Early Medical Chicago. 
— BY — 
James Nkvins Hyde, A.M., M.D., 
'•v 
Lute Panned Assistant. Surgeon U. S. JY.. Lecturer Rush Medical College, and Clinical 
Instructor Chicago Medical College. South Side Dispensary. 
REPRINTED FROM TEE CHICAGO MEDICAL JOURNAL AND EXAMINER, 
CIirCAGO : 
W. H. KEEN, COOKE & CO. 
1876. --TO — 
£l)c lit cm m i) of 
Three Medical Students, 
In the CoLLE(iK of Physicians and Suroeons, Fairfield, Herkimer 
County, N. Y„ 1833-34:— 
ALEXANDER FISHER, the eldest, 
now. Km-ritus Professor of Surgery. Woman's Hospital Medical College, 
DANIEL BRAINARD, next in years, 
afterward, fret Professor of Surgery, Hush Medical College, <Ohm Get. to, tmi). 
and NA I HAN SMI 1 H DAVIS, the youngest, 
now, Professor of the Principles and Practice of Medicine. Chicago Metical College— 
Honorable rivals in the piofession which they entered by the same portal ; 
Destined, each, in the Providence of Hod, to become identified with the foundation of a 
separate Medical School in Chicago, 
And to achieve an unblemished and successful career in Medicine, 
THESE PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY 
jJnscribcii. EARLY MEDICAL CHICAGO: 
A N 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 
OF THE j 
First Practitioners of Medicine in the City. 
By JAMES NEVINS HYDE, A.M., M.D. 
To assert to-day that the age of men and cities should 
be estimated, rather by the march of events than by the 
lapse of time, is to merely utter a truism. There are 
tapestries now hanging in the palaces of Venice, that 
have been undisturbed since the Venetian Dandolo car- 
ried the walls of Constantinople. How little of change 
has each succeeding half century wrought in the apart- 
ments which now display the faded furnishings of a long- 
departed Doge ! And yet, in the purview of history, 
how venerable was the royal prophet of Israel in the 
Assyrian Court, who had exchanged the captivity of 
his childhood for the government of a province, and sur- 
vived the rise and fall of three dynasties, when Cyrus 
entered the Babylonian capital by the bed of the 
Euphrates ! 
By the transit of time merely, Chicago may be counted 
as yet young, but she is really old in the measure of her 
experience. Dismissing for the moment the charge which 
is generally, and possibly justly, brought against her citizens, that they are prone to exaggerate the rapidity 
of her growth and the extent of her development, these 
are yet facts which challenge investigation. Here is a 
city of nearly half a million of inhabitants, where fifty 
years ago was a morass, untenanted and almost unten- 
antable. The great concentration of human energies 
requisite to effect such a rapid metamorphosis, is difficult 
of realization. No better illustration of the rapidity of 
succession of events within this limited period can be 
found, than in the fact that an experience of the early 
days of Chicago has come to be regarded with much of 
the veneration that attaches to a remote antiquity. And 
yet the child who first saw the light in the infancy of the 
city, should to-day be only in the meridian of life. 
I purpose to present a brief sketch of the pioneers in 
this field—the predecessors of the large body of medical 
men who are now engaged in the practice of their pro- 
fession in this great metropolis. The paucity and imper- 
fection of these details are largely due to the difficulty 
inseparable from their collection. 
The early history of Chicago, and the first records of 
its medical men and practice, are intimately associated 
with its old fort. Even as early as the treaty of Green- 
ville, O., which is dated August 3, 1795, there is some 
reference to a fort, built at the junction of the lake 
and the river.* This was, however, a small stockade 
erected for the protection of French traders, at the point 
where the north and south branches of the river unite, 
some remains of which were still to be seen in the year 
1818. 
Fort Chicagof was built by the United States Govern- 
* Sketches of the Country on the Northern Route, from Belleville, 111., 
to the city of New York, and back by the Ohio Valley, with a sketch of 
the Crystal Palace. Jno. Reynolds. Belleville. 1854. 
f In the papers of Mr. J. II. Kinzie, and according to the statement 
of Mrs. Gen. Whistlfer, lately in Chicago, it appears that this .fort was 
called by the name of Gen. Dearborn as well as its successor. Mr. 
Kinzie’s papers were destroyed in the Great Fire, which consumed the 
library of the Chicago Historical Society. 3 
ment in 1804, and but little is known of it except that it' 
was provided with a subterranean passage and sally-port, 
extending from the parade ground to the river.* The 
Indian name, which it bequeathed to the city, is variously 
interpreted as referring to the wild onion, or the pole-cat; 
but the natives themselves asserted that it was the titlo 
of an Indian chief who had been drowned in the river. 
In the manuscript letter of M. de Ligney at Green Bay 
to M. de Siette among the Illinois, dated in 1726, the- 
name is spelled, “ Chicagoux.”f 
The narrative of the massacre at Fort Chicago by the 
Indians, in 1812, has been detailed in such fullness, that 
it can not find a place here. It is now a matter of histor- 
ical record. The account given by Mrs. Helm, however,, 
in the very readable volume of Mrs. Kinzie,;}: is interest- 
ing in this connection, as it relates in part to the surgeon 
of the fort—Dr. Isaac Y. Van Yoorhees. § 
It appears from Mrs. Helm’s narrative, that Dr. Yan 
Yoorhees came up to her during the very hottest part 
of the engagement. He was severely wounded, having 
received a ball in the leg, and his horse had also been shot 
under him. Every muscle of his face was quivering with 
agony. Some conversation ensued between the two, when, 
writes Mrs. Helm, “a young Indian raised his tomahawk 
at me. By springing aside, I avoided the blow which 
* The fort was then occupied by fifty men and armed with three pieces- 
of artillery, transported thither on the U. S. Schooner Tracy, Dorr,, 
master. This vessel did not cross the bar and enter the river, but anchored 
half a mile from the shore, and discharged its freight by boats, attracting 
the presence of some 2,000 Indians, who came to view the “ big canoe 
with wings.” (See Chicago and its Suburbs, by Everett Chamberlin. 
Chicago. 1874. Also, Chicago Antiquities, No. 2, by H. H. Hurlbutv 
Esq. Chicago. 1875.) 
f The name is also spelled by various authorities, Chikajo, Checagua, 
and Chekagua. (See Frauquelin’s map, 1684.) 
| “ Wau-Bun;” or the Early Day in the Northwest. By Mrs. Jno. H. 
Kinzie. New York and Chicago. 1857. 
§ His name is also given Yoorhees and Voorhes/ See “ My Own 
Times.” By Jno. Reynolds, 111. 1855. Also,. “ Annals of the West.”' 
J. R. Albach. Pittsburgh. 1857. 4 
was intended for my skull, but wliicli alighted on my 
shoulder. I seized him around the neck, and while 
exerting my utmost strength to get possession of his 
scalping-knife, which hung from a scabbard over his 
breast, I was dragged from his grasp by another and an 
■older Indian. The latter bore me, struggling and resist- 
ing, to the lake. Notwithstanding the rapidity with 
which I was hurried along, I recognized, as I passed 
them, the lifeless remains of the unfortunate surgeon. 
Some murderous tomahawk had stretched him upon the 
very spot where I had last seen him.” 
I have purposely omitted the conversation which is 
reported to have occurred between the two, and which 
is exactly repeated in almost every account of the mas- 
sacre, since it reflects but little credit upon the wounded 
officer. It represents him as in an agony of terror, and 
his companion as reproaching him for his pusillanimity. 
But there are several circumstances which the professional 
reader can not fail to consider, before consigning the 
name and reputation of I)r. Van Voorhees to historical 
obloquy. Without questioning the veracity of the writer, 
it is evident that the incidents narrated rest upon the 
recollection of a single individual, and that individual 
a woman surrounded by circumstances of extreme peril 
and excitement. She appears as the heroine of the 
story, and on that account due allowance should be made 
for partiality of statement. Dr. Van Voorhees, more- 
over, was evidently suffering from his wounds. We only 
learn of that inflicted upon the leg. What other injuries 
he may have sustained—whether of the brain, chest or 
abdomen—we can not know. Whether, indeed, he was 
wounded even unto death, and sank lifeless to the ground 
soon after, rather as the result of this than from the 
blow of a tomahawk, can not be determined. Jurists, as 
well as medical men, learn to accept with great reserve 
statements made either in ariiculo mortis or in the im- 
mediate peril of violent death. Too many surgeons have 
-•exhibited not only a consummate skill, but a splendid 5 
courage upon the field of battle, for their professional 
brethren to doubt the compatibility of these virtues. 
They will only remember, therefore, of their martyred 
representative in the battle of Chicago, that he was sorely 
wounded in the discharge of his professional duties, and 
that he died the death of a soldier.* 
After the encounter, the survivors must have sadly 
missed the attentions of the dead surgeon. Mr. Kinzie 
soon applied to an old Indian chief, who was reputed to 
possess some skill in these matters, to extract a ball from 
the arm of Mrs. Heald—the wife of the captain who had 
commanded the fort. “No, father,” was the response, 
“I cannot do it, it makes me sick here”—said the 
Indian, pointing to his heart. Mr. Kinzie then performed 
the operation himself with his penknife. The accoutre- 
ments of the surgical department had meantime fallen 
into possession of the Indians. Later, we learn that a 
French trader, a M. du Pin, was in the habit of supplying 
medicines as well as medical advice to those in need of 
either; and, on one occasion, we hear of his prescribing 
for the infant of a Mrs. Lee, who was one of the captives. 
It appears that his efforts were not unattended with 
success. 
In the year 1816, the fort was rebuilt by the Govern- 
ment, under the supervision of Captain Hezekiah Bradley, 
who is reported to have been so zealous in the discharge 
of his duties, that he enlisted officers as well as soldiers, 
in the prosecution of the work, and even had wooden 
pins fashioned, in order to fasten together the timbers of 
the buildings, and thus economize his supply of spikes 
and nails. At this time, also, the entire tract of land 
was ceded to the United States by the Pottawatomies. 
With them, according to Judge Caton, f Chicago had 
* In the official account of the engagement, the loss of Dr. Van Voorhis 
(for so his name is given by Captain Heald) is deeply deplored, and nothing 
is said that reflects in the slightest degree upon his character as an officer 
and surgeon. 
f “The last of the Illinois, and a Sketch of the Pottawatomie?.” By 
John Dean Caton, LL.D. Chicago. 1870. 6 
'ever been a favorite resort. Here, tliey liad chosen to 
hold their great councils, and here, they concluded both 
the tirst and last treaty with our Government. 
In the year 1818, the place was visited by Mr. Gurdon 
Saltonstall Hubbard, who is now a resident of Chicago 
and the oldest representative of its early days. At that 
time, besides the fort, there were but two residences 
standing, one that of Mr. John Kinzie, the other of 
Antoine Houlmette. It may be mentioned here that Mr. 
