History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 194

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992

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In private life Mr. Biddle is a delightful friend, full of generous sympathies, yet firm in his convictions and fearless in their maintenance. A life thus spent in public service has been rich in its results, and Mr. Biddle, now in his seventy-eighth year, has lived to see many of the institutions in which he was inter- ested in early life, grown to an extent which he and his associates could hardly have expected: This has been noticeably the case with the Girard College, the Pennsylvania Hospital in both its departments, and in the vast development of the public schools in this city.

Still in vigorous health, Mr. Biddle has in the even- ing of his life a full reward for his labors in these re- sults, in the gratitude of those whom he has helped, and in the respect and affection with which he is uni- versally regarded by his fellow-citizens.

Officina of the Pransylvania Hospital .- Managers, William Biddle pres. ident), Samuel Welsh, Wistar Morris, Jacob P. Jones, Benjamin H. Shoe- maker (secretary , Alexander Biddle, Joseph B. Townsend, Joseph C. Turnpenny, T. Wistar Brown, Juhn B. Garrett, John T. Lewis, Charles Hartshorne (treasurer , Henry Haines.

Hospital on Pine Street,1 Steward, Richard Cadbury ; Clerk and Libra- rian, Benjamin Hoopee ; Apothecary, Jacob K. Hecker ; Matron, Ade-

1 William G. Malin, who had been in The service of the hospital for fifty-nine years, resigned March 29, 1883. In 1:24 he was elected clerk, In April, 1825, librarian, and January, 1841, steward, which office he continued to holl until his resignation.

1675

MEDICAL PROFESSION.

laide S. Thomas ; Superintendent of Nurses, Annie R. Bunting ; Physi- cians, Jacob M. Da Costa, M.D., James H. Hutchinson. M.D., Morrie Longstreth, M.D., Arthur V. Meigs, M.D. ; Surgeons, Williom Hunt, M.D., Thomas George Morton, M.D., Richard J. Levis, M D., D. Hayes Agnew, M.D .; Resident Physicians, Edward S. Mellvaine, M.D., George T. Lewis, M.D., Charlee M. P. Grayson, M.D., William Johnson Taylor, M.D. ; Pathologist and Curator, Morris Longstreth, M.D. ; Microscopist, Joseph G. Richardson, M.D.

Oul-Patient Department .- Physicians, Joseph J. Kirkbride, M.D., Jo- seph S. Neff, M.D .. Henry M. Fisher, M D., John J. Owen, M.D. ; Sur- geone, Charles T. Hunter, M.D., William Ashbridge, M.D., William C. Cox, M.D. ; William B. Hopkins, M.D. ; For the Eye end Ear. George C. Harlan, M.D. : Gynecological Department, Elliott Richardsoo, M.D.

Hospital for the Insane .- Physician-in-Chief and Superintendent, Thomas S. Kirkbride, M.D. (elected 1840, died Dec. 16, 1883). Depart- ment for Males : First Assistant Physician, J. Preston Jones, M.D .; Second Assistant Physician, William H. Bartles, M.D. ; Third Assistant Physician, Henry M. Wetherill, M.D. ; Steward, George Jones. Depart- meat for Females: First Assistant Physician, William P. Moon, M.D .; Second Assistant Physician, Henry B. Nunemaker, M.D .; Steward, Jo- seph Jones; Matron, Anne Jones ; Solicitors, George Biddle und A. Sydney Biddle.

The following are the names of the gentlemen who have served the institution as physicians and sur- geons in the order of their appointment, together with the date of their resignation or death, and their respective periods of service :

Lloyd Zachary, elected 1751 ; resigned 1753; served one year and five monthe.

Thomas Bond, elected 1751; resigned 1784 ; served thirty-two years and six monthe.

Phineas Bond, elected 1751 ; died 1773; served twenty-one years aod eight months.

Thomas Cadwalader, elected 1751 ; resigned 1777; served twenty-five years and six months.

Samuel Preston Moore, elected 1751 ; resigned 1759 ; served seven years and six months.

