or might contribute, ten pounds or more toward the hos- pital, or any number of them, to meet on the first Monday of May, yearly, forever, to elect twelve man- agers out of their own number, and a treasurer, and to make rules for the government of the institution, to be obligatory when approved by the chief justice, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the attorney-general.
As soon as the terms of the charter were made known considerable more than the amount required was subscribed, and at a meeting of the contributors, held at the State-House, the following board of mana- gers was chosen : Joshua Crosby, Benjamin Franklin,
1670
HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.
Thomas Bond, Samuel Hazard, Richard Peters, Israel Pemberton, Jr., Samuel Rhodes, Hugh Roberts, Joseph Morris, John Smith, Evan Morgan, and Charles Norris. John Reynell was elected treasurer.
The managers sent to Thomas and Richard Penn, the proprietaries of the province, in England, an address narrating what had been done, and suggest- ing that, as the Assembly had granted a charter and a sum of money for the erection of a building, and the people had subscribed and were still subscribing largely toward a permanent fund, it might please the proprietaries to grant a plot of ground on which to ereet the hospital. In a letter to Thomas HIyam and Sylvanus Bevan, the managers bespoke their favorable intercession with the proprietaries, and pointed out as a suitable place for the building the unappropri- ated portion of the square on the south side of Mul- berry, between Ninth and Tenth Streets. In reply to this application, the proprietaries sent out an elabo- rate charter emanating from themselves and an order to their Lieutenant-Governor, James Hamilton, to convey to the corporation, in the same instrument, a lot of ground lying on the north side of Sassafras Street, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, being a portion of the ground afterward known as Franklin Square. These grants did not please the wishes of the managers, and they were both refused.
In the mean time, in order to carry the benevolent design of the subscribers into immediate effect, the mansion and grounds of Judge John Kinsey, situated on the south side of Market, west of Fifth Street, was hired as a temporary hospital at a rental of forty pounds per year. Rules and regulations for the management of the institution were adopted, and the following physicians and surgeons appointed : Drs. Lloyd Zachary, Thomas and Phineas Bond, Thomas Cadwalader, Samuel Preston Moore, and John Red- man. The temporary hospital was opened in Febru- ary, 1752, when two patients were received ; and it continued to be occupied for about four years. In December. 1754, the managers purchased, for five hundred pounds, the whole of the square of ground on which the hospital now stands, bounded by Eighth and Ninth, Spruee and Pine Streets, except a depth of sixty feet on Spruce Street, which, eight or ten years later, was granted by the Penns, together with an annuity of forty pounds. On May 28, 1755, the corner-stone of the east wing, facing Eighth Street, was laid, with the following inscription by Franklin :
" In the year of CHRIST MDCCLV,, GEORGE the Second happily Reigning (for he sought the happiness of his people . Philadelphia Flourishing (for its inhabitants were pul lic-spirited), This Building, By the Bounty of the Government, And of many private persons, Wan pfously founded For the Relief of the Sick aud Miserable. May the God of Mercles Bless the uodertaking."
The house was so far completed in December, 1756. that patients were admitted, and the first regular meeting of the managers to inspect the wards took place on the 27th of that month.
Medicines were at first furnished gratuitously by the physicians of the hospital ; but this was felt to be an unreasonable burden, especially as they were giving their professional services without charge. It was therefore determined to hire an apothecary to attend daily at the house and prepare the medicines, and an allowance of fifteen pounds per annum was made him for his trouble. At this time drugs and medicines had to be imported from London.
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