Hubbard, at a later period, (1834), erected the first brick 
building ever reared in Chicago.* 
Two years later, we find recorded the name of another 
medical gentleman, Dr. Alexander Wolcott, of Connec- 
ticut. He was born on the 14th day of* February, 1790, 
at Windsor, Ct., and was the son of Alexander Wolcott, 
Sr., and Frances Burbank. His father was, with the 
writer of these pages, a descendant of William Hyde, of 
Hartford, Ct. (1636), and was graduated at Yale College, 
becoming afterward a distinguished lawyer and Justice 
of the Peace in Windsor. He subsequently removed to 
Middletown, Ct., where he was appointed collector of 
the customs and member of the constitutional convention 
of 1818. President Madison subsequently nominated 
him as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, but the federalists in the Senate succeeded in pre- 
venting the appointment.f The distinguished Governor, 
Henry Wolcott, was his near relative.;}: 
Dr. Wolcott was graduated at Yale College in 1809,§ 
and must have received his degree in medicine elsewhere, 
as the medical department of that University was not 
established until 1814. He came to Chicago in 1820 as 
an Indian agent of the Government, succeeding to the 
* This building stood on the corner of South Water and LaSalle 
streets, and was for some time known as “ Hubbard’s Folly.” 
f Genealogy of the Hyde Family, by Chancellor Reuben Ilyde Wal- 
worth, LL.D., Albany, N. Y. 1864. Yol. 2, p. 1121. 
t History of Connecticut, by G. H. Hollister. New Haven. 1855. 
§ Catalogus Collegii Yalensis in Novo-Portu in Republica Connecti- 
■cutensi. MDCCCLXV. 7 
position of Mr. Charles Jewett, and was soon after mar- 
ried to Miss Ellen Marion Kinzie, then sixteen years old, 
by John Hamlin, a Justice of the Peace, summoned to 
the village in order to perform the ceremony. The young 
lady was the daughter of John H. Kinzie, Esq., and was 
born in Chicago in the month of December, 1804, being 
indubitably the first child of white parents born on the 
soil. Dr. Wolcott died in 1830, and his widow was 
united in a second marriage to the Hon. Geo. C. Bates, 
of Salt Lake City. Through the kindness of Henry H. 
Hurlbut, Esq., of Chicago, I am enabled to present this 
fac simile of the lady’s autograph : 
By a stupid act of our local legislators the name of 
Wolcott street, which served as an historical landmark 
of this early resident, was changed to North State 
street. 
I am informed by the Hon. John Wentworth of this 
oity, in a recent letter, that Hr. Wolcott during his life- 
time served in the capacity of an army surgeon. It 
seems, however, tolerably clear that he performed the 
duties first named, residing as he did outside of the fort; 
though it may well be believed that there must have been 
a demand for his professional services such as he could 
not but gratify, and indeed his selection for such a post 
must have resulted in part from his attainments as a 
physician. 
The outside world must have known but little of 
the infant settlement in 1823. For in a Gazetteer * 
published at that date, the information respecting Chicago 
is extracted from an account given in “Schoolcraft’s 
Travels.” It appears that some twelve or fifteen houses 
had been erected, which were occupied by some sixty or 
•seventy inhabitants. “The country around is the most 
fertile and beautiful that can be imagined. It consists 
* Gazetteer of the States of Illinois and Mississippi, by Lewis C. Beck. 
823. 8 
of an intermixture of woods and prairies, diversified 
with gentle slopes sometimes attaining the elevation of 
hills (!), irrigated with a number of clear streams and 
rivers, which throw their waters partly into Lake Mich- 
igan and partly into the Mississippi river. It is already 
the seat of several flourishing plantations.” 
During the year 1822, there were eiglity-seven men in 
the garrison and one death occurred ; during the ensuing 
year, there were ninety-five men, and of these, three 
died. The fort was then abandoned, but occupied again 
in 1828, one year after the passage of a bill in the legis- 
lature for the construction of the Illinois and Michigan 
Canal. This was the genial warmth that hastened the 
germination of the seed destined to produce so worthy a 
harvest. Game was abundant, the land was fertile, and 
corn easily grown. Occasionally the mail was brought 
from Peoria on horseback. But Chicago was yet 
unborn. 
It must be admitted that the infant first opened its 
eyes upon Lake Michigan, in an uneventful period of 
history. No great war was in progress, and common- 
place men were in power. William IV., plainest and 
homeliest of royal blood, was seated on the British 
throne, and co-operating with the whig party in reforming 
parliamentary representation,and in restricting the opera- 
tion of the oppressive corn laws. During the Revolution- 
ary War he had figured in the dance, at No. 1 Broadway, 
with the loyalist belles of New York City. The triumph 
of the constitutional party in France had made a king of 
Louis Philippe—a man as incapable of exciting the affec- 
tions of others, as he was destitute of magnanimity liimsel f. 
He still preserved the recollection of his wandering tour 
in America. General La Fayette, now seventy years old, 
had returned to France, rewarded with the friendship of 
Washington and the gratitude of the United States. 
Otlio I. had just been bolstered up on the throne of 
Greece. Poland had sunk down disarmed—the helpless 
victim of the iron sceptre of the Muscovite. Then, as 9 
now, a Don Carlos at the head of a faction of Carlists, 
was agitating Spain. Perhaps the only man in Europe, 
who was making himself felt as a power, was Daniel 
O’Connell, who was threatening the repeal of the 
National Union in Parliament at the head of a legion 
of Irishmen. 
It seemed as though the succession of splendid events, 
that had culminated at Waterloo, and even lighted up 
by reflection the gloom of St. Helena, had been followed 
by a general reaction, in which all the great States 
participated. 
In our own country also, the hero of the battle of 
New Orleans h . t laid aside his sword in order to dis- 
charge the more peaceful duties of the chief magistracy. 
The population of the country, according to its then 
recently taken census, amounted to twelve and one-lial 
millions, a figure three times greater than that obtained 
by the first colonial census, and yet but one-fourth of 
that which should represent the of the United 
States in 1870. It was the semi-centennial decade of our 
first hundred years of national life. Already the senti- 
ments and passions, that were later to culminate in civil 
war, had been expressed in the halls of Congress. The 
great speeches of Webster and Hayne had been delivered. 
South Carolina had commenced to mutter the maxims 
of her political heresy, which precipitated soon after the 
rupture between the President and the Vice-President, 
Mr. John C. Calhoun. 
With even a cursory glance at the condition of the 
medical profession in the United States, we discover that 
great advance had been made since the first resident 
physician in the country, Dr. Walter Russell, came from 
England to the Colony of Virginia in 1608. Drs. John 
Bard and Peter Middleton had, in 1750, been first tc 
inject and dissect the body of a criminal for anatomical 
purposes; and in fifteen years thereafter the Medical 
Department of the University of Pennsylvania had been 
organized—the pioneer of all the medical colleges in he 10 
country. Tlie profession venerated the name of the 
heroic Dr. Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill, 
as well as that of Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was one of 
the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Dr. 
Physick had invented the tonsillotome which is now in 
general use, and established his reputation as one of the 
most eminent surgeons in the United States. Dr. Mc- 
Dowell, in 1809, had performed ovariotomy, and lithoto- 
mized the poor lad who subsequently became President, 
James K. Polk. Operations had been recorded for 
ligation of the carotid, subclavian, brachial, femoral, 
Internal, external and common, iliac arteries ; amputa- 
tions had been accomplished at the hip and shoulder 
joints; the radius, clavicle, head of the humerus and 
femur, the astragalus, and the fifth and sixth ribs had 
been exsected; the tumor of spina bifida, the tongue, the 
spleen and the parotid gland had been excised ; litho- 
tripsy and stapliyloraphy had been done; the hydro- 
cephalic head had been tapped. 
Thirty-two medical works* had been issued from the 
American press—some of them, translations from foreign 
authors ; some, reprints of foreign editions ; some, from 
the pen of native-born physicians and surgeons. Thirty 
medical periodicals had been established, but, at the date 
to which I refer, of these, but ten had survived.f 
* See the Principles and Practice of Surgery, by Henry H. Smith, 
M.D., Phil. 1863, from which these details have been obtained. The 
works of American authorship referred to, are : Review of Medical 
Improvements in the 18tli Century, by David Ramsey (1800); Martin on 
<3oitre (1800); Barnwell’s Causes of Disease in Warm Atmospheres (1802); 
Parrish on Ruptures (1811); Dorsey’s Elements of Surgery (1813); Ilosack’s 
Surgery of the Ancients (1813); Mann’s Medical History of the Campaigns 
of 1812-14 (1816); Anderson’s System of Surgical Anatomy (1822); Gibson’s 
Institutes and Practice of Surgery (1824); Barton’s Treatment of Anchy- 
losis by Formation of Artificial Joints (1827); Darrach’s Anatomy of the 
Groin (1830); and Gross’s Anatomy, Physiology and Diseases of Bones 
and Joints (1830). 
f These survivors were : Transactions of the College of Physicians of 
Phila.,8vo, Phil. (1703—1850); North American Medical and Surgical Jour- 
nal, Phila. (1826—1831); American Journal of the Medical Sciences, 8vo, 11 
The county of Cook, in Illinois, was organized in the 
year 1831, and that may properly be considered the date 
of the commencement of the medical and general,history 
of Chicago.* For a description of the place at that time, 
I am largely indebted to the work of Mrs. John H. Kin- 
zie, to which reference has been made. 
The fort was enclosed by high pickets, with bastions 
at the alternate angles, and large gates opening to the 
north and south ; while here and there were small sally- 
ports for the accommodation of the inmates. Beyond 
the parade ground, which extended south of the pickets, 
were the company gardens, well filled with currant bushes 
and young fruit trees. The fort itself was stationed on the 
south bank of the river, near what is now its mouth, but, 
at this time, the river itself swept around the little prom- 
ontory on which the stockade was erected, and, passing 
southward nearly beneath what is now the pavement of 
Michigan avenue, joined the lake at a point about half 
a mile below, where Madison street now extends. The 
left bank of the river was formed by a long sand-spit, 
extending southward from the northern shore. This 
was cut through by the engineers of the United States 
in 1833, for the purpose of improving the harbor; and 
thus was formed the present river-mouth. The old fort 
stood like a faithful sentinel at his post till 1856, when it 
was demolished, after having witnessed the growth of its 
protege into the encroaching city that enforced its de- 
struction. 
Between the gardens and the river bank was a log 
cabin, erected in 1817. It had been the residence of Jean 
Phila. (1827—1876); Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, 8vo, (1828); 
Transylvania Journal of Medical and Associated Science, Lexington, Ky. 
{1828-37); New York Medical and Physical Journal (1829-31); Maryland 
Medical Recorder, 8vo, Baltimore, Md. (1829-32); New York Medical 
Inquirer and American Lancet (1830); and tlie New York Medico-Cliirur- 
gical Bulletin (1831-2). 
* The map of tlie original town, by James Thompson, surveyor for the 
State Canal Commissioners, is dated Aug. 4, 1830. It provided for a 
public levee from South Water street to the river, the plan of which was 
subsequently abandoned. Baptiste Beaubien, Point au Sable, a native of San Do- 
mingo, who located here in 1796, and thus occasioned the 
utterance of the Indian Hibernicism that “the first 
white man in Chicago was a negro.” The cabin had 
finally come into the possession of an Indian trader, 
named Le Mai, from whom it had been purchased by 
Mr. Kinzie. Further to the south was a rickety tenement, 
built several years before by John Dean, a post-sutler, 
and now used by his family as a school-house and resi- 
dence. It had been so far undermined by the lake as ta 
have partially fallen backward. 
