THE WORTHINGTON MEDICAL COLLEGE
By JONATHAN
FORMAN, M. D.
Those of you who drove in to this
meeting may have noted,
as you approached Columbus, the remnants
of our pioneer days
which still set forth clearly the
identity of our original settlers.
Those of you who came from the west or
southwest along high-
ways 3, 40, or 42, should have been
impressed with the large
farms with the original masters' houses
set way back from the
road, reminiscent of Virginia from where
came the original set-
tlers. Those who came in from the east
will have noted small
farms, the older houses smaller and of
brick, the farming more
intensive--reminiscent of Pennsylvania.
Those who came in from
the north certainly must have been
struck with the appearance
of the village of Worthington just
before you came into the cor-
poration limits of Columbus.
Worthington, with its village square
around which are
grouped its churches with their tall
spires, is a typical New Eng-
land village. This New England culture
extends along the old
Urbana-Granville pike to that other New
England village of Gran-
ville. If you had stopped to investigate
you would have found
the house of New England Lodge No. 4, F.
& A. M., chartered
October 19, 1803, which moved into this
home on December 27,
1827.
Just south of the square is the home of Corbin Under-
taking Establishment. This was the first
brick building erected
in the town of Worthington. At first it
was a tavern but in
1811 the Western Intelligencer, Worthington's
first newspaper,
moved in. In 1818 this paper was moved
to Columbus to become
finally our present Ohio State
Journal. The original ash flooring
in the upstairs is still in use and
parts of the stairs of the build-
ing are identical with that of its
beginning. Farther down street,
towards Columbus, is the Central Hotel,
the north portion of
which was built in 1833. There, too, is
the St. John's Protestant
Episcopal Church which opened its doors
on January 23, 1831.
(373)
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OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
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James Kilbourne, the founder of the
town, served for several
years as its minister.
Now let us go back for a few minutes to
study the character
of this man who founded Worthington on a
tract of 16,000 acres
"on the bank of the Whetstones,
nine miles above Franklinton."
In his report to his land company--The
Scioto Company, Kil-
bourne reported his exploration in the
spring and summer of
1802, "the excellence of the trees and the 1,000 acre meadow, the
fertility of the soil and the oak
timber, in fact, every thing possibly
desirable was there except the
healthfulness of the country." Of
this Kilbourne said:
Respecting the healthfulness of this
country, I have to repeat that it
is in fact sickly, in a
considerable degree. At the first settlement, it was
thought to be very healthy, there being
only a few cases of ague and fever;
but in the fall of 1800 a bilious fever
took place of which many were sick
in the lowest situations and some died.
In the summer and autumn of
1801, the fever made its appearance
again with more terror. Almost all
were sick, both in towns and country, so
that it became difficult, in many
instances, to get tenders for the sick.
In many instances whole families
were down at a time and many died. . . .
What seems strange to me is
that the Indians who were natives of the
country are as subject to the
disorder as the whites.
Of the few who remain in the territory
some are now sick with it
and they say it has always been so, and
that they have often been obliged
to move back from the meadows and
bottoms where they always lived, into
the woods and uplands during the sickly
season to escape it.
Colonel Worthington [then register in
the land-office at Chillicothe]
who is a gentlemen of first rate
information, informed me that these families
were careful in their manner of living
and housing from the damp air and
fogs, they generally avoid the fever;
that many families, particularly his
own and Mr. Windstrips, by prudence, had
almost wholly excaped and he
is of the opinion that when a little
more opened and more meadows im-
proved by planting, mowing and feeding
so that the immense vegetation
does not putrify on the ground, and be
wafted about in the air [this] will
become as healthy as any country
whatever.
This report went back with its author,
James Kilbourne, to
Granby, Connecticut, where he then
resided and where he had
organized that year (1802) the Scioto
Company.
James Kilbourne was born in New Britain,
Connecticut, on
October 19, 1770. The War of
Independence swept away nearly
OHIO
MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 375
all of his father's property who up to
that time had been a pros-
perous farmer. Three members of his
family perished and the
father lost his reason. At 16, young
James went forth on his
own, working on farms, learning what he
could from interested
and educated friends. He apprenticed
himself to a clothier and
became in a very few years the
prosperous head of this establish-
ment when he was 19. He won the hand
of Miss Mary Fitch,
daughter of John Fitch of Philadelphia,
the inventor of steam
navigation.
At the solicitation of friends he took
orders in the Protestant
Episcopal Church and he occasionally
held services, but he declined
all invitations to take a permanent
parish. He wanted to go out
west and in this he was spurred on by
his father-in-law. So when
Ohio was admitted as a free state--a
very touchy point with Kil-
bourne and his people--they set out for
the Ohio country, April
7, 1803, to found their own settlement. He took a millwright,
a blacksmith, nine laborers and a family
in two wagons.