Jeho Redman, elected 1751 ; resigned 1780; served twenty-eight years and eix months.

William Shippen, elected 1753; resigned 1778 ; served twenty-five years and two months.

Cadwalader Evans, elected 1759; died 1773; served fourteen years and one month.

John Morgan, elected 1773, resigned 1777; re-elected 1778, resigned 1783; served eight years and eleven mouths.

Charles Moore, elected 1773; resigned 1774; eerved ten months.

Adam Kohn, elected 1774, resigned 1781; re-elected 1782, resigned 1798 ; served twenty-two years and six monthe.

Thomas Parke, elected 1777 ; resigued 1823 ; served forty-five years and nine months.

James Hutchinson, elected 1777, resigned 1778; re-elected 1779, re- signed 1793 ; served fifteen years (died).

William Shipped, Jr., elected 1778, resigned 1779 ; re-elected 1791, re- signed 1802 ; served eleven years and eleven months.

John Jones, elected 1780; died 1791 ; served eleven years and one month. Benjamin Rush, elected 1783; died 1813; eerved twenty-nine years and ten months.

Joho Foulke, elected 1784 ; died 1794; served ten years.

Caspar Wistar, elected 1793 ; resigned 1810; served sixteen years and five monthe.

Philip Syng Physick, elected 1794; resigned 1816; served twenty-two years and one mooth.

Benjamin Smith Barton, elected 1798; resigned 1815; served seventeen years and ten months.

John Redman Coxe, elected 1802 ; resigned 1807 ; served four years and oise months.

Thomas C. James, elected 1807 ; resigned 1832; served twenty-five years and ten monthe.

John Syng Dorsey, elected 1810 ; died 1818 ; served eight years and six months.

Joseph Hartshorne, elected 1810; resigned 1821 , served eleven years and two miothe.

Jolin C. Otto, elected 1813 ; resigned 1835 ; served twenty-two years and four monthe.

Samuel Colhoun, elected 1816; resigned 1821 ; served five years.

Joseph Parrish, elected 1816 ; resigned 1829; served twelve years and eight months.

Thomas T. Ilewson, elected 1818; resigned 1835; served sixteen years and five months.

John Moore, elected 1820; resigned 1829; served nine years.

William Price, elected 1821; resigned 1823 ; served one year and ten months.

John Wilson Moore, elected 1821 ; resigned 1827 ; served five years and three months.

Samuel Emlen, elected 1823 : died 1828; served five years.

John Rhea Barton, elected 1823; resigned 1836 ; served thirteen years and five months.

John K. Mitchell, elected 1827 : resigned 1834; served seven years.

Benjamin II. Coates, elected 1828; resigned 1841 ; served twelve years und nine months.

Thomas Harris, elected 1829; resigned 1840; eerved eleven years and nine months.

Charles Lukens, elected 1829; resigned 1839 ; served ten years and three mouthe.

Hugh L. Hodge, elected 1832; resigned 1854; served twenty-one years and three monthe.

William Rush, elected 1834; resigned 1837; served three years and five monthe.

George B. Wood, elected 1835; resigned 1859 ; served twenty-three years and six months.

Jacob Randolph, elected 1835; died 1848 ; served twelve years and ten months.

George W. Norris, elected 1836; resigned 1863; served twenty-seven years.

Thomas Stewardson, elected 1838; resigned 1845; served seven years.

Charles D. Meiga, elected 1838; resigned 1849 ; served teo yenre and ten toonths.

Edward Pesce, elected 1840; resigned 186] ; served twenty years and one month.

William Pepper, elected 1842; resigned 1858; served sixteen years and seven months.

William W. Gerhard, elected 1845; resigned 1868; served twenty-three years.

George Fox, elected 1848; resigned 1854; served six yrars.

Joseph Carson, elected 1849 ; resigned 1854; served four years and ten months.

John Neill, elected 1852; resigned 1859; served seven years and one mouth.

Joseph Pancoast, elected 1854; resigned 1864; served nine years and eleven oionthis.