On the northern bank of the river, and directly in 
front of the fort, stood the residence of Mr. John Kinzie. 
It was along, low building, with a piazza extending along 
its front, overlooking a broad, green space which stretched 
between it and the river. It was shaded by a row of 
Lombardy poplars in front, and two immense cotton- 
wood trees in the rear; a line and well-cultivated garden 
showing on one side, with dairy, stables and other out- 
houses adjacent. 
Still further to the north, stood a small but substantial 
building of hewed and squared logs, known as the 
Agency House. On either side of its two wings were the 
residences of the Government employees—blacksmiths 
and laborers—mostly half-breed Canadians, with an 
occasional Yankee among them. There was but one 
other building on the North Side, and that was at this 
time vacant. It had been erected by a former resident, 
named Samuel Miller. 
On the southern bank of the river, between the fort 
and the point where the river divides, there was no dwell- 
ing house. The |)rairie here was low and wet—in the 
driest weather affording a poor foot-path for the pedes- 
trian, and often overflowed in the rise of the river water. 
Mrs. Kinzie states that a horseman who once made the 
trip had gotten his feet wet in the stirrups, and declared 
tliathe“ would not give a sixpence for an acre of it.” A 
muddy streamlet wound around from the present site of 13 
the Tremont House, to join the river at the foot of State 
street. 
The projection of land between the north and south 
branches was variously known as “The Point,” “The 
Forks,” or “ Wolf Point” — the latter term having been 
derived from the name of an old Indian chief. Here was 
a canoe ferry for the accommodation of passengers. 
The residence of Mark Beaubien, Jr., distinguished by 
its additional upper story and bright blue window shut- 
ters, stood upon the Point, and was the admiration of the 
little community in consequence of these modern im- 
provements. Facing down the river from the west, was 
a small tavern, kept by Mr. Elijah Wentworth, and near it 
lay several log cabins, occupied by Alexander Robinson, 
the half-breed Pottawatomie chief, his wife’s connections, 
Billy Caldwell, the “ Sau-ga-nash,” and the wife of the 
latter, who was the daughter of “Nee-scot-nee-meg.” 
Gholson Kerclieval, a small trader, occupied one of these 
cabins, and, in close proximity, stood the school-house, 
a small log cabin, used occasionally as a place of pub- 
lic worship. Here, we learn that a reverend gentleman 
named Charles See did violence to the King’s English on 
Sundays when opportunity offered. Some distance up 
the North Branch, was located the Clybourn residence, 
and an old building, erected some time before by a settler 
named Reuben E. Heacock, was still standing, at a 
point four miles distant up the South Branch. This house 
had some interest attaching to it, in consequence of its 
connection with the old Indian massacre. 
At the time to which we refer, the fort was occupied 
by two companies of soldiers, under the command of 
Lieutenant Hunter, in the absence of Major Fowle and 
Captain Scott. Lieutenant Furman had died during the 
preceding year. The subordinate officers were Lieuten- 
ants Engle and Foster. The Kinzie family then occupied 
the Agency House, and Post-Master Bailey was quartered 
in their residence. 
In the brief description above given are enumerated, 14 
it is believed, all the buildings then erected, and all the- 
residents occupying them, with the single exception of 
Dr. Harmon, to whom we hasten to give our attention. 
Elijah Dewey Harmon was born on the 20th day of 
August, 1782, in the town of Bennington, Vermont. 
After completing his education as far as possible in that 
place, he resorted to Manchester, in his native State, 
where he pursued the study of medicine in the office and 
under the direction of a noted practitioner of the place, 
named Swift.* At the expiration of the two or three 
years which were employed in acquiring a knowledge of 
his profession, he removed to Burlington, Vt., at the 
early age of twenty-five years, and began to practice 
medicine in connection with the business of a drug store, 
as was customary at that time.f Here lie remained until 
the occurrence of the war of 1812, when he hastened to 
offer his services as a volunteer surgeon. Dr. Harmon, 
during this period, had the distinguished honor of serv- 
ing as a surgeon on board the fiag-sliip of the gallant 
Commodore McDonough, in the battle of Plattsburgh, on 
the 11 til day of September, 1814. If the territic fire to 
which the Saratoga was exposed in that engagement be 
remembered, we may well believe that the doctor’s skill 
and courage must have been put to a severe test. 
At the close of the war, the doctor returned to Burling- 
ton, where he continued in civil practice with a success 
which contributed not only to his financial prosperity, 
but to the establishment of his reputation. In the year 
1829, however, he suffered some pecuniary losses in con- 
sequence of his speculations connected with a marble 
quarry, and he determined, as many of his successors 
* The three medical schools of Vermont had not then been founded. 
Castleton Medical College was established in 1818 ; the Medical Depart- 
ment of the University of Vermont in 1822; and the Vermont Medical 
College in 1827. 
f I am indebted for these details to his son, still a resident of Chicago, 
Mr. I. D. Harmon. Unfortunately, most of the family documents were 
destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, and among them was the diploma of 
the University, which conferred upon the doctor his degree in medicine. 15 
have done since then, to advance his fortunes in the far 
West. During that year, therefore, he spent several 
months in Jacksonville, 111., engaged in the selection of 
a suitable locality in which to settle. After returning to 
his native State and completing his arrangements for a 
final removal, he left a second time, and proceeded 
directly to Chicago, traveling on horseback from Detroit, 
and arriving here in the fall of 1830. His family joined 
him in June of the succeeding year. 
It happened that Dr. J. B. Finley, the surgeon of the 
garrison, was, at this time, about to leave the post, and 
thus Dr. Harmon came to be at once installed in his 
position—he and his family taking up their residence in 
the fort, which then was held by two companies of 
United States troops. Little must have occurred to dis- 
turb the monotony of his new duties, until the succeed- 
ing spring, when the country became agitated again in 
consequence of the Black Hawk war. 
In May of the year 1832, cholera made its appearance 
upon the New England coast, and extended rapidly 
westward along the water courses of our northern 
frontier, one branch apparently diverging by way of the 
Hudson river to New York City. Five companies were 
at once hurried, in consequence of the exigencies of the 
time, from Fortress Monroe to Chicago, and traversed 
the entire distance of 1,800 miles in eighteen days, a 
transportation which was then considered unprecedented 
in rapidity, and which was really marvellous in view of the 
facilities then attainable. General Scott arrived with 
this detachment in a steamer,* on the eighth day of July, 
1832, and, as might have been expected, cholera rapidly 
spread through his command, one man out of three being 
attacked, and many dying. 
It was then wisely decided to separate the two com- 
panies in the fort from those which had newly arrived, 
and thus, if possible, prevent the extension of the dis- 
* This vessel, the Sheldon Thompson, was the first steamer to visit 
Chicago, but it did not enter the harbor. 16 
<*ase among the former. These two companies, according- 
ly, were encamped at a short distance from the stockade, 
and placed under the professional charge of Dr. Harmon. 
While due allowance is, of course, to be made for the 
favorable circumstances in which this isolated detach- 
ment was placed, it certainly reflects great credit upon 
their surgeon, that among the men affected with cholera 
under his charge, but two or three deaths occurred. It 
maybe here remarked that the doctor attributed his suc- 
cess to the fact that he did not employ calomel in the 
treatment of the disease. Of the treatment employed in 
the fort, and its results, we shall have something to say 
hereafter. 
Some misunderstanding seems to have occurred at this 
time between General Scott and Dr. Harmon, in reference 
to the line of conduct pursued by the latter. The 
general, like a great many military men since his day, 
desired the surgeon to devote his attention exclusively 
to the companies under his care, while the good-hearted 
doctor could not but heed the demand for his services 
by civilians, and others not in the military service. Cer- 
tain it is that he endeared himself to the citizens of the 
little town by his conduct at this time, and we are not 
surprised to learn that after the epidemic had subsided, 
Gen. Scott and his command had pushed farther south, 
and the monotonous routine of garrison life had been 
endured for another year, that in the spring of 1832, Dr. 
Harmon, having secured the Kinzie house as a place of 
residence, removed to it with his family. 
Before concluding, however, the narrative of Dr. 
Harmon’s military career, it is proper to mention the 
fact that he performed an amputation in the fort during 
the winter of 1832. This is certainly the first record that 
we possess of any capital operation in Chicago; and it 
is probable that it was, in point of fact, the first surgical 
operation of any magnitude ever attempted in the place. 
A half-breed Canadian had frozen his feet, while engaged 
in the transportation of the mail on horseback from 17 
Green Bay to Chicago.* The doctor, assisted by his 
brother, tied the unfortunate man to a chair, applied a 
tourniquet to each lower extremity, and witli the aid of 
the rusty instruments which he had transported on horse- 
back through sun and shower from Detroit to Chicago, 
removed one entire foot and a large portion of the other. 
Needless to say those were not the days of anaesthetics, 
and the invectives in mingled French and English, of the 
mail carrier’s vocabulary, soon became audible to every 
one in the vicinity of the stockade. It is gratifying to 
note that the first recorded amputation in Chicago was 
crowned with a most satisfactory success. 
Dr. Harmon may properly be called the Father of 
Medicine in Chicago. For, in the removal and establish- 
ment of himself and his family in the Kinzie house, we 
find the first trace of the settlement of a civil practitioner 
in the community. His object in effecting this change 
was to engage in the practice of medicine—all other 
transactions having been made subordinate to this. 
A brief glance at his surroundings at this time might 
prove interesting. His office and residence combined 
was a cabin, whose floor and walls were constructed of 
hewn logs—the former, of course, innocent of carpets. 
It contained twelve rooms, lighted by small panes of 
glass, and heated by wood burned in stoves brought from 
Detroit. His food was largely bacon, transported from 
the valley of the Wabash in the now traditional “ prairie 
schooner,” with lard as a substitute for butter—and an 
occasional slice of venison, or a wild turkey, as an 
entremets. His medicines he had brought with him 
from Vermont, together with the rusty instruments of 
which mention has been made. But his medical library 
—to his honor be it said—was the chief part of his arma- 
mentarium. It consisted of over one hundred volumes, 
and some of those have, without doubt, been enumerated 
in the foot note upon another page giving the list of 
* The winter of this year was unprecedentedly severe. There is abun- 
dant collateral evidence on this point. 18 
works published in America before this date. How 
many of his successors have engaged in the practice of 
medicine, with far less provision for the refurnishing of 
the storehouse of professional science ! 
The doctor’s visits must have been made largely on 
foot; as Beaubien is reported to have possessed the only 
vehicle on wheels to be found in the town,* and that 
judging from the description, must have greatly resembled 
the “ one-lioss shay,” so graphically delineated by 
another member of our profession. When he had occa- 
sion to cross the river, it was necessary to paddle himself 
over, in one of the dug-out canoes, which were generally 
tied in front of each residence, or resort to “Wolf 
Point,” where a canoe ferry offered merely the same 
facilities. 