Worthington's first private school was
held in a log cabin.
It was, of course, a subscription
school. In 1808, the school was
moved to provide a site for the
Worthington Academy. This
academy of higher education was soon
housed in a red-brick two-
story building. In 1819 the
charter of Worthington Academy
was revoked and a charter was granted by
the Ohio legislature
to Worthington College empowering it to
confer "all the degrees
and the literary honors granted a
similar institution [liberal arts
and sciences]." This became a
thriving institution with Bishop
Chase as its president and when his
influence was directed away
to Gambier and Kenyon College,
Worthington College declined.
Acting upon the conviction that his idea
of medicine was to
take root in the mighty West, Dr.
Wooster Beach, the Reformed
Botanic, or as he elected to call
himself "the Eclectic," issued a
circular and sent it to various points
in the West and the South,
the object being to found a location for
a Reformed Medical
College. Fortunately, one of these circulars came into the hands
of Kilbourne. Accordingly, at the
instance of Kilbourne, the
Board of Trustees of the Worthington
College sent an invitation
to Beach in New York City offering him
the use of their charter
376
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
and building for his proposed medical
school in the West. The
college charter was properly amended in
1829 and with this the
plans for the medical school were
complete. Worthington College
offered the edifice as well as the
amended charter.
It might be well to return to New York
to see who this
doctor was who was sending out circulars
seeking a place for a
"reformed medical school."
Wooster Beach, M. D., "the founder
of eclecticism," was born in
Trumbull, Connecticut, in 1794.
Early he showed an ardent passion for
research in the fields of
medicine and theology and grew to have
many very positive ideas
of his own in each of these fields. For
some of these he was in-
debted to a celebrated botanic
physician, Dr. Ferris, and to ar
old German doctor, Dr. Jacob Tidd of
Amwell, Hunterdon County,
New Jersey, with whom he studied and
practised. He later at-
tended a course of lectures in the
"University of the State of
New York during the time Drs. Post,
Hosack, Mott, and others
were professors." At this time such
a diploma and a membership
in the New York Medical Society were
necessary to practise in
the city of New York.
In 1825 he located at 93 Eldridge
Street. He became opposed
to large doses of mercury and bleeding.
Through the criticism
of medical practice by Benjamin Rush,
James Hamilton, and
James Gregory, he was "convinced
that the present practice of
physic and surgery, so far from being
founded in connecting
principles, was actually a curse to
society." Since his days with
Tidd he had been seeking to extend his
knowledge from scholarly
physicians, Indian doctors, female
practitioners, followers of
Thomsonianism or any from whom he
thought he could learn.
One time Beach was setting forth his
notions of retaining what
was useful in the old practice, when a
friend exclaimed half dis-
dainfully, "You are an
Eclectic." Beach quickly replied, "You
have given me the term which I have
wanted; I am an Eclectic!"
Soon after he located for practice in
New York City he con-
ceived a plan for a clinical institution
and medical school and so
in 1827 he opened the United States
Infirmary and in 1829 the
Reformed Medical Academy which in 1839
became the Reformed
Medical College. It, however, did not
succeed in getting a charter
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 377
from the state and so was compelled to
give certificates of member-
ship in the "Reform Medical Society
of the United States, W.
Beach, President [established in 1829]." The
other founders of
this national society included Thomas
Vaughan Morrow, M. D., of
Fairview, Kentucky, Ichabod Gibson
Jones, M. D., of New York
and John J. Steele, M. D., of Fayette
County, Pennsylvania.
Others associated with this New York
Reformed Medical School
were John J. King of New York, James
Wood who later became
a well known surgeon in New York City.
The Worthington Reformed Medical College
was located in
the oblong two-storied brick structure,
well lighted and painted
a bright red color. Surmounting it was a
cupola protecting a
bell which is still used in Worthington
to call the children to
school. The anatomy room, well lighted,
was equipped like an
amphitheatre. According to J. H.
Creighton of Lithopolis, Ohio,
who was a graduate of the school, the
college possessed excellent
chemical apparatus.
Dr. John J. Steele was commissioned to
establish the school
but he appears to have gotten into
trouble locally by indulging in
habits incompatible with the moral sense
of the community. The
new institution finally opened for
students in December, 1830.
When Steele left, Morrow succeeded him
as president. Coming
just before him to the town was Jones
who later moved to the
northeast corner of State and Third
streets in Columbus, where
for many years he enjoyed quite the
largest following of any
physician in Columbus. His daughter
recently died at an ex-
treme old age and the old home has just
been torn down to make
room for a parking lot.
