Published August 8, 2021
By Arlis Dittmer
William Samuel Knapheide was born April
14, 1865. His family, originally from Germany, settled in Quincy and started a
wagon manufacturing business in 1848 which continues today. He came from a
large family. He and his sister Melinda Knapheide Germann became physicians. After
high school he went to Gem City Business College and became a bookkeeper. While
working as a bookkeeper at night, he went to Quincy College of Medicine, graduating
in 1889. He continued his studies at Long Island Cottage Hospital in Brooklyn
New York. Traveling to Europe in 1890, he did advanced study in Vienna, Berlin,
and Strasbourg. Returning to Quincy he married Mary Brenner of Fowler in 1892. His
first office was at 522 Maiden Lane which he shared with his sister. They later
shared office space at 435 S. 8th Street and 639 Maine Street.
Just one week after he started his
practice, Knapheide was appointed the house physician for Blessing Hospital, an
affiliation he continued for 49 years. Blessing Hospital was small and local
physicians were the house staff. During those early years, physician appointments
were for six months, and specialties changed over time. Dr. Knapheide held
positions of attending physician, house surgeon, consulting surgeon,
“anaesthetizer,” consulting gynecologist, and at times, obstetrician.
Hospital staff cared for admitted patients
as charity, brought to the hospital by ambulance, or simply dropped off. When a
patient arrived the nursing supervisor would call the physician appropriate for
the case. In 1909 for example, the hospital had thirty surgical cases with
seven cases referred to Dr. Knapheide. All the while he had his own practice
and patients. He advertised his office hours as 7 to 9 am, 1 to 3 pm, and 7 to
9 pm in the newspaper without delineating the days.
Throughout his career, the
newspapers reported accidents and injuries and even seemed to know when Dr.
Knapheide was called to a home. Patient names, locations, and specific case
details were used with the injured or sick having no privacy. An August 30,
1892
Quincy Daily Herald
used the
headline, “One Days’ Accidents” and proceeded to say, “It was a very busy day
for Dr. Knapheide, for they came tumbling on him from all quarters with cuts and
broken members and other injuries.”
Dr. Knapheide saw patients in town
and out of town, and sometimes he was called for consultation in other
counties. The
Quincy Daily Journal
reported in 1897 that he had to spend the
night at a farmer’s house he was passing due to a severe storm. Another 1897
article titled, “Shot in a Melon Patch,” talked about two neighbors, a dog, a
melon patch, and a shot gun. The victim was put in a wagon and taken to Dr.
Knapheide at 11 pm where the doctor removed some of the shot and sent him on to
Blessing Hospital. The shooter claimed he was aiming for the barking dog and
said he did not see the man. He was charged with assault and intent to murder.
The newspaper headlines continued
to be sensational such as “A Needle in His Lungs,” which told the story of
Paul, “the little son of … got a needle down his windpipe and consequently into
its left lung.” “Yesterday Dr. Knapheide performed an operation by which the
little fellow was relieved of the needle.” Or the headline, “Fell Into a
Sewer,” with the story of 10-year-old Ross knocked out by hitting his head
resulting in a concussion and stitches by Dr. Knapheide.
Even in the early part of the 20th
century patients sued their doctors. One case in 1900 against Dr. Knapheide was
about an industrial accident at a mill where the foreman lost part of his hand.
The doctor cared for the injury and saved most of a hand. The patient later
sued saying too much of his hand was saved thus causing blood poisoning.
Privacy was not a concern for the newspaper.
A 1916 an article described a woman who died in an accidental outhouse fire. The
doctor was summoned as was the ambulance which took her to the hospital. Her
name and the details of the accident as well as testimony from the inquest was
reported in detail in the newspaper noting the incident, the witnessing
neighbors, Dr. Knapheide describing the burns, and comments about the deceased suffering
from melancholia thus wondering if the fire was an accident.
Not all newspaper stories about Dr.
Knapheide concerned his patients. One 1895 article titled, “Dr. Knapheide
Dumped” talked about him being thrown from his buggy with his medicine case and
by not giving up the reins, he was dragged down Sixth Street. The horse finally
stopped, and the doctor continued on his way. Much later in his career the
doctor took people to the hospital in his own car which in 1925 was a
Hupmobile. Another story in the
Quincy
Daily
Journal
said, “Dr.
Knapheide was fined for running his automobile through a funeral procession
while on an emergency call.” He violated the city code and was fined $5 plus
court costs which left the newspaper wondering if, “The enforcement of this
ordinance will mean that the fire department will not be allowed to pass
through the lines of a funeral procession in the city of Quincy.”
Damages to the doctor’s property
were reported as were thefts. In 1910 someone took his surgeon’s case out of
his car parked in front of his office. The Daily Herald reported partial
resolution to the crime as “the recovery of the surgeon’s case hidden under a
platform at the plant of the Selby Poultry Co., Fourth and Vermont, the case
ripped open by the bone-headed thief who didn’t have sense enough to spring the
catches.”
Although crimes and accidents are
still reported today, injuries, sicknesses, and problems are held in the
strictest confidence by medical professionals and are not the subject of
newspaper headlines.
Sources
“Dr. Knapheide Has Birthday.”
Quincy Daily Journal
,
April 14, 1915, 2.
“Dr. Knapheide Is Hospital Resident For Needed Rest.”
Quincy
Herald Whig
, October 27, 1937, 13.
“Dr. Knapheide Was Fined.”
Quincy Daily Journal
, June
13, 1907, 5.
“Dr. William S. Knapheide, One of Oldest Physicians In
Quincy Died Monday.”
Quincy Herald Whig,
April 8, 1940, 12.
“Fell Into a Sewer.”
Quincy Daily Herald
, November 5,
1894, 8.
“Minutes Blessing Hospital Board of Lady Managers,
1896-1900.” Quincy IL: Blessing Health System Archives.
“Minutes Blessing Hospital, 1900-1904.” Quincy IL: Blessing
Health System Archives.
“Mrs. Schaller Caught Fire in Outhouse.”
Quincy Daily
Journal
, January 3, 1916,3.
“A Needle in His Lungs.”
Quincy Daily Herald
,
February 10, 1898, 1.
“One Day’s Accidents.”
Quincy Daily Herald
, August
30, 1892, 5.
“Record of the Medical Board of Blessing Hospital,
1878-1915.” Quincy IL: Blessing Health System Archives.
“Recovers Property.”
Quincy Daily Herald
, October 29,
1910, 1.
“Shot in a Melon Patch.”
Quincy Daily Whig,
August
27, 1897, 4.
“The Storm Was Severe Out at Columbus.”
Quincy Daily
Journal
, July 24, 1897, 4.