Some idea may be formed of the general character of 
the doctor’s patients, from a criticism written by Latrobe 
in the autumn of 1833. f He describes “a doctor or two, 
two or three lawyers, a land agent and five or six hotel 
keepers ; these may be considered the stationary occu- 
pants and proprietors of the score of clap-board houses 
around you ; then, for the birds of passage, exclusive of 
he Pottawatomies, you have emigrants, speculators, 
horse dealers and stealers ; rogues of every description, 
white,black and red ; quarter-breeds and men of no breed 
at all ; dealers in pigs, poultry and potatoes ; creditors 
of Indians ; sharpers ; peddlers ; grog-sellers ; Indian 
agents, traders and contractors to supply the Post” 
—certainly not a highly encouraging picture of a 
clientele. 
Medical examinations for life-insurance, which have 
since proved a source of remuneration to the profession, 
were then unknown. It would appear from an article 
* It is said that the villagers, upon the arrival of this vehicle from the 
East, paid it distinguished honor, “ turning out in procession and parading 
the streets.”—Chicago Antiquities. No. 2. 
f Western Portraiture and Emigrants’ Guide. Daniel S. Curtis. New 
York. 1852. 19 
published during the ensuing year in a literary period- 
ical, not only that the general subject of life insurance 
was little understood in the West, but that the basis 
upon which policies were issued to the assured, was the 
statement of the applicant, endorsed by his family 
physician only.* 
As for the fees given in remuneration of professional 
services, perhaps the less said upon the subject the 
better. But it is pleasant to note that a precedent had 
been established in the country, for the encouragement 
of the humble toilers on the Lake shore. Dr. McDowell 
had even then received fifteen hundred dollars for the 
performance of ovariotomyf—a reward which, consider- 
ing the scarcity of money and the price of labor and 
food, was fully equal to the famous fee paid Sir Astley 
Cooper by Mr. Hyatt, and only surpassed by the mu- 
nificent honorarium, given to a contemporary surgeon 
as recently reported in the secular press. 
Mrs. Kinzie describes the doctor as she used to see him, 
when she and her friends made little excursions on horse- 
back in the vicinity of their residence.:}: On one occasion 
he was engaged in superintending the construction of a 
sod fence near the lake, and planting fruit stones, with a 
view to a prospective garden and orchard, under the 
branches of the trees that arched overhead. “We 
usually stopped,” she remarks, “ for a little chat. The 
two favorite themes of the doctor were, horticulture and 
the certain future importance of Chicago. That it was 
destined to be a great city, was his unalterable conviction, 
and indeed, by this time, all forest and prairie as it was, 
we half began to believe it ourselves.” 
“The glorious dreams of good Dr. Harmon,” as they 
were called, produced a practical result in his case. In 
the spring of 1833, he secured by pre-emption, one hun- 
* See the Western Monthly Magazine, Yol. 2, 1834. Cincinnati, Ohio, 
f Lives of Eminent American Physicians and Surgeons ,of the 19th 
Century. S. D. Gross, M.D. Philadelphia. 1861. Page 228. 
\ Opus cit. 20 
dred and thirty acres of land lying next to the Lake and 
just south of what is now 16th street. In order to make 
good the title, he built a small log cabin upon this prop- 
erty, and resided there until the spring of 1884, when he 
left the State for Texas. To-day the doctor’s farm is 
worth between five and six millions of dollars.* Had 
his sons possessed the same conlidence in the future of 
Chicago as that felt by their father, they would now be 
enjoying the fruit of his wise providence. One of them, 
however, had been entrusted with a power of attorney 
for the sale of this property, and accordingly, contrary 
to the advice and counsel of its pre-emptor, it was sold 
for a sum which then seemed an enormous price for the 
land, but which was in fact a paltry consideration for 
the magnificent squares which are now covered by elegant 
metropolitan residences. It is, however, somewhat grat- 
ifying to reflect that the most valuable residence prop- 
erty in Chicago, was once, in fee simple, the homestead 
of its earliest resident physician. 
Dr. Harmon died on the 3rd day of January, 1869, after 
having made several trips to Texas, where he not only 
engaged in the practice of medicine, but invested in real 
estate which has since greatly appreciated in value. 
It will be seen from what has preceded, that he was of 
an adventurous disposition—an essential element in the 
character of all successful pioneers. A recent histori- 
ographer has said that the early settlers of the West, 
made tin; name adventurer forever respectable—and he 
has wisely spoken. Out of their loins came a common- 
wealth—most of its virtues are hereditary, and its vices 
have been chiefly acquired. 
Dr. Harmon, during his life, served not only as a Jus- 
tice of the Peace, but, in conjunction with Col. R. J. 
Hamilton and Mr. Russell E. Heacock, olliciated in the 
first Board of School Commissioners, organized under the 
law. The Doctor’s strong conviction of the immense 
prospective value of the land known as the School Sec- 
* This is the value as estimated by W. D. Kerfoot, Esq., of Chicago. 21 
tion, led him here also to strenuously oppose its sale. 
In this matter, as in the disposition of his own property, 
his judgment was overruled by others, and but forty 
thousand dollars were for this reason realized from the 
sale of six hundred and forty acres of land, the value of 
which to-day is more than fifty millions of dollars. 
In person, Dr. Harmon possessed a commanding fig- 
ure, and his features were such as proclaimed at a glance 
both his parentage and his profession. There were the 
strong outlines of the New England face, with the beard 
shaven in the manner adopted by the profession in 
France—a face whose like is often seen in the portraits of 
the heroes of the Revolution. There were, besides, the 
evidences of broad culture, high attainments and wide 
experience—the traits of one, whose mental horizon is 
not bounded by the definitions of other men. He was 
also a gentleman having a generous, whole-hearted dis- 
position. One of the streets of our city still bears his 
name. The profession have little need to be ashamed of 
their first civil representative in Chicago. 
In order to a correct understanding of this narrative, it 
is now necessary to retrace our steps to the old fort, which 
we left at the time of the exodus of Dr. Harmon and his 
family. In response to my inquiries (for the answers to 
which I am greatly indebted to Assistant Surgeon John 
S. Billings, U. S. A., now of the Surgeon General’s Office,) 
it is made clear that there is no record of any medical 
officer stationed at the fort, prior to the time of Assis- 
tant Surgeon S. G. J. DeCamp, of New Jersey. Of Dr. 
Van Voorhees and Dr. J. B. Finley, no information can 
be obtained at the War Department. Dr. DeCamp was 
appointed Assistant Surgeon, October 10, 1823; promoted 
Surgeon, December 1, 1833; retired in 1862, and died at 
Saratoga Springs, New York, September 8, 1871. As 
it is he who makes the official report of the cholera 
cases in the fort, during the prevalence of the epidemic,* 
* Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army of the 
United States, prepared under the direction of Thomas Lawson, M.D., 22 
it seems probable that it was he who was present and 
responsible for the treatment and its results. According 
to this report, two hundred cases were admitted into 
hospital in the course of six or seven days, out of the 
entire force of one thousand, fifty-eight of which termi- 
nated fatally. All the cases were treated by calomel and 
blood-letting, and, according to Surgeon DeCamp, this 
proved so efficacious in his hands, that he regarded the 
disease as “robbed of its terrors” (!). He inclines to the 
opinion that the disease was contagious, in consequence 
of the fact that several citizens of “ the village” died of 
cholera, although, prior to the arrival of the steamer, no 
case had occurred, either in the fort or the village. He 
notes the predisposition to the disease, evident in those 
of intemperate habits. 
The table which is appended in a note,* is compiled 
from reports of each quarter of the year, published in the 
volume referred to above. Although it is a return from 
a military garrison, it is interesting as it is probably the 
first contribution to vital statistics ever prepared in 
Chicago. 
The inhabitants of the little town did not soon forget 
Washington, 1840. This appears to be the first of the brilliant series of 
publications issued from the Surgeon General’s office ; and I am indebted 
for this, also, to the kindness of Assistant Surgeon John S. Billings, U. S. 
Army. 
* Abstract exhibiting principal diseases at Fort Dearborn for ten years: 
Years 
1829. 
1830. 
1881. 
1833. 
1834. 
1835. 
1&36. 
Totals. 
Mean Strength 
91 
90 
92 
104 
91 
96 
104 
668 
Diseases: 
Intermittent. Fever. 
17 
18 
19 
32 
19 
31 
130 
15 
1 
1 
2 
5 
2 
26 
1 
1 
2 
Diseases of Respiratory Organs 
11 
8 
1 
10 
22 
14 
23 
89 
Diseases of Digestive Organs 
30 
22 
9 
09 
84 
53 
42 
309 
2 
3 
3 
1 
9 
Rheumatic Affections.. ” 
10 
3 
7 
3 
7 
15 
51 
1 
3 
2 
7 
Ulcers and Abscesses 
16 
12 
9 
8 
5 
7 
57 
Wounds and Injuries 
19 
15 
10 
41 
19 
10 
14 
128 
4 
11 
2 
4 
8 
29 
All other Diseases 
12 
5 
2 
20 
10 
20 
15 
90 
Totals 
118 
119 
30 
193 
185 
137 
160 
933 
The post was unoccupied during the year 1832, and abandoned in 1840. the ravages of the epidemic which had visited them. 
After a year had elapsed, the boatman who paddled up 
the river in his dug-out canoe, could perceive the ends 
of the bark coffins* projecting from the sand hills on the 
right bank, and even occasionally note their exposed 
contents. 
The next medical incumbent at the fort was Dr. Philip 
Maxwell,f who was born at Guilford, Windham county, 
Vt., on the 3d of April, 1799. He studied medicine with 
Dr. Knott of New York City, but took his degree in one 
of the Medical Universities of his native State.:}; He com- 
menced the practice of his profession in Sackett’s 
Harbor, New York, but temporarily abandoned it when 
elected a member of the State Legislature. In the year 
1832, he was appointed an Assistant Surgeon in the U. 
S. Army, and was first placed on duty in Green Bay, 
Wisconsin. He was ordered to report at Fort Dearborn 
on the 3rd day of February, 1833, and arrived here on the 
15th of the next month, remaining until official orders 
were received for the discontinuance of the post, on the 
28th of December, 1836. During the time in which he 
was on duty in camp at Wisconsin, he was so impressed 
with the beauty of the country in the neighborhood of 
Geneva Lake, that he subsequently purchased the entire 
township, and it is now the seat of the elegant homestead 
of his family descendants. He was promoted to the 
Surgeoncy, July 7, 1838, and subsequently served with 
Gen. Zachary Taylor, at Baton Rouge, and on the St. 
