PIONEER PHYSICIANS AND THEIR
PARTICIPATION
IN THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIAL
INSTITUTIONS IN OHIO
By ROBERT G. PATERSON, Ph.D.
Participation of the pioneer physicians
in the establishment
of social institutions in Ohio during
the period 1788-1835 was
sporadic, without long term vision and
was born of the immediate
necessities of the times. Almost without
exception, such partici-
pation was confined to a few outstanding
medical men. They were,
as a rule, men of strong individual
personalities and born leaders.
In the period under discussion the names
of four medical
men stand out from the rank and file of
the profession--Daniel
Drake, M.D. (1785-1852) of Cincinnati,
who has so many "firsts"
attached to his activities that he has
been called with entire justice
the "Colossus of the Medical
Profession of the West," and
William Maclay Awl, M.D. (1799-1876),
Samuel Parsons, M.D.
(1786-1857), and Robert Thompson, M.D.
(1797-1865), all of
Columbus.
Ohio Penitentiary
The first state institution in Ohio was
the penitentiary. An act
of the General Assembly passed January
27, 1815, and effective
the following August 1, provided that
the punishment for larceny
should be imprisonment in the
penitentiary. It provided that the
offender, upon conviction of the larceny
of the value of ten dol-
lars and upward, should be imprisoned in
the penitentiary at hard
labor not more than seven years nor less
than one year. This
institution was a part of the basic
agreement between the state
of Ohio and a private company which
agreed to erect the neces-
sary buildings as a part of other
considerations for the establish-
ment of the seat of the state government
at Columbus. So far as
(224)
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 225
we have been able to ascertain no
influence of any medical man
appears in connection with this
institution.1
Cincinnati
About the same time in the year 1815 a
hospital was estab-
lished in Cincinnati by the township
trustees for the accommoda-
tion of sick and indigent persons. It
was a rented house on Vine
Street above Sixth Street and was
ill-adapted for its purpose and
passed out of existence in 1821.2
Commercial Hospital and Lunatic
Asylum
On January 22, 1821, the General
Assembly of Ohio passed
an act establishing a commercial
hospital and lunatic asylum for
the state of Ohio. Drake created this
institution almost single-
handed. It was a direct outgrowth of his
activities in establishing
the Medical College of Ohio.3
At the very beginning of the first
session of the Medical
College of Ohio in 1820 Drake prepared
the bill
and laid it before the township trustees
of Cincinnati. The trustees agreed
to the bill and cooperated with Drake in
his appeal to the General Assembly.
Serving in the General Assembly was
William H. Harrison, future Presi-
dent of the United States and a loyal
friend of Drake who gave yeoman
service to the proposal.4 Governor
Ethan Allen Brown of Ohio, also lent
his aid. Drake came to Columbus and
after a month of laborious explana-
tion and personal effort the bill became
a law. The state, having in view
the relief of her sick boatmen, gave a
small sum of money to assist in the
erection of a house, and pledged,
forever, half the auction duties of the
city of Cincinnati toward the support of
the patients. The township
was to supply the remainder, and the
professors of the college were to be
its medical and surgical attendants,
with the privilege of introducing their
pupils for clinical instruction; the
fees of admission were to constitute
a fund for the purchase of chemical
apparatus, anatomical preparations
and books for the college.
To him [Drake] the two
institutions were really one. They were
1 Jacob Studer, Columbus, Ohio, Its History, Resources and Progress (Columbus,
0., 1878), 368.
2 Otto Juettner, Daniel Drake and
His Followers (Cincinnati, O., 1909), 398.
3 Ibid., 399.
4 A. C. Bachmeyer, "The Hospitals of Cincinnati during the Past
Century," Uni-
versity of Cincinnati, Medical
Bulletin (Cincinnati, O., 1920-), I, no. 1 (Nov. 1920),
27.
226
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
mutually dependent upon each other, and
contributed, in their united ca-
pacity to the promotion of medical
science and the relief of human suffering.
Drake was far ahead of his time in his
estimation of hospital instruc-
tion as a necessary part of medical
education. In discussing this subject
before the class he spoke as follows:
"And here allow me to say, that all
the tendencies of the age are to
the study of medicine and surgery in
hospitals. In the arrangement for the
session now opened, the faculty have
made ample provision for clinical
teaching, by assigning each alternate
afternoon to the hospital. . . ."
The original Commercial Hospital and
Lunatic Asylum of
Ohio was a combination of a hospital, an
insane asylum, an
infirmary, a poorhouse and an orphanage.
