Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 70

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192

USA > Pennsylvania > Allegheny County > Pittsburgh > Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania > Part 70

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dr. George D. Bruce was born in Pittsburg in 1811, and died May 29, 1891. He also was a student of medicine in the office of Dr. Joseph P. Gazzam. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1833, and

fes

D at

of :8

P Er

re to

a P a

D b

la P

611

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

later spent two years in the hospitals and medical schools of Edinburg and Paris. While in Europe he gave special attention to the heart and lungs and was an acknowledged authority on the diseases of those organs. As a practitioner he was preeminently successful and is gratefully remembered by many of our older citizens.

Dr. John Dickson was for many years a leader among the physicians of his time. He was born in Cecil County, Maryland, May 24, 1812, and grad- uated in medicine at the University of New York in 1830. His ability as a surgeon during those trying times before the discovery of anæesthesia was promptly recognized and he speedily achieved distinction. He rendered invalu- able service as a volunteer surgeon during the war. He died January 9, 1888. Dr. Thomas Dickson, a younger brother of the above, fell a sacrifice for his country in 1862. He contracted pernicious malaria while with the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular campaign, and reached home only to die. Dr. John S. Dickson and Dr. Joseph N. Dickson, sons of Dr. John Dickson, upheld the medical traditions of the family name. John S. was born April II, 1844. He received his degree at Jefferson Medical College in 1868 and then studied abroad for two years. He was a surgeon of marked ability and a successful physician. He died of pneumonia, September 14, 1892. Joseph N. was born April 8, 1848. He also was a graduate of Jef- ferson (1869), and like his brother spent two years in London and Paris. "Dr. Joe," as he was familiarly called, inherited a full measure of his father's surgical tastes and abilities. He was a popular physician, a keen sports- man, an ardent lover of nature, and a genial and kindly man.

A name and a personality that will be recalled with pleasure is that of Dr. Samuel Dilworth. Dr. Dilworth was born on Mount Washington, Pittsburg, in 1823. He read medicine with Dr. Reynolds and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1844. He died in 1862.

Dr. Robert B. Mowry was one of the ties recently. severed that bound us to the olden time. He was born in Pittsburg, December 23, 1813. He read medicine with his uncle, Dr. Peter Mowry, who had been apprenticed to Dr. Bedford, the first physician in Western Pennsylvania. Dr. R. B. Mowry graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1836, and from that date to his death, a period of nearly sixty years, he actively, conscientiously and successfully practiced his profession. The esteem in which he was held led to his election to the presidency of the State Medical Society in 1876. Among the visible monuments of his labors is the Allegheny General Hos- pital, the founding of which is largely due to his efforts. He died on March 14, 1895.

Dr. Thomas Mabon was for many years one of the foremost physicians of Western Pennsylvania. He was born in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, in 1821. He was graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1852, and after- ward studied in the University of Glasgow. He came to Allegheny in 1864 and was soon engaged in an active and exacting practice. He died on November 23, 1890, leaving a name that will be honored and cherished as long as memory lasts among those who knew him.

The medical history of Pittsburg presents no more striking figure than Dr. James McCann. He was born in Allegheny County in 1836 and gradu- ated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1864. No medical man of his generation in Western Pennsylvania was more widely known or more highly esteemed than Dr. McCann. As a young man he was energetic and progres- sive, taking an active interest and part in everything that touched his pro- fessional work. As a mature man (for, unhappily, he did not reach old age) he was an author, a counsellor and a teacher, and preserved his youthful

612

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

enthusiasm in the dignity and nobility of his calling. A mere enumeration of the parts he played and the work he did would transcend the limits of this sketch. Among the last of his beloved labors was the founding of the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, now the Medical Department of the University of Western Pennsylvania. To this enterprise Dr. McCann gave his great energy and his name was a tower of strength during its struggling infancy. He lived to see it strongly established among the educational insti- tutions of the State. He died, after a lingering illness, June 13, 1893.

Closely associated with Dr. McCann in many of his interests and labors was Dr. James B. Murdoch, who was born in Glasgow, Scotland, October 16. 1830. He came to America when a child and graduated in 1854 from the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. Like Dr. McCann he served his country in the late war in the capacity of a surgeon, and was ever after partial to that branch of his profession. He was president of the State Medical Society in 1888-9. He was a frequent contributor to medical literature, his most important papers being "Torsion of the Arteries" and "Amputation at the Hip-joint." He was one of the founders of the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, and dean of its faculty at the time of his death. He died October 29, 1896.