John’s river in Florida. Like Dr. Harmon, he also 
became a civil practitioner in Chicago after resigning his 
commission, and from 1845 to 1855, was in partnership 
* These are erroneously reported as “ uncoffiued,” in The History of 
Illinois from 1673 to 1873, by Alexander Davisson and Bernard Stuv6, 
Springfield, 111., 1874. It is probably true, however, that the sepulture 
was often as hasty and informal as there described 
f The information given above has been obtained through the kindness 
of his son-in-law, Mr. J. C Walter, of Chicago. 
| The names of these institutions, with the date of their foundation, will 
be found in a note upon page 14. 24 
with Dr. Brockholst McVickar, who is still engaged in 
the practice of medicine in this city. 
Dr. Maxwell had such a physique as one can admire 
to-day in some of the older of our army officers, lie 
was straight and portly in ffgure, six feet and two inches 
in height, two hundred and seventy-five pounds in 
weight. For all this, according to Mr. B. F. Taylor, who 
has drawn several pictures of early Chicago in his graphic 
and entertaining style, 1,1 his step was as light as that of 
a wisp of a girl.” Judge Caton still remembers his 
appearance in the year 1836, when engaged in dancing at 
a ball dressed in full regimentals with epaulets. On 
this occasion his partner was one of the servant-maids 
of his host. Whether this occurred through inadver- 
tence or in consequence of the well-known scarcity of 
ladies in the early days on the frontier, may not perhaps 
be determined. Hoffman is also supposed to refer to 
Dr. Maxwell in his characteristic account of one of the 
first balls given in Chicago, when he describes “the 
golden aiguilette of a handsome surgeon, flapping in 
unison with the glass beads upon a scrawny neck of 
fifty.”* 
Dr. Maxwell died on the 5th of November, 1859, aged 
60 years. His name will ever be honored in Chicago as 
the second in its line of medical succession; and his 
portrait may still be seen with those of the twelve gen- 
tlemen who are counted among its oldest residents.”f 
Long before Dr. Maxwell settled in private practice, 
the development of the town had induced other physi- 
cians to engage in professional business within its limits. 
This development, however, was at first feeble and pro- 
tracted. At the time of the sale of land by the commis- 
sioners in 1830, the town lots, eighty by one hundred 
* Winter in the West Charles Fenno Hoffman. 1834. 
f This picture was taken by the photographer, A. Hosier, in 1856. It 
includes the faces of Wm. B. Ogden, the first mayor of Chicago, J. H. 
Kinzie, Mark Beaubien, Geo. W. Dole, Jacob Bussell, B. W. Raymond, 
G. 8. Hubbard, Jno. P. Chapin, Philip Maxwell, Wm. B. Egan, and 
others. 25 
and sixty feet, sold for between forty and sixty dollars. 
In the year 1832, the assessment for taxes amounted to 
but $357.78 ; and the first public improvement was an 
estray pen, erected on the site of the present Court House 
at an expense of twelve dollars. Not many vessels had 
entered the harbor, since the schooner Marengo, foremost 
of a mighty fleet, floated into the river from Detroit in 
1831.* It was not indeed till the year 1834, that one 
could see any arrangement of houses in such an order 
as to form a street. And yet, at that date, there was a 
marked increase in the population, according to the 
figures given in a Gazetteer of the State, then published, f 
It was estimated that there were one thousand inhabitants 
of the town—an increase of nearly eight hundred since 
the preceding year. There were ‘ ‘ three houses for 
public worship, an academy, an infant and other 
schools, twenty-five or thirty stores, some of them 
doing a large business, several taverns, and a printing 
office.”:}: 
Of the physicians who succeeded those heretofore 
noticed, space forbids much more than a passing mention. 
In an address delivered before the Rock River Medical 
Society, at the time of its organization,§ Dr. Josiah C. 
Goodhue spoke as follows: “Dr. Harmon was the 
pioneer among the medical faculty of this corner of 
Illinois; Dr. Kimberly was the second; then came Dr. 
Jno. T. Temple; Dr. Clark next; Drs. Egan, Eldridge 
and myself soon followed, at about the same time. This 
brings us to the spring of 1834, when a perfect fiood 
of emigration poured in, and with it a sprinkling of 
doctors. Prior to 1840, nine-tenths of all the physicians 
who had located themselves in this region, had done so 
with reference to pursuing agriculture, and with the 
avowed intention of abandoning medical practice ; most 
* See Reynolds’ Sketches, op. cit. 
f A Gazetteer of Illinois; J. M. Peck, Jacksonville, 1834. 
X The Chicago Democrat—established by John Calhoun. 
§ Illinois and Indiana Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, p. 260. 26 
of whom, either from the necessities of the case, or from 
finding more truth than poetry in pounding out rails, 
resumed their profession and divided their attention 
between farming and medicine.” In the last sentence, 
Dr. Goodhue of course refers chiefly to practitioners 
settling in that part of the country where the Rock 
River Medical Society proposed to hold jurisdiction. 
Of the physicians named above, only one is now living, 
Dr. Eldridge, who resides at Naperville, 111. ; but all 
were more or less known to many of the citizens of 
Chicago who have survived them. Dr. Jno. T. Temple, 
who removed to the city in 1833, was a graduate of 
Middlebury College, Castleton, Vt., (Dec. 29, 1830), and 
seems for a time to have done duty as a volunteer sur- 
geon of the garrison. So far as is known, he should be 
credited with the performance of the first autopsy made in 
the city, as well as with the rendition of the first medico- 
legal testimony in court. An Irishman had been indicted 
for murder ; and Dr. Temple was summoned to make a 
post-mortem examination of the victim. The ease with 
which he separated by a few skillful touches of his knife, 
the bones concerned in the sterno-clavicular articulation, 
is still remembered by those who witnessed the unu- 
sual spectacle. The attorney for the defense, however, 
on this occasion, succeeded in proving that his client 
had been guilty of manslaughter, and in securing his 
acquittal on the ground that he was innocent of murder 
as charged in the indictment! In comparing the two 
professions, as they here appear in their representatives, 
it may be fairly inferred that the anatomical knowledge 
of the expert was more than equal to the legal acumen 
of the j udge ! 
Dr. Temple, soon after, secured a contract from the 
Postmaster General, Amos Kendall, for carrying the 
mail between Chicago and Ottawa. He obtained an 
elegant, thorough-brace post carriage from Detroit, which 
was shipped to this port via the lakes, and, on the 1st 
of January, 1834, drove the first mail coach with his own hand from this city to the end of the route for which lie 
had received a contract. On this first trip, lie was ac- 
companied by the Hon. Jno. I). Caton, to whom I am 
greatly indebted for many of these details. The demand 
for this accommodation could not then have been very 
great, as there was no mail matter for transportation 
in the hag carr ied on this first trip ! * 
Dr. William Bradshaw Egan was born “on the banks 
of the beautiful Lake of Killarney,” September 28, 1808, 
and was the second cousin of Daniel O’Connell, whose 
name has already appeared in these pages. His medical 
studies were begun with Dr. McGuire, a surgeon in the 
Lancashire collieries, but were also pursued in London 
and in the Dublin Lying-in-Hospital.f After his arrival 
in this country, lie was licensed as a physician by the 
Medical Board of the State of New Jersey, in the spring 
of 1830, and began his professional career in Newark 
and New York, having been associated in the latter city, 
with Prof. McNeven and Dr. Busclie. Here also he was 
married to Miss Eineline M. Babbatt, who accompanied 
him to Chicago in the fall of 1833. In the year 184G, he 
purchased for three dollars per acre, the beautiful prop- 
erty in the West Division of the city, comprising three 
and one-half acres, which is to-day the residence of his 
family; and also laid out his farm—Egandale Park, on 
the Lake Shore, about six miles distant from the Court 
House. At one time he was also in possession of the 
land upon which the Tremont House now stands. During 
the sessions of 1853-4, he was a member of the lower 
house of the State Legislature ; and also during his life- 
time served as recorder of the city and county. 
Dr. Egan was, as has been often remarked, a perfect 
specimen of the “ tine old Irish gentleman.” He had a 
noble presence and a commanding figure ; but that which 
especially attracted his associates, was his exuberant 
* Dr. Temple is said to be now living in St. Louis, and engaged in 
homoeopathic practice. 
f Chicago Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 3 ; May, 1857. 28 
fancy, his sparkling wit and his keen perception and 
graphic delineation of the ludicrous. 
He not only established an excellent professional repu- 
ation in Chicago, but was much esteemed socially ; not 
more so, however, than his wife, whose graces of person 
and character were the admiration of the circle in which 
they both moved. Mr. Joseph Grant Wilson, in some 
sketches recently published in Appleton’s Journal, de- 
scribes the doctor, as he once appeared after the girth 
of his saddle had given way during a wolf hunt, and 
his full-blooded Kentucky racer had left him: “ standing 
on the prairie, a large fur cap on his head, an enormous 
Scotch plaid cloak (purchased at the ‘ store ’ of Mr. 
G. S. Hubbard) belted around his Brobdignagian waist, 
and shod with buffalo overshoes.” It is of Dr. Egan 
that the story is told which has lately been revived and 
gone the rounds of the medical press. He had engaged 
extensively in the purchase and sale of real estate, the 
conditions of transfer at that day being generally de- 
pendent on what was known as “canal time.” It is 
said that the doctor having been, on one occasion, asked 
by a lady who was his patient, how she should take the 
medicine ordered for her, the response was : “a quarter 
down and the balance in one, two and three years” ! 
At the time of the first breaking of ground for the con- 
struction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, on the 4th 
of July, 1836, Dr. Egan was selected to deliver the ora- 
tion ; and this is only one of several evidences of his 
great popularity. We find the beauty of his garden 
and his genial hospitality extolled in complimentary 
terms in a work which appeared a few days before 
the date of his death.* This event occurred in 
1856. 
Dr. Josiali C. Goodhue came to Chicago directly from 
Canada, but was the son of an American physician, the 
first president of the Berkshire County Medical College, 
* Summer Rambles in the West. Mrs. Ellet. New York. 1853. 29 
of Pittsfield, Mass.* He enjoyed a very large and 
lucrative practice while residing in this city, but subse- 
quently removed to Rockford, 111., where he died later 
in consequence of an accident. Drs. Stuart and Lord 
were among the physicians first succeeding those enu- 
merated above—the former having enjoyed the reputa- 
tion of being the Beau Brummel of the profession, and 
the latter having distinguished himself by securing a 
patent for a labor-saving pill machine. 
Dr. John H. Foster came to Chicago in 1835, and died 
here on the 18th day of May, 1874. 
It would be unjust in this connection to leave unmen- 
tioned the name of the first druggist in Chicago. Mr. 
Philo Carpenter was a native of Massachusetts, born on 
the 27th day of February, 1805. In the year 1827, he 
commenced the study of medicine which he prosecuted 
for two or three years under the direction of Dr. Amatus 
Robbins, of Troy, New York. He arrived in Chicago 
in the month of July, 1832, just at the time when the 
cholera-stricken troops under the command of Gen 
Scott, had been transported to the fort. Mr. Carpenter 
had abandoned his medical studies in order to pursue 
the more congenial business of an apothecary, but in 
the present emergency, he attended many cases of 
cholera, and rendered an assistance which was very 
highty appreciated. Soon after, he opened a drug and 
general store in a small log cabin near the eastern end of 
the present Lake Street bridge, from which, as his business 
increased, he removed into a more pretentious frame 
building. In the spring of 1833, Dr. Edmund Stoughton 
Kimberly, of Troy, N. Y., alluded to in Dr. Goodhue’s 
address, in company with Mr. Peter Pruyne, opened a 
second druggists’ establishment. Dr. Kimberly was 
registered in the year 1833, among those who voted for 
the incorporation of the town. He died at his late 
* Extracts from Journal of Rev. Jeremiah Porter ; recently published 
in the Chicago Times. residence in Lake County, Illinois, Oct. 25, 1874, aged 
72 years. 