James J. Levick, elected 1856; resigned 1868 ; served twelve years and five months.

John Forsythe Meigs, elected 1859; died 1882; served twenty-three years.

Edward Hartshorne, elected 1859 ; resigned 1865 ; served five years and nine mionthe.

Francis Gurney Smith, elected 1859; resigned 1864; served five years and seven months.

Addinell Hewson, elected 18GI ; resigned 1877.

William Hunt, elected 1863.

Thomas George Morton, elected 1863.

Jacob M. Da Costa, elected 1865.

D. Hayes Agnew, elected 1865 : resigned 1871 ; served six years and two months.

James H. Hutchinson, elected 1868.

J. Aitken Meigs, elected 1868; died 1881.

Richard J. Levis, elected 1871.

D. Inyes Agnew, elected 1877.

Morris Longstreth, elected 1881.

Arthur V. Meigs, elected 1882.

The successive presidents of the board of managers have been as follows :

Years.

Joshun Crosby

4 Samuel Coates 13

Benjamin Franklin ..

Thomas Stewardsoo ..... 16

John Revnell 23

John Paul. 3

Samuel Rhonda

1 Mordecai Lewie

l'eter Reeve .... 614

Samuel Howell

3 Mordecai L. Dawson, 183

Reynold Keen

Josiah llewes

5 Lawrence Lewis

1 William Biddle, since 1872.

1676

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

The City Hospital .- The Board of Health was organized in 1794, and purchased the Fish Tavern on the west side of the floating bridge at Market Street, on premises now occupied by the Pennsylva- nia Railroad Company. This was used for hospital purposes. The first hospital established by the city was in 1796 or 1797. This was the Wigwam tavern, a famous resort at the foot of Race Street, on the Schuylkill. This hospital retained the name of the Wigwam Hotel for several years, but in 1805, in consequence of the complaints made by the citizens in the neighborhood against the institution, it was removed to the Wissahickon road, near where the Ridge road and Wallace Street now intersect. This place was occupied two years, when the citizens again rebelled and demanded its removal, For a time the city was without a hospital.

In 1805 the Board of Health was reorganized and given power to ereet a new hospital. Under this au- thority the board, in 1807, purchased a lot of ground on the east side of Schuylkill Fourth [ Nineteenth ] Street near the intersection of Francis Lane [Coates Street, now Fairmount Avenue]. Here was erected and finished, in 1809, a very complete building for the purposes designed. The hospital extended from east to west, was placed at some distance from the line of Francis Lane, so as not to expose the public to undue danger. The whole front was two hundred and sixty- six feet in extent. In the centre was the mansion house, fifty feet front, forty-two feet deep. The wings were each one hundred and eighty feet long by twenty- two feet deep, and two stories high. There were twenty rooms in the main building and thirty-six in the wings, exclusive of cellars and garrets. A piazza twelve feet broad and two stories high extended along the whole length of the building. It was inelosed by Venetian blinds so that air and light might be ex- cluded from the rooms when necessary, and also that the patients might be sereened from public observa- tion. These verandas were so unlike the appendages to American buildings, ontside of the West India islands, that they always attracted attention. The grounds were laid out with trees, grass, shrubberies, and flowers. The apartments were well ventilated, and there was accommodation for four or five hundred persons. The principal front was to the south. But as there was no street on the Bush Hill property at that time nearer than Callowhill Street, the principal front seen by the public was on Franeis Lane. By the act of 1818, reorganizing the Board of' llealth, it was directed that this hospital should continue for the use of the city, and the districts and townships of North- ern Liberties, Moyamensing, Southwark, and Penn township, for persons residing therein who shall be afflicted with any pestilential or contagious disease, measles excepted. Subsequently the exception in the case of smallpox was repealed.