Dr. E. A. Wood was born March 24, 1834, graduated at the Western Reserve Medical College, and died June 3, 1894. Dr. Wood was a versatile man of much talent. He was a successful medical practitioner; represented his district in the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1875; was a popular lecturer in the Western Pennsylvania Medical College; contributed largely to medical literature, and was the author of two novels and the libretto of the opera, "The Lion of Peru."

One of the latest medical men of Pittsburg to pass to his reward was Dr. Andrew Fleming, of whose eminent character and valuable public services. detailed mention is made elsewhere in this work. He was a pupil of the eminent Dr. Joseph P. Gazzam. While Dr. Fleming was preeminently a family physician, he found time in spite of his busy life to contribute many valuable articles to medical literature, his monograph on "Bloodstains" being probably the best known. The esteem in which he was held by his fellow doctors is demonstrated by his election to the presidency of the Allegheny County Medical Society in 1878.

In 1837 Dr. Gustavus Reichhelm carried the banner of Homeopathy across the mountains into Western Pennsylvania. Although the new practice was strenuously opposed by the physicians of the time, it soon gained a foot- hold in the community, which it has ever since retained. Dr. Reichhelm succeeded in building up a large and lucrative practice.

He was followed by the Drs. Dake, Cote, Bayer, Wilson, Rosseau, Hof- mann, W. R. Childs, Herron and others. Doubtless the strength of homeopathy in Western Pennsylvania is due to the high characters of the men who first advocated and practiced that system of medicine.

One of the best remembered of these physicians was Dr. Marcellin Cote, who was born in Canada in 1815. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1844, and came to Pittsburg about ten years later. In 1866, he, with others, founded the Homeopathic Hospital in this city. He died on May 29, 1878.

Dr. D. M. Dake was born April 14, 1814, at Saratoga Springs, New York. Studied (T. Romeyn Beck, author of "American Medical Jurispru- dence," was his preceptor) at Albany, New York, and at Castleton, Vermont, graduating at the latter college (University of Vermont) in 1835. Practiced with his father, Dr. Jabez P. Dake, at Nunda, New York, from 1836 to 1846. Studied Homeopathy in 1845-6, leaving the regular school of medicine.

613

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

He was one of the founders of the American Institute of Homeopathic Medi- cine. Removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1847, on the advice of his brother-in-law, J. Heron Foster, founder of the Pittsburg Dispatch. He was the first American Homeopath in Pittsburg, Dr. Reichhelm, who had recently come from Germany, preceding him. The two were for a time in partner- ship. His youngest brother, Dr. J. P. Dake, and his second brother, Dr. C. M. Dake, practiced medicine in Pittsburg between 1850 and 1860. He was called in the '5os to the chair of materia medica in the Hahnemann . College, Philadelphia, which professorship he declined. Later his brother, Dr. J. P. Dake, filled the position for several years. He always took a deep interest in the work of advancing Homeopathy, working to that end on the lecture platform and in the journals of that period. In 1859, in a report on "Mechanical Aids to Medication," and delivered in Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C., he first suggested the use of concave pads in certain forms of hernia-now in general use. His only son, Dr. Charles R. Dake, resides in Belleville, Illinois. He retired from practice in 1864, removing to and resid- ing for a few years in Brooklyn, New York. Later he resided in San Francisco, California. In 1885 he removed to De Funiak Springs, Florida, where he spent eight or ten months of each year until his death, from heart disease, March 17, 1891.

Dr. J. P. Dake was born in Johnstown, New York, April 22, 1827. He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, in 1849, and from the Homeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania (now the Hahnemann), at Philadelphia, in 1851. Dr. Dake was the pupil, the partner and the successor of Dr. Reich- helm. Early in his professional career he attracted the notice of the home- opathic world and in 1855 he was called to the chair of materia medica at the Hahnemann College, which place he filled satisfactorily for two years. In 1869 he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, in which city he died October 28, 1894. During his whole lifetime Dr. Dake was a conspicuous figure in homeopathic medicine. His admiring confrères heaped many honors upon him, and by his teachings, his writings and his active interest in medical socie- ties he was well known to the followers of Hahnemann both at home and abroad.