Without pausing to comment further upon the history 
of the medical gentlemen who rapidly succeeded those 
already mentioned, I hasten to present a brief sketch of 
the remarkable man, who, perhaps to a greater extent 
than any of his professional peers in Chicago, achieved 
a national reputation. Through the kindness of the 
Hon. Edward Huntington, of Rome, N. Y., I have ob- 
tained access to some notes prepared on the subject by 
Calvert Comstock, Esq., from which the subjoined details 
have been in part supplied. 
Daniel Brainard was born on the fifteenth day of May, 
1812, in the town of Western,* Oneida Co., N. Y. His 
father, Jeptha; Brainard,f was a farmer in comfort- 
able pecuniary circumstances and of excellent character, 
while his mother was a most exemplary woman, whose 
influence was deeply impressed upon her children, and 
doubtless did much in awakening the genius and inspiring 
the aims of the son in his early life. He was given a 
good common school and academic education, which 
laid the foundation for that exact and exhaustive 
method of investigation which characterized his subse- 
quent professional studies. Having chosen the profes- 
sion of medicine, he entered the office of Dr. Harold 
H. Pope, a distinguished physician and surgeon of 
Rome, N. Y., pursuing his studies also in Whitesboro, 
and New York City, and obtaining his degree of 
Jefferson College, Philadelphia, Pa., in the year 1834. 
* In some biographical notices, the place of his birth is erroneously 
stated to he Whitesboro, in the same county. 
f In a Genealogy of the Brainard Family by the late Kev. David D. 
Field, 1857, it appears that the first individual who bore the name in 
America, was a Daniel Brainard, of Haddam, Ct. (1662). But, according 
to Mr. Hurlbut, in whose possession the volume is, in spite of the indus- 
trious labors of Mr. Field, the materials it contains are so wretchedly 
arranged, misplaced and mystified, that the work is of comparatively little 
value ; and it is almost impossible to trace with any clearness the line of 
ancestry, from the records there given. 31 
During this preparatory career lie delivered some 
lectures of a scientific character in Fairfield, N. Y., 
and in the course of the two years succeeding his 
admission to the profession, he delivered another series 
of lectures on anatomy and physiology in the Oneida 
Institute. He commenced the practice of medicine in 
Whitesboro, N. Y., whither his family had removed from 
the farm in Western, on account of the educational advan- 
tages afforded in the former place. Here he remained for 
some two years in partnership with Dr. R. S. Sykes,* a 
gentleman who had directed his medical studies before 
his departure from the village. 
Henry II. Hurlbut, Esq., of Chicago, who has kindly 
furnished several facts of interest in this connection, 
informs me that he was recently shown by a lady 
a small quarto volume which affords a glimpse of 
the literary annals of the little village. It is the record 
of proceedings of the “Mseonian Circle”—composed 
of young ladies and gentlemen—and contains the sig- 
nature of Dr. Brainard as an officer of the Club in the 
autumn of 1834. Among the names of members appears 
that also of Miss F. M. Berry, the authoress of the 
“ Widow Bedott Papers.” 
Soon after this, Dr. Brainard determined to remove 
to the West. His advent and earliest history in Chicago, 
are best described in the language of the Hon. J. D. 
Caton, to whom I have already had occasion to express 
my obligations for valuable aid in the preparation of 
this sketch : 
“ About the first of September, 1835, Dr. Brainard 
rode up to my office, wearing pretty seedy clothes and 
mounted on a little Indian pony. He reported that he 
was nearly out of funds, and asked my advice as to 
the propriety of commencing practice here. We had 
been professional students together in Rome, N. Y., 
when he was in the office of Dr. Pope there. I knew 
him to have been an ambitious and studious young man, 
* Dr. Sykes is said to be now living in Chicago, aged 80 years. 32 
of great firmness and ability, and did not doubt that the 
three years since I had seen him, had been profitably 
spent in acquiring a knowledge of his profession. I 
advised him to go to the Indian camp where the Potta- 
wattomies were gathered, preparatory to starting for 
their new location west of the Mississippi river, sell 
his pony, take a desk or rather a little table in my office, 
and put his shingle by the side of the door, promising 
to aid him as best I could in building up a business. 
During the first year, the doctor’s practice did not enter 
those circles of which he was most ambitious. Indeed it 
was mostly confined to the poorest of the population, and 
he anxiously looked for a door which should give him 
admission to a better class of patients. While he an- 
swered every call, whether there was a prospect of remu- 
neration or not,* he felt that he was qualified to attend 
those who were able to pay him liberally for his ser- 
vices. At length the door was opened. A schooner 
was wrecked south of the town, on which were a man 
and his wife, who escaped with barely their clothes on 
their backs. They were rather simple people, and be- 
longed to the lowest walks of life. They started for the 
country on foot, begging their way, and, when distant 
some twelve miles, encountered a party of men with a 
drove of horses, one of whom pretended he was a sheriff, 
and arrested them for improper purposes. When they 
were set at liberty, they returned to the town, and came 
to me for legal advice, the woman being about five months 
advanced in pregnancy. I commenced a suit for the 
redress of their grievances, and the doctor took an 
active interest in their welfare. He procured for them 
a small house on the North Side, and made personal 
appeals to all the ladies in the neighborhood, for provision 
for their needs. Mrs. John H. Kinzie become particu- 
larly interested in their case, and paid frequent visits to 
the cabin with other ladies. The nervous system of the 
* Dr. J. W. Freer informs me that this was true of Dr. Brainard in the 
height of his prosperity. 33 
woman had been greatly shattered, and a miscarriage was 
constantly apprehended. The doctor was unremitting 
in his attentions, and finally carried her through her 
confinement with marked success, exhibiting to the 
ladies who had taken so much interest in the patient, a 
fine living child. This was the long desired opportu- 
nity, and it did not fail to produce its results. Dr. 
Brainard immediately became famous. His disinterested 
sympathy, his goodness of heart, his skillful treatment 
and his marked success, were now the subject of 
comment in all circles. At request, Dr. Goodhue 
also visited the woman—as I desired to secure his addi- 
tional testimony in the case—and he too became very 
favorably impressed with the talents and acquirements of 
the young practitioner, and extended to him a helping 
and efficient hand. 
“During the winter of 1837-38, Dr. Brainard first com- 
municated to me his project looking to the foundation of 
Rush College. 
“In 1838, a laborer on the canal near Lockport, frac- 
tured his thigh, and before union had been completely 
effected, he came to Chicago on foot, where he found 
himself unable to walk further and quite destitute. He 
was taken to the poor-house where he rapidly grew 
worse, the limb becoming excessively oedematous. A 
council of physicians was summoned, consisting of Drs. 
Brainard, Maxwell, Goodhue, Egan, and perhaps one or 
two others. All were agreed as to the necessity of ampu- 
tation, but, while Brainard insisted that the operation 
should be performed at the hip joint, the others urged 
that removal below the trochanters would answer equally 
well. The patient was about twenty-three years of age, 
had an excellent physique, and was, so far as known, of 
good habits. The operation was assigned to Brainard, 
and Goodhue was entrusted with the control of the fem- 
oral artery, as it emerges from the pelvis. This he was 
to accomplish with his thumbs ; and he had as good 
thumbs as any man I ever knew. The moment the amputation was effected, Brainard passed one finger into 
the medullary cavity, and brought out upon it a portion 
of the medulla which,in the process of disorganization,had 
become black. As he exhibited it lie looked at Goodhue, 
who simply nodded his head. Not a word was spoken 
by any one but the patient, and what he said no one 
knew. Brainard instantly took up the knife and again 
amputated, this time at the joint, after which the wound 
was dressed. The double operation occupied but a very 
short time. 
“ In about one month the wound had very nearly healed, 
only a granulating surface of about three-fourths of an 
inch in length at the upper corner discharged a healthy pus. 
I was present the last time the wound was dressed, and 
expected to see the patient speedily discharged as cured. 
But that night secondary haemorrhage occurred, a large 
portion of the wound was opened afresh, and the patient 
died almost immediately. At the post mortem section, 
an enormous mass of osseous tubercles was removed from 
the lungs, liver and heart, and a large, bony neoplasm 
was found attached to the pelvic bones, and surrounding 
the femoral artery, so that the mouth of the latter 
remained patulous. A similar deposit, three inches in 
diameter, bad been found about the fractured femur, and 
when this was sawn through, the line of demarcation 
between the neoplasm and the true bone was dis- 
tinctly discernible. 
“ The operation was regarded as a success, and it com- 
pletely established Dr. Brainard’s reputation as a 
surgeon.” 
There can be but little doubt that a number of ampu- 
tations at the hip joint must have been performed in this 
country before the date of the operation thus graphically 
described by Judge Caton, but it is certain that we have 
records of only two or three of these at the most. In a 
recent letter, President J. W. Freer, of Rush College, 
informs me that the case referred to, was one of enchon- 
droma of the femur, and that the specimen it furnished, -adorned the museum of the College until the destruction 
of the latter by fire. 
Some time after Dr. Brainard’s arrival in Chicago, he 
filled the editorial chair of the Chicago Democrat, to 
which the Hon. John Wentworth succeeded. 
In the year 1839, Dr. Brainard visited Paris, where he 
remained for about two years engaged in perfecting him- 
self in the details of professional service, availing himself 
of the advantages offered in the medical institutions of 
that city, and laboring with great assiduity. On his 
return, he delivered a course of medical lectures in St. 
Louis, and soon after perfected his plans for the estab- 
lishment and permanent foundation of Rush Medical 
College. The success which attended the efforts of him- 
self and his associates, not only in this direction but in 
the publication of the periodical, of which the present 
Medical Journal and Examiner is the direct and legit- 
imate descendant, is too well known to the profession at 
large to require comment. 
Dr. Brainard revisited Paris in 1852, when he was 
accompanied by his wife. It was at this time that he 
obtained permission to prosecute his researches on the 
subject of poisoned wounds by the aid of experiments 
upon the reptiles in the Jardin des Plantes. He was 
then made an honorary member of the Societe de 
Chirurgie of Paris, and of the Medical Society of the 
Canton of Geneva. In the year 1854, he gained the prize 
offered by the St. Louis Medical Society for the presen- 
tation of his paper on the Treatment of Ununited Frac- 
tures—the method he then proposed having since received 
the endorsement of the entire profession. 