By the consolidation act of 1854, all the property, real and personal, belonging to the Board of Health,

was vested in the city of Philadelphia. The laws governing the board were continued. The members of the board were to be elected annually by citizens, a provision that was afterward changed. The city hospital, under the management of the Board of Health, was city property. By ordinance of May 19, 1866, the board was directed to receive in the Municipal Hospital, which was the new name given to the establishment, all persons afflicted with any contagious or infectious disease who would other- wise be a charge upon the Guardians of the Poor, smallpox patients from the almshouse, and persons afflicted with any contagious or infectious disease sent from the county prison. In time the continuation of the City Hospital at Coates and Schuylkill Fourth [now Nineteenth] Streets became objectionable to the residents of the neighborhood, and finally a new site was chosen, which at that time was sup- posed to be so far out of town as to be safe from invasion for many years. The place chosen was upon Hart Lane, near Twenty-first Street. Here was erected a substantial structure of brownstone, consisting of a main building and wings, with a front of two hun- dred and eighty feet, two stories in height, with a mansard roof. The new municipal hospital was opened for patients on the 27th of April, 1865, under the management of the Board of IIealth, which eleets the resident physician and other officers. The pres- ent hospital is ereeted on the square of ground bounded by Lehigh Avenue, Huntingdon, Twenty- first, and Twenty-second Streets.

Christ Church Hospital .- Christ Church Hospital was founded by Dr. John Kearsley, who made pro- vision for it in his will. Dr. Kearsley died Jan. 16, 1772, and this charity was soon after begun. His widow died in 1778, and Christ Church received the remainder of the bequest. It is not a hospital in the now received meaning of the word, but a " home for poor, distressed women" (widows of clergymen being preferred before all others), communicants of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1784 eight pen- sioners were kept in the old building on Arch Street, above Third, which in Dr. Kearsley's lifetime had been fitted up as an infirmary, and twelve others boarded out. In 1785 the hospital was rebuilt on Arch Street. Afterward it was removed to Cherry Street, south side, between Third and Fourth, where a stately, comfortable brick building was erected for the special use of the hospital, and where the institu- tion remained for several years. The fund becoming enlarged by judicious care and by a legacy from Joseph Dobbins, of South Carolina, the trustees pur- chased a large tract on Belmont Avenne, West Phil- adelphia, near the park, and erected a new building, with accommodations for one hundred inmates. The corner-stone was laid in 1856, and the building oeeu- pied in 1861. It is two hundred and thirty-seven feet long, fifty feet deep, and four stories in height, with a chapel and infirmaries.

1677

MEDICAL PROFESSION.

Three of the trustees are chosen annually by Christ Church, and the remaining three by St. Peter's Church. The Rev. Edmund Roberts is at present chaplain of the hospital.

The Episcopal Hospital .- The erection of the " Hospital of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Philadelphia" was first decided upon at a meeting of clergy and laity, convened by Bishop Potter, on March 14, 1851. John Welsh was secretary of the meeting. The principles on which this charity has ever been conducted were declared immediately upon its organization, viz., the hospital should be distin- Episcopal Hospital : guished by religious influence, applied systematically to all its inmates, both patients and attendants, its managers to be communicants, and not less than one- third of them to be clergymen; patients to be re- 1 ceived without distinction of creed, country, or color ; regular religious ministrations in the hospital by a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal Church, under the directions of the bishop, with the understanding that the private services of other ministers should not be excluded when conscientiously sought for by patients.

Moved thereto by a sermon preached by Dr. Wil- liam Bacon Stevens in St. Andrew's Church, Mrs. E. H. L. Stout and Miss Ann Leamy, daughters of Mrs. Elizabeth Leamy, gave to the hospital about five acres of ground near Front Street and Lehigh Ave- nne, together with the family mansion house thereon. The hospital was opened in this house (which is still standing) and was afterward used as the " Bishop Potter Memorial House") on Dec. II, 1852. Addi- tional ground was purchased, giving the hospital two entire blocks.

The corner-stone of the present hospital was laid on May 24, 1860, the Diocesan Convention, then in session, taking a recess to attend the ceremonies. Miss Hollingsworth gave ten thousand dollars for the erection of a memorial chapel, and Miss Wilhelmina Smith ten thousand dollars for the endowment of a chaplaincy. The chapel was opened on May 27, 1862. The hospital was opened on July 31, 1862, to receive at once two hundred sick and wounded United States soldiers, and five hundred and seven soldiers were admitted as patients before the govern- ment hospitals were prepared to meet the emergencies.