The oldest hospital in Pittsburg or Western Pennsylvania is the Mercy, which was founded in the first half of the century by the Sisters of Mercy, with the active aid of Bishop O'Conner and the help of charitable citizens. It opened its doors for the reception of the sick January, 1847, in a build- ing called old Concert Hall, on Penn Avenue, near Sixth Street, rented for the purpose. The permanent building on Stevenson Street was occupied in May, 1848. This had a capacity of sixty beds, though for some time, owing to lack of funds, only twenty-five beds were furnished. The first staff was Drs. William Addison, Joseph P. Gazzamı, Daniel McMeal and George D. Bruce. The first resident physician, or interne, was Dr. Thomas W. Shaw. Since its foundation the Mercy Hospital has had an uninterrupted career in growth and good works, and at present its capacity is three hundred, with a staff of twelve and five resident physicians.

The first meeting of the promoters of the Western Pennsylvania Hos- pital was held on March 10, 1847. During the following years much work was done and many difficulties surmounted, and the hospital was open for the reception of patients in 1853. At the time the hospital was founded party spirit was very bitter, and religious and sectarian topics were harshly discussed, as indicated by the Know-nothing riots. It is pleasant, therefore. to note, in this day of toleration, the following extract from its articles of association, adopted April 20, 1847: "There shall be no discrimination as to

614

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

religious denominations, and clergymen shall have access to patients of their persuasion, subject to the general rules in reference to the admission of patients."

In 1856 the establishment of a separate hospital for the insane became necessary, and the cornerstone of Dixmont, the Western Pennsylvania Hos- pital for the Insane (so called in honor of Miss Dorothea L. Dix), was laid on July 19, 1859, and in 1862 the buildings were ready for the reception of patients. The present capacity of the medical and surgical department is . two hundred and fifty beds, with a staff of twelve physicians and six internes. The Department for the Insane cares for nearly eight hundred patients, with a medical superintendent, four assistant physicians, and a large force of nurses and attendants. A successful training school for nurses is an important adjunct to the Medical and Surgical Department.

St. Francis Hospital was organized October 30, 1865, by the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis, who came to Pittsburg from Buffalo, and was incor- porated June 20, 1868. The first patient was received in a small frame building on Thirty-seventh Street, which was rented for the purpose. In 1866 a property was purchased, the building upon it put in order and opened for the reception of patients on June 18th of that year. This building accom- modated fifty patients. In 1871, by funds contributed by Roman Catholic churches, a brick building 125. by 60 feet and three stories high was erected. About 1885 insane female patients were received. In 1891 a new building for the insane was completed and male insane began to be received. It accommodated one hundred patients. During 1896 an additional story was added to the hospital building, an operating room of modern equipment was provided, and a number of private rooms added. At the same time an annex for the accommodation of the Sisters was built, leaving the entire hospital building for the use of the patients. The first staff was Drs. J. W. Stevenson, John Perchment, P. D. Perchment, and Jacob Alil. Its present capacity is: Insane Department 150, Medical and Surgical Department 150. The hospital has a staff of twelve and two internes.

The Pittsburg Infirmary (now Passavant's Hospital) is the oldest Protestant hospital in this country. In 1849 Dr. W. A. Passavant, with the aid of Sisters of the Institution of the Protestant Deaconesses, opened a church hos- pital on Fleming Street, Allegheny. The citizens of Allegheny having threat- ened to burn the building and mob Dr. Passavant and the Sisters, at the request of the Mayor and Council the hospital was removed to Pittsburg, to a property purchased for the purpose on the corner of Roberts and Reed streets. In September, 1851, the present building was completed and the patients moved from the old house into the new one. The hospital is in charge of the Protestant Deaconesses, aided by an advisory board of man- agers. The present capacity is forty beds. The hospital staff numbers ten. A movement is now on foot, which promises early success, to build a large addition to the present house as a memorial to Rev. W. A. Passavant, to whom this community more than any other owes so much.