A short time before liiS death he spent a day in Rome, 
N. Y., with his life-long friend, Mr. Comstock, pleas- 
antly recounting the incidents of his foreign travel, 
expressing the greatest interest in the prosecution of his 
work connected with his lectures in the College, and 
anticipating a return to Europe for a third visit with a 
view to a still more extended course of investigations. 36 
At the same time he seemed to be impressed with a feel- 
ing that he had not much longer to live. In a few weeks 
from this date, his friend {in Rome received the tele- 
graphic announcement of his death. He died of cholera, 
in the old Sherman House of Chicago, on the lOtli day of 
October, 1866, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. 
Dr. Brainard was a master of many of the collateral 
branches of medical science. He was a botanist and 
geologist. He excelled also in literature, and his contri- 
butions to medical periodicals are many of them master- 
pieces of terse, vigorous and lucid expression. A gen- 
eration of men who never looked in his face are yet 
familiar with his features. He was tall and vigorous in 
frame, with a large, finely-shaped head, and keen, pene- 
trating eyes. He seemed indeed to possess the three 
qualities which were considered in the 16tli century to- 
be the prerequisites of a good surgeon, viz.: “the eye 
of a hawk, the hand of a woman, and the heart of a lion.” 
Dr. Brainard’s name is graven ineftaceably upon the 
annals of American Surgery. His successors may well 
emulate his indomitable perseverance in the face of 
apparently overwhelming obstacles, his unflagging in- 
dustry, and the acquisition of the science and skill which, 
perforce spring from these high qualities. 
In the Lakeside Annual Directory for 1875-6, is repro- 
duced in fac simile the first Directory ever issued in 
Chicago, dated 1889—the original having been obtained 
through the courtesy of Henry H. Hurlbut, Esq. 
By referring to this, it will be seen that Dr. Brainard’s 
name occurs with those of Drs. S. B. Gray and Betts, as 
constituting a Board of Health. This Board, it is un- 
necessary to say, was not organized under any such law 
as that which provides for the Board of Health as now 
constituted. Dr. Charles V. Dyer is there registered as 
City Physician—he had removed to the city three years 
before, in 1835. Besides these, the Directory contains 
the names of Dr. Jno. BrinkerhofT, Dr. Clarke, Dr. Levi 
D. Boone, Dr. Eldridge, Dr. Edmund S. Kimberly, Dr. 37 
Merrick, Dr. Post, and Dr. J. ,Jay Stuart. Drs. Brinker- 
hoff, Betts, Post and Stuart, are known to be now dead, 
besides those whose decease has been heretofore noted 
in these pages. 
Dr. Boone, whose name appears in the list, deserves 
more than a passing mention. He is the grand nephew of 
the great Kentucky pioneer, Daniel Boone, and was born 
on the 8th of December, 1808. He studied medicine in 
the Transylvania University, came to Illinois in 1829, 
and, having volunteered as a private in the Black Hawk 
war, was finally promoted to the Surgeoncy of the 2nd 
Regiment, 3rd Brigade, Col. Jacob Frye. Dr. Boone 
•came to Chicago in 1836, and still resides here, though 
he is now gradually withdrawing from the business 
incidental to the management of his estate.* 
The charter for the incorporation of Rush College was 
obtained from the Legislature in 1837, and was first 
instrument issued for a similar purpose to any educa- 
tional institution in the State of Illinois. The first 
building occupied by the Faculty was erected in the 
year 1844, after the designs of Mr. VanOsdel. A pass- 
ably well-executed cut of this structure was given in 
the City Directory of the ensuing year.f The names of 
Professors are thus given : Daniel Brainard, M.D., Pro- 
fessor of Surgery ; Austin Flint, M.D., Professor of the 
Institutes and Practice of Medicine ; G. N. Fitch, M.D., 
Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and 
Children ; J. Y. Z. Blaney, M.D., Professor of Chemistry 
* The Directory from which these names have been transcribed was, 
as might be expected, a very incomplete affair. Mr. Fergus, an early 
resident of Chicago, has, with considerable labor, compiled a tolerably 
complete list of the business men of the town in 1839, in which are to be 
found the following additional names, designated as “doctors” : Zimon 
P. Haven, Richard Murphy, William Russell, D. S. Smith, John Mark 
Smith, Simeon Willard. 
f Business Advertiser and General Directory of the City of Chicago, 
1845-6. J. W. Norris. This volume is in the valuab'e collecfion of Mr 
Cooke, of Messrs. Keen, Cooke & Co., publishers of the Chicago Medical 
Journal and Examiner, and I am under obligations to him for the 
fac simile shown on next page, of the cut of the old Rush College. 38 
and Pharmacy; Jno. McLean, M.D., Professor of Ma- 
teria Medica and Therapeutics ; and W. B. Herrick,. 
M.D., Professor of Anatomy. Dr. Herrick became sub- 
sequently the first President of the Illinois State Medical 
Society. 
Tiie First Rush Medical College. (1844). 
Under the heading of “Physicians and Surgeons” are 
enrolled twenty-eight names. In addition to three of 
the professors named above, who were residents of the 
city, are to be found the names of William Allen, H. H. 
Beardsly, L. I). Boone, Jno. Brinkerhoff, S. S. Cornell, 
A. W. Davisson, C. H. Duck, C. V. Dyer, J. W. 
Eldridge, M. L. Knapp, Philip Maxwell, Aaron Pitney, 
D. S. Smith, and J. J. Stuart. 
The name of C. H. Duck is accompanied by letters, 
which purport that the gentleman was a member of the 
Royal College of Surgeons, London; and a card, dis- 
played in larger type beneath, advertises his gratuitous 
treatment of the indigent sick and lame, on Mondays,. 
Wednesdays and Saturdays. This Duck appears to ex- 39 
press himself in the inarticulateness of a quack. What 
a commentary is here on the public proclamation of pro- 
fessional merit, and that willingness to aid the needy, 
which should be the signet and seal of every true char- 
acter, whether of the physician or the layman ! The 
New Edifice of Rush Medical College now in Process of Erection. 
name of the man who appended the imposing letters to 
his title, has sunk into an obscurity which is interesting 
only to the antiquarian, while the modest and unpreten- 
tious youth, who entered Chicago riding on an Indian 
pony, has added to his name a lustre which no title 
could intensify. 
The name of I). S. Smith is also accompanied by a 
card which indicates his faith in the doctrines of 
homoeopathy. 
The first number of the Illinois Medical and Surgical Journal was issued in April, 1844, under the editorial 
management of James V. Z. Blaney, A.M., M.D. Its 
reading matter is contained in one form of sixteen pages, 
just one-sixth the size of the Medical Journal and 
Examiner, as now published. The very modest intro- 
ductory sets forth a fair ground for its raison tfetre. 
“ We have around us three large States : Indiana, Mich- 
igan and Illinois—and two extensive territories : Wiscon- 
sin and Iowa—filled with medical men of the highest 
intelligence and most praiseworthy enterprise, and not a 
single medical journal has been previously issued in all 
this vast Northwestern region.” The number contains an 
original contribution from Dr. Brainard, on the treatment 
of false anchylosis by extension, illustrated by a very 
creditable wood cut; a brief summary of progress in 
practical medicine, which contains extracts from the 2d 
Yol. of Pereira’s Materia Medica and Therapeutics, the 
8th No. of Braithwaite’s Retrospect, and the American 
Journal for January, 1844 ; and Bibliographical Notices 
of a Dissector by Erasmus Wilson, and An Anatomical 
Atlas, by H. H. Smith, M.D. ; to both of these reviews 
Dr. Brainard’s initials are appended. There are but two 
items of general intelligence, both clipped from the Med- 
ical News.* 
The first meeting with a view to the establishment of 
the Chicago Medical College, was held in the office of 
Drs. David Rutter and Ralph N. Isliam, on the 12th day 
of March, 1859.J Drs. Hosmer A. Johnson and Ed- 
mund Andrews were then present, together with the 
gentlemen first named. After a temporary organization 
had been effected, it was determined to organize a Med- 
* This volume is in the possession of Dr. J. Adams Allen, who has been 
s* long identified with the fortunes of this Journal. For a history of the 
thorny reverses out of which has been plucked its flower of success, con- 
sult Dr. Allen’s interesting sketch in the January No. for 1874. 
f History of the Chicago Medical College—An Introductory Lecture 
to the College Session of 1870-71. H. A. Johnson, A.M., M.D., Chicago, 
1870. ical Faculty, on the basis of a proposition made by the 
trustees of the Lind University, and an agreement to 
that effect was signed, both by the Executive Committee 
of the University and by the physicians who were there 
assembled. 
The first faculty of the new medical school was consti- 
tuted as follows : David Rutter, M.D., Emeritus Profes- 
sor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children ; 
H. A. Johnson, M.D., Professor of Physiology and 
Histology ; E. Andrews, M.D., Professor of the Princi- 
ples and Practice of Surgery; R. N. Isham, M.D., 
Professor of Surgical Anatomy and the Operations of 
Surgery ; N. S. Davis, M.D., Professor of the Principles 
and Practice of Medicine ; W. H. Byford, M.D., Pro- 
fessor of Midwifery and Diseases of Women and Child- 
ren ; J. H. Hollister, M.D., Professor of Physiology and 
Histology ; Dr. Mahla, Professor of Chemistry; M. K. 
Taylor, M.D., Professor of General Pathology and Pub- 
lic Hygiene ; Titus DeVille, M.D., Professor of Descrip- 
tive Anatomy; and H. G. Spafford, Esq., Professor of 
Medical Jurisprudence. 
The first course of lectures was given in Lind's Block, 
on Market, between Randolph and Lake streets, the class 
consisting of but thirty-three members, of whom nine 
received, at the commencement exercises, the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. In the summer of 1863, arrange- 
ments were perfected for the erection of the building on 
the corner of State and Twenty-second streets, which 
was occupied by the Chicago Medical College up to the 
time of its removal, in 1870, to the present elegant and 
commodious structure on the corner of Prairie avenue 
and Twenty-sixth street, in close proximity to Mercy 
Hospital. During the previous year, this institution had 
become the Medical Department of the Northwestern 
University. 
On the 25tli day of April, 1868, the Faculty arranged 
the curriculum of the College, so that three consecutive 
courses of lectures should be given, with a separate group of studies for each of the three years of pupilage. 
The honor which is due the Chicago Medical College for the 
inauguration of this scheme has been persistently ignored 
by some of the Medical Schools in the East. It is cer- 
tainly gratifying to note that this step in the direction of 
that reform in medical education which is now felt to be 
imperatively demanded, was first taken in Chicago. It is 
now a matter of record, and the impartial historian who 
slinll write the history of medicine in the United States, 
cannot fail to do justice, in this particular, to the young 
claimant of the West. 
The Chicago Medical College Building. 
The medical board of Mercy Hospital is constituted 
by the faculty of the adjacent college. The first named 
institution originated in consequence of a charter obtained 
from the State legislature, by Dr. John Evans and others, 
for the establishment of the “Illinois General Hospital 
of the Lakes.” This instrument named Dr. Evans and 
Judges Dickey and Skinner as Trustees. Nothing, how- 
ever, had been accomplished toward raising funds or 
establishing the hospital until the summer of 1850, when 
Prof. N. S. Davis gave a course of six lectures on the 
sanitary condition of the city, and the means for its im- 
provement ; notice having been previously given that the 43 
proceeds would be devoted to hospital purposes. Ono 
hundred dollars were thus realized ; and this sum was 
subsequently increased by the donations of a few private 
individuals. Twelve beds were at once purchased and 
placed in the old Lake House Hotel. 