About 1874 the eastern wing was erected, complet- ing the hospital after its original plan. In 1883 a handsome mission building was erected on the hos- pital grounds, to give accommodations for the exten- sive missionary work, schools and meetings, carried on in connection with the hospital.

On Thanksgiving day each year an offering is made the shop of a stove-maker, on the southwest corner of in all the parishes for the hospital, and averages about fifteen thousand dollars per annum. The annual ex- penses of the hospital are now about fifty thousand dollars a year. It has a considerable invested fund, and is in receipt of frequent legacies and donations. Among the long list of those who have aided the hos-

pital by devoted labors, magnificent gifts, or bequests, mention can here only be made of Miss Grasby, who endowed the "Hannah Ward;" Bishop Hare, who secured subscriptions of thirty thousand dollars for "incurables ;" George Washington Smith, who gave five thousand dollars a year for a considerable time before his death; John Welsh, a continuons and generous friend of this institution; and the Misses Biddle, who have been indefatigable in their Chris- tian labors in the hospital.

The following are the board of managers of the

Rt. Rev. William Bacon Stevens, D.D., LL.D., president ex officio ; term of service expiring January, 1885, Rev. B. Watson, D.D., Rev. Thomas F. Davies, D.D., Rev. E. A Foggo, D.D., B. G. Godfrey, John C. Browne, Charles C. Harrison, Oliver Landreth, William C. Honston; term of service expiring January, 1886, Rev. Henry J. Morton, D.D., Rev. Daniel S. Miller, D.D., Caspar Morris, M.D., George Blight, William R. Lejée, Andrew H. Miller, Charles Spencer, John Ashhurst, Jr., M.D. ; term of service expiring Jannary, 1887, Rev. Richard Newton, D.D., Rev. Edward Y. Buchanan, D.D., Rev. C. George Currie, D.D., Edward Hartshorne, M. D., John Welsh, Alexander Brown, William P. Pep- per, J. Vaughan Merrick : Treasurer, W. W. Frazier, Jr .; Secretary, Rev. J. A. Childs, D D.

Medical Board .- Physicians, Dr. Morris J. Lewis, Dr. Frederick P. Henry, Dr. Henry M. Fisher, Dr. Lonis Starr ; Surgeons, Dr. Charles B. Nancrede, Dr. William S. Forbes, Dr. Charles T. Ilunter, Dr. John Il. Packard ; Ophthalmic and Aural Surgeons, Dr. Albert G. Heyl, Dr. B. Alexander Randall. Dispensary Staff: Physicians, Dr. A. K. Minich, Dr. James M. Anders, Dr. D. J. Milton Miller ; Surgeons, Dr. J. Henry C. Simes, Dr. William Barton Hopkins, Dr. Thomas R. Nelson, Dr. Chorles MI. Seltzer. Resident Physicians, Dr. George M. Boyd, Dr. Charles Clax - tou, Dr. W. Wharton Hollingsworth, Dr. J. Kearsley Mitchell ; Curator of Pathological Museum, J. Henry C. Simes, M.D. ; Chaplain, Rev. Alex- ander B. Crawford ; Superintendent, S. R. Knight, M.D. : Matron, Miss E. A. Lehman.

The Friends' Asylum for the Insane is an incor- porated institution at Frankford, supported by mem- bers of the Society of Friends. It was founded in 1811, and a constitution adopted in June, 1813. The buildings were finished and occupied on the 15th of June, 1817.