The Homeopathic Hospital is the result of the desire of that school of practitioners to have a building of their own in which to treat their patients. In 1865 Drs. Marcellin Cote, J. C. Burgher and H. Hoffman secured the site on Second Avenue where the building now stands. With the help of sympa- thizing citizens sufficient funds to justify a beginning were promptly secured. and on August 1, 1866, the hospital was ready to receive patients. It had at that time a capacity of thirty-eight beds and its first staff were Drs. H. Hoffman, F. Taudte. L. M. Rosseau, J. E. Barnaby, J. C. Burgher, L. H. Willard, D. Cowley, J. H. McClelland, J. F. Cooper, and one resident physician. Since its foundation the Homeopathic Hospital has been the special pet of

---

Mark Thompson.

617

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

some of our most benevolent citizens, and it has grown and prospered. Its present capacity is one hundred and fifty beds; its staff numbers about twenty; it has three internes and a training school for nurses.

About 1880 the urgent need of a general hospital in Allegheny was recognized by some of the prominent citizens, and steps were taken to supply the need. Among the gentlemen who were foremost in the movement, and who remained steadfast friends and substantial supporters of the institution, were Rev. B. F. Woodburn, Dr. R. B. Mowry, Hon. Lewis Peterson, Hon. F. R Brunot, Hon. James L. Graham, Captain R. C. Gray, and Messrs. James Park, Jr., John A. Caughey, John Dean, Edward Gregg and Thomas McCance. On December 4, 1882, a charter was granted and shortly after suitable build- ings on Stockton Avenue were purchased. Through the generosity of char- itable citizens, of whom the late Captain R. C. Gray deserves special mention, this property has been added to till at present the hospital has accommoda- tions for one hundred and fifty patients, a staff of seventeen, four internes, and a most efficient training school for nurses.

The Pittsburg Hospital for Children is the outgrowth of a children's organization known as the "Shadyside Cot Club." The hospital was incor- porated March 18, 1887, and the present building opened for patients June 4, 1890. This was made possible largely through the generosity of the late Miss Jane Holmes, whose endowment still contributes the largest part of its support. No charge of any kind has ever been made for the care and treatment of patients. The present capacity is thirty-five beds, with a separate building for the accommodation of contagious cases. The staff numbers eight, with one interne.

In 1891 some Sister's of Charity rented a small house on Forbes Street for the reception and care of destitute babes and foundlings. The need of such an asylum was made apparent by the number of friendless and helpless waifs that in a few months crowded its walls, and through the efforts of the Sisters and the aid of benevolent people the property at the corner of Cliff and Gum streets was secured and the Roselia Foundling Asylum and Maternity Hospital was incorporated November 26, 1891. The house was opened for the reception of patients on Thanksgiving Day of that year. The institution is, as its name indicates, a dual one. The foundling department and the maternity department, while sheltered under the same roof, and while under the same management, have distinct medical corps and attendants. The asylum at present is caring for ninety babies in the foundling department and twenty women in the maternity department. The dual staff consists of twelve mem- bers and one resident physician, detached from the internes of Mercy Hos- pital, each of these internes in rotation serving a term at the Roselia.

On the south side of the Monongahela River the first hospital was erected in the borough of Ormnsby, in 1871, for the reception of smallpox patients, but it was never used as a hospital because of the rapid subsidence of the epidemic and the opposition of the residents of the borough. Not until 1889 was any consistent effort made to secure a place for the reception and care of the sick and injured of that large and industrious part of our city. In that year Drs. J. M. Duff, J. D. Thomas and M. A. Arnholt leased a building on the corner of Twenty-second and Carson streets, and with the help of the South Side Medical Society and some prominent citizens the South Side Hospital was successfully established. In 1891 the Ladies' Aid Society was formed, and the splendid work of this association is shown by the new and thoroughly equipped hospital building on South Twentieth Street. The capac- ity of the hospital is seventy-five patients; its staff numbers eight, with two resident physicians.

618

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

The necessity of a hospital in the neighborhood of the "mill district" in lower Allegheny led to the opening of St. John's General Hospital, McClure Avenue. The moving spirit in the enterprise was Dr. W. J. Langfitt, and he was ably seconded by the representatives of St. John's Lutheran Home and other charitably disposed citizens. Work was begun on the buildings July 18, 1895, and pushed rapidly to completion. The hospital is in charge of the Protestant Deaconesses, though it is by no means a sectarian institu- tion. The staff comprises ten physicians and one interne and the hospital accommodates seventy patients.