Also came Jonathan Roberts Paddock, M.
D., from Connecti-
cut to teach chemistry, pharmacy,
botany, and materia medica. He
succeeded J. I. Riddell who resigned the
chair to fill the chair
of chemistry in the University of
Louisiana and later joined the
Medical Department of Cincinnati
College. Paddock became a
close friend of William Sullivant of
Columbus, whose fame as
a botanist was international.
Truman E. Mason, who taught anatomy and
physiology, was
a good anatomist and an interesting
lecturer, it was generally
378 OHIO
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
agreed. Professor J. B. Day has been
characterized as a "fine
lecturer but was not so decidedly for
the reform as was Dr.
Morrow."
In July, 1838, Mason resigned and
Richard P. Catly, M. D.,
succeeded him. This was conceded to be a
mistake for he soon be-
came "a bitter enemy to the further
advancement of the school,
and adopted most unwarrantable measures
to effect its destruc-
tion." It is interesting to note that all members of the faculty
were M. D.'s. Of course, they were in a
position to correct any
omission of this character which might
have occurred.
Fees were comparable with those of other
medical schools
of the day, quoting thence of 1839.
For fall and winter terms:
"Anatomy and Psysiology, T. V.
Morrow, M.D. $12.00
"Chemistry and Medical
Jurisprudence, G. W. Chevais, M.D. $12.00.
"Theory and Practice of Medicine,
and Midwifery, C. B. Day, M.D.
$10.00.
"Surgery, Disease of Women and
Children, I. G. Jones, M.D. $10.00.
"Botany, Materia Medica, and
Pharmacy, J. R. Paddock, M.D. $10.00.
"Fees for spring and summer course
each professor's ticket $5.
"Use of dissection room, $5,
optional. Graduation fee $10."
The above fees served five lectures
daily for five months in
the fall and winter. The spring course
of lectures were held on
alternate days for three months. The
summer courses were neces-
sary for field work in botany.
Beginning auspiciously in full public
favor at Worthington,
the college early got such a popular
hold that a "regular" doctor,
Kingsley Ray, M. D., whose principal
claim to fame arose from
the fact that he himself carried the
first quinine into Columbus
in 1824, was forced to shift the scene
of his work from the village,
and other regulars did not dare to try
to locate there.
In the autumn of 1830 a Mrs. Cramm of
Marietta, Ohio,
died in the State Lunatic Asylum then
located at Broad and Wash-
ington streets in Columbus. Owing to the
deep mud in the roads,
her relatives did not arrive in time to
claim her body and it was
buried in the Potter's field in the old
graveyard near High and
Vine streets where North Market now
stands. When the family
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY, 1835-1858 379
arrived they found her grave empty. Two
other graves had been
disturbed and suspicion pointed to the
Worthington Medical Col-
lege.
Shortly after this a rumor reached
Worthington that a body
of armed men was on its way from
Delaware to search the college
for bodies. President Morrow, the
faculty, the students and the
friends of the college armed themselves
with pistols and shot-
guns and every kind of firearm that they
could procure, and forti-
fied themselves in the building.
The mob arrived. A lawyer named Thomas
W. Powell from
Delaware made an inflammatory speech.
The infuriated mob
rushed into the president's office and
into his residence to search
them. They found nothing there, but in a
corn shock back of
the college building, they did find the
body of a Negro. This
maddened them still more.
Battering rams were improvised and made
ready for use. A
pitched battle was about to begin when
someone gave the keys
of the college building into the hands
of the mob. Morrow, see-
ing that resistance was useless, offered
to surrender and close
the college provided the faculty be
allowed to take all movable
property. The request was granted and
the Worthington Re-
formed Medical College was closed.
The legislature on March 20, 1840, passed an
act to amend
an act entitled:
An Act to establish a college in the
town of Worthington. Section I.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
the State of Ohio. that, so
much of the first section of an act
entitled, an act to establish a college in
the town of Worthington, as may be
construed as to authorize the trustees
of said college to confer medical
degrees, be, and the same is hereby repealed.
THOMAS J. BUCHANAN
Speaker of H. R.
WM. MCLAUGHLIN,
Speaker of Senate
Morrow removed the school to Cincinnati
where it became
the Eclectic Medical Institute of
Cincinnati. Wooster Beach him-
self joined the faculty. Not all of the
Worthington faculty went
with the school for in the graveyard of
St. John's Church lie the
bodies of Jonathan Robert Paddock and
Benjamin Franklin John-
son.