The hospital was then opened for the accommodation 
of patients, nominally under the supervision of the trus- 
tees named above, Prof. Davis having charge of the 
medical, and Prof. Brainard, of the surgical patients. 
The beds were well filled and supplied the means for 
daily clinical'instruction during the fall and winter of 
1850-1. It was placed in charge of the Sisters of Mercy 
in the spring of 1851, who enlarged its accommodations, 
and subsequently changed its name to Mercy Hospital. 
The elegant edifice which they now possess, is capable of 
accommodating five hundred patients ; and it may be 
added that from the date of the leasing of the old apart- 
ments containing twelve beds, to the present—a term of 
twenty-five years—Prof. N. S. Davis has continuously 
done service in its wards, as a physician and clinical 
teacher. 
The purpose of this sketch, though but imperfectly 
fulfilled, has been accomplished, so far as to call attention 
to the character and circumstances of the early medical 
practitioners of Chicago. Many of those who im- 
mediately succeeded them are still living in our midst, 
and retain a recollection of events that have transpired 
in their time, which it would be vain to attempt to record 
in these pages. I conclude with a brief outline of events 
connected with the organization of the County Hospital, 
located in this city, not only because it is at present the 
largest of our public charities, but also because the 
recent erection of a new building for its accommodation, 
seems to mark an era in its history. 
During the cholera epidemic of 1854-5, the city author- 
ities established a cholera hospital on the corner of 18th 
and Arnold streets—the precise location of the building 
now occupied as a- county hospital. The frame build-. ings then erected were cheaply built, and intended 
simply to meet immediate necessities. Dr. Brock. 
McVickar, who was then the City Physician, began at 
once to urge the Board of Health to erect a permanent 
city hospital. His importunity caused a movement to 
take form, which resulted in the erection of the city 
hospital building, which is at present used for a county 
hospital. 
When completed, in the summer of 1856, the medical 
staff, as organized by the Board of Health, was consti- 
tuted of two bodies—the so-called Allopathic and Homoe- 
opathic Boards—the former consisting of Drs. Geo. K. 
Amerman, De Laskie Miller, Jos. P. Rqss, Geo. Schloet- 
zer, Ralph N. Isham, and Wm. Wagner. The members 
of the regular profession held an indignation meeting 
soon after, in consequence of the mongrel character of 
this organization ; and the newly appointed medical staff 
also held several meetings. Hon. Jno. Wentworth, them 
Mayor of Chicago, and ex-officio member of the Board 
of Health, also endeavored to organize a board of reputa- 
ble practitioners, but failed in the effort. 
It then became evident that, the cholera epidemic hav- 
ing subsided, and the city being charged merely with the 
care of those affected with contagious and infectious 
diseases, there were no patients for whom the city was 
obliged to provide ! The care of the sick poor, both of 
the city and county, devolved upon the latter. Thus the 
building remained unoccupied for a year or two. 
In 1858, Drs. Geo. K. Amerman and J. P. Ross asso- 
ciated themselves with four other medical gentlemen, and 
leased the building from the city authorities, for the pur- 
pose of conducting therein a public hospital for the sick. 
They also secured a contract for the care of the sick poor 
of the county. The medical board was composed of the 
gentlemen already named in the first board, with the 
addition of Drs. Daniel Brainard and S. C. Blake, and 
the exception of Drs. Isham and Wagner. Clinical 
instruction was at once given by these gentlemen for eight 45 
months in the year, chieliy to the students of Rush Col- 
lege, and continued till the summer of 1863. 
At that date the hospital was taken by the Government 
authorities—Chicago having been made a military post 
during the War of the Rebellion, and Drs. Ross and Am- 
erman were placed in charge of the hospital on contract 
service, under the control of the surgeon of the post, Dr. 
Brock. McVickar. In the course of a few months, the 
institution was changed into a Government Hospital for 
the Eye and Ear, and placed in charge of Dr. Jos. Hil- 
dreth, in whose care it remained till the close of the war- 
It was then named the DeMarr Eye and Ear Hospital. 
Drs. Ross and Amerman at once actively interested 
themselves in the re-establishment of the hospital. On 
looking over the field, they became convinced not only 
that the county authorities would look with favor upon 
the organization of a county hospital, but also that, in 
order to compass the end, it would be necessary for one 
of them to become a politician. Dr. Amerman accord- 
ingly secured his election as a Supervisor, and, in 1866, 
the first year of his service as such, he inaugurated and 
organized the Cook County Hospital, for the care of the 
indigent poor, and for the clinical instruction of medical 
students. During this same year, Dr. Amerman was 
obliged to relinquish his official position, on account of 
ill health, and Dr. J. P. Ross was at once elected to fill 
the vacancy, as Supervisor and Chairman of the Hospital 
Committee. The duties incident to this position he con- 
tinued to discharge for the two succeeding years. 
All this was undertaken for the sole purpose of perma- 
nently establishing and perpetuating the institution. It 
is therefore evident that to Dr. J. P. Ross and his old 
friend and colleague, Dr. G. K. Amerman, is solely due 
the honor of conducting to a successful issue, the plans 
for the development of this great municipal charity. 
The names of other public institutions and charities 
of Chicago, in which the profession of the city is inter- «sted, together with the date of the establishment of each, 
are appended in a note.* 
The medical profession of Chicago enters upon this 
•centennial year of national existence, with the names 
of three hundred and sixty-six physicians and surgeons 
enrolled upon its register. Many of these are both hon- 
orable and honored. Of the record made in the past 
they need not be ashamed; in much that has been ac- 
complished they feel a just pride. 
At the same time the experiences of the last forty years 
have taught them the sources of their weakness and 
therefore of their danger. If they have learned anything 
it is this, that to be conscious of deficiency and danger 
is to acquire the alphabet of knowledge—that to render 
any body of men a living power in a community, it is 
needful that each individual member of it should exert 
a wise, wholesome and weighty influence in the circle 
where he moves. They look, therefore, rather to their 
inherent capabilities than to any legislative or other 
source, for growth in reputation and authority. Already 
a tendency has been developed, for the crystallization of 
this power and authority, about certain defined centres. 
That this process is destined to continue until its stand- 
ards are elevated, its code admired and respected, and its 
* Chicago Medical Society, 1836 ; Chicago Protestant Orphan Asylum, 
1849 ; Mercy Hospital, 1850 ; Illinois State Medical Society, 1850 ; Saint 
Joseph’s Orphan Asylum, 1849 ; Chicago Academy of Sciences, 1857 ; 
House of the Good Shepherd, 1859 ; Home for the Friendless, 1859 ; 
Illinois Charitable Eye and Ear Infirmary, 1858 ; Chicago College of 
Pharmacy, 1859 ; Chicago Relief and Aid Society, 1857 ; Nursery and Half 
Orphan Asylum, 1860 ; St. George’s Benevolent Society, 1860 ; St. Luke’s 
Hospital, 1863 ; Old People’s Home, 1865 ; Erring Woman’s Refuge, 1865 ; 
Chicago Hospital for Women and Children, 1865 ; Alexian Brothers’ 
Hospital, 1860 ; Central Dispensary, 1867 ; St. Joseph’s Hospital, 1869 ; 
Washingtonian Home, 1867 ; Uhlich Evangelical Lutheran Association, 
1869 ; State Microscopical Society, 1869; Woman’s Hospital Medical 
College, 1870 ; Woman’s Hospital State of Illinois, 1871; Cook County 
Department of Public Charities, 1872; Foundlings’ Home, 1871; Chicago 
Society of Physicians and Surgeons, 1872 ; Chicago Medico-Historical 
Society, 1874 ; Chicago Medical Press Association, 1874 ; Orphan Girls’ 
Home, 1874. 47 
accidental excrescences removed, no one can doubt. 
Then and only then will it become as fair and as forcible 
in the view of the public, as in the vision of its most 
ardent representatives. The Chicago Medical Journal 
AND EXAMINER. 
Editok : WII.I.IAM H. BYFORD, A.M..M.D. 
Associate Editors : JAMES rl. ETHERIDGE. M.D. ; NORMAN BRIDGE, M.D. j 
JAS. NEVINS HYDE, A M., M.D. ; FERD. C. HOTZ, M.D. 
Published under the auspices ■ f the Chicago Medical Press Association. 
Issued Twelve I imes a Year. 
TERMS—Four Dollars per niiniim in advance Postage Free. 
The Chicago Medical Journal ami Examiner is an entirely new Journal, 
the union of two Journals, possessing in a high degree respectability and influence, 
which have been published in Chicago for a number of years, viz. : 11 The Chicago 
Medical Journal ” and “ The Chicago Medical Examiner.” 
About a year since a few medical gentlemen conceived the idea of starting 
another Journal, which should have no bias toward any institution or party ; one 
in which all members of the profession could unite their energies for the advance- 
ment of medical science. 
With this view the enterprise which finally led to the union of the two existing 
Journals was inaugurated, together with the organization of a joint stock company, 
to be entitled “ The Chicago Medical Press Association,” for the purpose of pub- 
lishing a Medical Journal, and the establishment of a Medical Library and Read- 
ing Rooms for the benefit of tbe members of the Association. 
The organization being completed, the Journals were united under the name ol tl c 
Chicago Mhdjcal Journal and Examiner, and the Medical Press Association 
is responsible for its editorial management 
The Excerpt Department of ‘‘The Medical Journal and Examiner ” will be 
an exceedingly interesting and profitable one. 
Reports from the various Hospitals ami Societies of Chicago will appear upon 
our pages in such a way as to make them a mirror of the practice of our industri- 
ous and accomplished corps of teachers and investigators. 
Correspondence from many of the great cities of this country and Europe will be 
an important feature. 
The Departments of Original Communications, Reports of Societies, Summary 
of Progress, Translations, Clinical Reports of Hospitals and Private Practice, will 
be leading features of the Medical Journal and Examiner. 
It will be observed that The Chicago Medical Journal and Examiner is enlarged 
by the addition of another form of sixteen pages, summing up, in all, ninety-six 
pages; making, at the end of the year, a volume of eleven hundred and fifty-two 
pages. Its capacity will be still further increased by reducing the type of thirty- 
two pages to brevier. 
These two changes will be equivalent to tbe addition of about twenty pages such 
as we have had. 
While the publishers have thus liberally ventured upon the internal improvement 
of the Journal and Examiner, they intend to spare no pains or expense in the 
mechanical execution of the work connected with its publication, to make it 
attractive in appearance. 
There are many Medical Journals published in the United States, all of which 
would be valuable to any physician. Take them all if you are able to do so, but if 
you can afford only one, by all means secure The Chicago Medical Journal and 
Examiner. 
W. B. KEEN, COOKE & CO., 
/’ublishers, 113and 115 State Street, Chicago.