It was the parent
institution from which sprang the Orphan
Asylum, the City
Infirmary, the Cincinnati Hospital and
Longview Hospital for
the Insane.
Cincinnati Eye Infirmary
In 1827, Dr. Daniel Drake opened on
Third Street between
Main and Walnut Streets, the Cincinnati
Eye Infirmary in con-
junction with Dr. Jedediah Cobb. This
institution became the
clinical department of the Medical Department
of the Cincinnati
College in June 27, 1835, and continued
as such until 1839 when
the Commercial Hospital was thrown open,
by an act of the Gen-
eral Assembly, to students in both the
Medical College of Ohio
and Cincinnati College.5
At the Medical State Convention held in
Columbus, Decem-
ber 10, 18276 we find Dr. Drake seeking
support from his peers.
He sent a memorial to the meeting
"praying for countenance and
support to an institution recently
established by him, called the
'Cincinnati Eye Infirmary.'"
The convention adopted unanimously the
following resolu-
tion:--
Resolved, That this Convention highly
approves the foundation and
objects of the Cincinnati Eye Infirmary,
established by and now under the
direction of Daniel Drake, M.D., and
believe this gentleman is qualified in
an imminent [sic] degree, to
superintend an establishment of this kind,
5 Juettner, Daniel Drake, 58,
186.
6 Medical State Convention, Proceedings
. . . begun and Held in the Town of
Columbus, December 10, 1827 (Zanesville, O., 1828), 2.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 227
and do therefore recommend it to the
favorable consideration of the public
and the patronage of the Legislature.
Ohio School for the Deaf
The next state institution to be
established was the Deaf and
Dumb Asylum which was made possible by
an act of the General
Assembly in 1827. The school was opened
October 16, 1829, in a
small building rented for the purpose at
the northwest corner of
High and Broad Streets. In 1834 it was
removed to its present
location on East Town Street.
No mention of this subject is to be
found in the proceedings
of the medical conventions of 1827 or
1829. But official records
reveal the interest of the medical
profession in that several phy-
sicians served on the board of trustees
of the institution: Dr.
Lincoln Goodale, Columbus, 1830-1835;
Dr. Samuel Parsons,
Columbus, 1830-1838; and Dr. Robert
Thompson, Columbus,
1832-1849.7
Ohio School for the Blind
While the Ohio School for the Blind was not
founded by an
act of the General Assembly until 1837
yet the agitation for such
an institution had its beginnings in the
sessions of the medical
convention in 1835.
At the first session of "a
Convention of Physicians of Ohio"
held in Columbus, January 5-7, 1835, a
resolution was adopted
"that Dr. Daniel Drake be requested
to deliver an address on the
subject of the Instruction of the Blind,
tomorrow (Wednesday)
evening, at half past 6 o'clock, and
that both Houses of the Legis-
lature of Ohio be respectfully invited
to attend."8
Contemporary newspaper accounts indicate
that Drake cov-
ered the subject with his characteristic
thoroughness and fervor.
He introduced a resolution in the
convention which "Resolved,
That a committee of three members be
appointed to prepare a
report and resolutions on the subject of
a school for the Educa-
tion of the Blind, to be established by
the Legislature of Ohio in
7 E.
Howard Gilkey, The Ohio Hundred
Year Book (Columbus, O., 1901), 710-11.
8 Medical Convention of Ohio, Journal
of the Proceedings of a Convention of
Physicians of Ohio Held in the City of Columbus (Cincinnati,
0., 1835), 7.
228
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the City of Columbus." Upon
adoption of the resolution the presi-
dent, Dr. Peter Allen, appointed Doctors
Drake, D. W. Rhodes
of Muskingum County, and Samuel Parsons
to serve on the
committee.9
As chairman of the committee Drake
submitted a report
which estimated the number of blind
persons in the state at 500
as a minimum, or one for every 2000
inhabitants. The committee,
he said, was "decidedly of the
opinion, that it is the duty of the
state to create an institution, where
the permanently blind may
receive that instruction which will
enable them to participate more
extensively in the enjoyments of
society; provide for their own
support, and fit themselves for a state
of happy future existence."
After pointing out the peculiar methods
of instruction, their
practicability and their expensive
nature, he then concludes that
the task can be accomplished and that
the blind may learn with
equal facility as those not deprived of
their sight; that they can
be taught useful mechanical and musical
arts.