The Eye and Ear Hospital of Pittsburg was organized May 20, 1895, and chartered the following month. A building, No. 945 Penn Avenue, was rented and remodeled and the hospital opened for the reception of patients. The staff is composed of six physicians and the building can accommodate twenty patients.

The Presbyterian Hospital, Sherman Avenue, Allegheny, opened for the reception of patients early in 1896. Its present capacity is twenty beds and it has a medical and surgical staff of eight physicians. The growing importance of this hospital and the loyalty and generosity of its friends insure its speedy enlargement.

Brevity forbids anything more than mention of the Charity Hospital, recently opened in the East End by the Sisters of that order; St. Margaret's, almost completed, splendidly endowed by the late John H. Shoenberger as a memorial to his wife; the Protestant Home for Incurables, amply pro- vided for by the late Miss Jane Holmes; the Rheineman Maternity Hospital, indebted for its existence to Mr. Adam Rheineman, and the Woman's Hos- pital, an organization but recently incorporated, and the sole legatee of the late Mrs. Thomas N. Miller.

Among the foremost of the charitable organizations of Pittsburg is the Pittsburg Free Dispensary. It was organized and incorporated in 1873 by the members of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. After various vicissitudes of fortune it was enabled, largely by the munificence of the late Miss Jane Holmes, about 1886, to occupy its present complete building. It is equipped with a large and earnest staff of physicians and has, since its organization, treated nearly 300,000 patients. The Dispensary Building, being larger than its own necessities require, shelters many of the charitable organizations of the city, the most prominent being the Association for the Improvement of the Poor, and the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society.

Of the medical organizations of Western Pennsylvania the first in age and in importance is the Allegheny County Medical Society. It was founded in 1848 and has ever since steadily grown in numbers and influence. Its membership at present exceeds three hundred and it is recognized through- out the United States as one of the strongest and best societies of its kind. The public at large is indebted for many sanitary reforms to the efforts of the Allegheny County Medical Society.

The Homeopathic Medical Society of Allegheny County was organized December 9, 1864, its first president being Dr. J. C. Burgher. Its growth has been uniform and its present membership, about sixty, includes almost every Homeopathic physician in the county.

The Pittsburg Academy of Medicine is of recent birth, but its activity, progressiveness and true scientific spirit have placed it in the foremost rank of medical societies. It was organized in 1888 and at present has about sixty members. In 1896 it absorbed the Pittsburg Medical Library Association and now maintains a medical library of nearly 3,000 volumes. The Academy has always taken a keen interest in everything pertaining to the

619

HISTORY OF PITTSBURG.

public health, and has been of great service to the community in this respect.

Other medical societies of a less pretentious nature, and which are a happy blend of the scientific and the social, are the Duquesne Medical Club, the South Side Medical Society, the Austin Flint Medical Society, and the Doctors' Club. These organizations are limited in membership and hold stated meetings for scientific discussion and social intercourse.

The only medical school in the State outside of Philadelphia is the Western Pennsylvania Medical College, now the Medical Department of the Western University of Pennsylvania. The great opportunities offered for the clinical teaching of medicine by the cities of Pittsburg and Allegheny had long been recognized by observant physicians and the advisability of establishing a med- ical school much discussed; but it was not until about 1880 that the project took definite form. Then the late Drs. James McCann and J. B. Murdoch, together with Drs. Asdale, King, Lange, Duff and others still living, began the foundation of a medical college. After much labor the college was opened for the reception of students in 1886. From the beginning its success was assured, and to-day it is recognized as one of the best medical schools in the country. In 1892 the college became the Medical Department of the Western University. At the present writing (1898) the college has a fac- ulty of about fifty professors and assistants, a new building (made neces- sary by the growth of the institution), equipped most completely, a sep- arate clinic building and nearly three hundred students of medicine. Its Association of Alumni is large and flourishing and embraces many of the best known physicians in Western Pennsylvania.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Standard history of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Part 70

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn Publication date: 1898 Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co. Number of Pages: 1192

Author: Wilson, Erasmus, 1842-1922; Goodspeed, Weston Arthur, 1852-1926. cn
Publication date: 1898
Publisher: Chicago : H.R. Cornell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1192