Jefferson Medical College Hospital .- Clinical demonstrations have been regarded as one of the most valuable adjuncts of instruction in the Jefferson Medical College from its earliest history. In fact, an infirmary had been established within the walls of the college in May, 1825, in advance of the first session, and on the 9th of that month, Dr. George Mcclellan performed the first surgical operation in the amphi- theatre. The clinical system was further developed after the reorganization of the faculty in 1841, and the clinics came to be considered the " right arm of the col- lege." In addition to the clinics at the college itself, the students were allowed admission to the Pennsyl- vania Hospital and to Blockley Almshouse. In 1843 or 1844 one or two rooms were rented, located over Tenth and Sansom Streets, and grave cases operated on before the class were afterward conveyed thither and treated. These accommodations becoming insuf- ficient, two floors were rented in a bottling establish- ment standing on the ground now occupied by the laboratories of the college. In the course of a few

1678

HISTORY OF PHILADELPHIA.

years this place was remodeled, and a comfortable miniature hospital was created capable of accommo- dating from fifteen to twenty beds. The hospital thus organized served its purpose for over twenty years. The necessity for larger accommodations for a clinical hospital became more and more apparent as the col- lege increased in size and importance, and in Decem- ber, 1872, at an informal meeting of the Alumni Asso- viation, it was determined to make an effort in this direction. In order to obtain an idea of the success which might be expected from the undertaking sub- seriptions were called for then and there, and fifteen thousand dollars were promised. This action, on being reported to the trustees, was approved by them, and they determined to seek an appropriation from

JEFFERSON-MEDICAL COLLEGE HOSPITAL - PRILA

the Legislature of one hundred thousand dollars. The appropriation was granted, and received the Governor's approval April 9, 1873. The grant was conditioned on the raising of an equal sum from private sources.

As the result of a conference between a joint com- mittee from the faculty and the alumni with a com- mittee from the board of trustees, in April, 1874, Henry M. Phillips, Asa Packer, and James Campbell were appointed a finance committee to receive subscriptions and the payment of subscriptions for the projected hospital, and to invest the funds received in the manner they should deem most advantageous, subject to the further action of the board of trustees. A liberal donation, by I. V. Williamson, of fifty thousand dollars, in October, 1874, on the condition, among

others, that the hospital should be finished in three years from the date of his subscription, infused new activity into the work. A committee on site shortly afterward reported in favor of the present location of the hospital, in the rear of the college, and on April 21, 1875, a lot was purchased on the site recom- mended, having a frontage of eighty-six feet, and a depth of one hundred and seven feet six inches, the price being forty-five thousand dollars, In March, 1876, the adjoining lot, extending east twenty feet to Sansom Street, was bought for eight thousand dollars.

A committee on building and finance, which super- seded the old finance committee in June, 1875, adopted the plans for the new building proposed by Messrs, Furness & Hewitt, architects, in the latter part of the same year. On the 4th of November, 1875, the contract for the erection of the build- ing, exclusive of the heating and plumbing arrangements, was let to John Ketchum for $94,787.93. This sum was afterward increased by the adoption of changes in the plans, occasioned principally by the acquisition of the east- ern lot bordering on Sansom Street. By the end of Novem- ber, 1876, the whole build- ing was under roof, and on the 27th of April, 1877, the structure having been en- tirely completed, was formally transferred by the building and finance committee to the trustees. On the Ist of May it was thrown open to the in- spection of the public. The formal opening was deferred until Sept. 17, 1877, when the inaugural address was deliv- ered by Dr. E. B. Gardette, president of the board of trustees of the college, before the trustees, the faculty, members of the alumni, and the invited public, and Dr. Joseph Pancoast, the emeritus professor of Anat- omy, also made an address.

The cost of the building, fully equipped and fur- nished, up to the time when it was occupied by patients was 8132,991.83, and the cost of the two lots was $53,000, making a total expenditure of $185,919.83. On the 4th of November, 1875, a request was made for an additional appropriation of $100,000 from the State, and on the 17th of June, 1878, nearly three years afterward, the act appropriating the sum was passed. By the terms of the act the money was to be paid over at the rate of ten thousand dollars a year, and at the present time (1884) the payment is still progressing.

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History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, Part 194

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 992

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898. cn; Westcott, Thompson, 1820-1888, joint author
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : L. H. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 992