In the opinion of the committee, these
views only, should induce the
General Assembly to extend its fostering
arm over these children of mis-
fortune; but there is a different aspect
in which the subject may be pre-
sented. From the difficulty under
which the poorer classes of society do
now and must forever labor, in
obtaining early and efficient medical aid,
a large proportion of the blind in every
community, belong to that order in
society. Many of these bereaved and pitiable members of the
community
are, therefore, perpetually sinking into
pauperism, and becoming permanent
charges upon the townships, while if
they were taught some profitable
mechanical occupation, they would be
able to support themselves.
The report then reviews acts of Congress
and the state of
Ohio to provide for the financial
support of free popular educa-
tion and concludes that "the blind,
at the present time, enjoy no
participation in these public
provisions, although in equity they
are entitled to an equal, in charity to
a larger, share, than other
children; and hence their claims rest on
the broad foundations
of justice and humanity."10
Following the discussions before the
convention in January
9 Ibid., 6.
10 Ibid., 14-16.
PIONEER PHYSICIANS OF OHIO 229
the General Assembly of Ohio on March
11, 1836, appointed a
board of trustees, consisting of Rev.
James Hoge, a minister;
N. H. Swayne, a lawyer, and Dr. William
Maclay Awl, a phy-
sician, to collect information relative
to the education of the blind
in letters and mechanical arts. The
information collected was
communicated to the legislature, in
December, 1836, in a very
elaborate report. The act establishing
the institution was passed
April 3, 1837. Fifteen thousand dollars
were appropriated for the
erection of suitable buildings, and ten
thousand dollars for the
purchase of books and apparatus.
In passing, it may be proper to observe
that the entire pro-
ceedings from the time Drake initiated
the idea to its final con-
clusion is a model of logical, effective
and swift action. The Ohio
School for the Blind is directly
traceable to the medical profes-
sion of Ohio.
Central Ohio Asylum for Lunatics
Much the same course of events applies
to the central Ohio
Asylum for Lunatics (now the Columbus
State Hospital) as has
been recounted in connection with the
establishment of the School
for the Blind. In the same
"Convention of Physicians of Ohio," in
1835, Dr. Robert Thompson introduced the
following resolution
which was adopted unanimously:
"Resolved, That a committee
of five be appointed to inquire into the
expediency of memorial-
izing the Legislature of Ohio upon the
subject of a Lunatic Asy-
lum, and make report thereon."
The committee appointed consisted of Dr.
Robert Thompson,
Franklin County; Dr. Edwin W. Smith,
Montgomery County;
Dr. William Maclay Awl, Franklin County;
Dr. John Eberle and
Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell, Hamilton
County.11
The report of the committee which was
adopted unanimously
was in the nature of a memorial
addressed to the General As-
sembly of Ohio. A preamble stated:
Humanity and the character of the state
of Ohio, call imperiously for
the erection of an Asylum that will be
creditable to the State, and in all
11 Ibid., 6.
230
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
respects adapted to the relief and care
of mental derangement. On this
topic, it is believed that no diversity
of opinion obtains in the medical
profession; and under these impressions,
the Committee beg leave to submit
for your consideration the following
memorial to the Legislature now in
session.12
It was estimated by the committee that
there were between
600 and 1000 insane persons in the state
without proper care and
means of recovery. After citing the
inadequacy of the "Com-
mercial Hospital and Lunatic
Asylum" at Cincinnati and its
inconvenient location so far as the
remainder of the state was
concerned, the committee recommended
that the institution be
located in Columbus as more centrally
accessible to the entire
state.
Again we see the smooth consummation of
an idea. The legis-
lature passed an act March 5, 1835,
organizing the "Lunatic Asy-
lum of Ohio" and Drs. Samuel
Parsons and William Maclay Awl
of Columbus together with General Samuel
F. McCracken of
Lancaster were appointed directors. In
July, 1835, thirty acres
of land were purchased for a site and a
building was erected at
a cost of about $61,000.00. On May 21,
1838, Awl was elected
medical superintendent by the trustees
and the first patient was
received on November 30, 1838.
Here then, is another social
institution, directly traceable to
the activities of the medical profession
of Ohio. In the intervening
years this institution has grown into a
net-work of similar institu-
tions over the state. The interest of
the pioneer physicians of the
state in the creation and establishment
of social institutions never
flagged. Throughout the proceedings of
the medical conventions
of Ohio whenever the meetings were held
in Columbus there is
constant reference to acceptance of
invitations to visit the Ohio
Penitentiary, the schools for the Deaf
and the Blind and the State
Hospital.
And the outstanding leaders in this
direction were Dr. Dan-
iel Drake, Dr. William Maclay Awl, Dr.
Samuel Parsons and Dr.
Robert Thompson. And the greatest of
these was Dr. Daniel
Drake.
12 Ibid., 25.