Published July 30, 2022
By Arlis Dittmer
Like every city of
significant size, Quincy had a city hospital for its poor and indigent citizens.
Those hospitals were sometimes referred to as the charity hospital, the poor
house or the asylum. Little was written about them. A citizen could see the
costs for maintaining it in the annual city council report. Even the various
histories of Quincy give scant attention to it or for any health and welfare
issue in the community.
Tillson’s
History
of Quincy
, included one sentence in the 1849 chapter, basically complaining
about the costs. “The prevalence pestilence
(cholera) had caused the poor house, pauper, and other accounts to swell
to a large figure… .”
Another sentence
giving the location of the building was in the 1855 chapter, which said, “ Purchase
was made by the city of John Wood, for $8,160 in eight-year bonds, of what was
then called the Hospital grounds (since used for that and other police
purposes), a tract of land of about eight acres lying west of Fifth Street and
south of and adjoining the Woodland cemetery.”
Ironically, while
the city was repairing the building in 1866, John Wood asked the council to
sell the land the hospital was on back to him. The council did not, preferring
to make the surrounding grounds a cemetery as they were adjacent to Woodland
Cemetery.
Physicians
complained to the council about the poor care the residents of the hospital
received. Father Schaefermeyer of St. Boniface Church was so dissatisfied with
the care at the city hospital that he was instrumental in the establishment of St.
Mary Hospital in 1867.
In March 18,1869,
The
Quincy Whig and Republican
ran a lengthy article on page one describing
the conditions within the facility. The subtitle to that newspaper article was,
“What it is and what it should be.” The writer thought the citizens might want
to know where their tax dollars were spent and assumed that the readers knew
little about the hospital. He took the readers on a tour of the hospital with
the superintendent, Mr. Theodore Hobrecker.
The article went
on to say, “… we have a hospital in name but not in fact.” The location was described
as on a hill in the southern part of town, “beautifully situated overlooking
the great Father of Waters and just near enough to the city of the dead to make
it quiet and interesting, as well as convenient for those who are unfortunate
enough to enter its doors.” It was a good-sized brick building, but it was
“dull, cold and cheerless … comfortless.” The writer says, “on the right and
left are rooms, in which the scanty furniture tells of a poverty stricken, or
else careless city government.” He goes on, “…dear friend, you will find
nothing of interest in the twelve spacious rooms except the wan and hungry
faces of those whom the hand of poverty in its last and most unkind stroke has
driven hither.” The article said there
were “eleven unfortunates” in the hospital: three men, five women, and three children.
They were hungry and cold. “Who can gaze upon a scene so distressing, one that
reflects so severely upon a large and Christian city, and refrain from
shuddering.” “The institution is, without a doubt, a disgrace to the growing,
humane city of Quincy.” Was it sadness, real feeling, or sensationalism on the
part of the writer? Or was it a political statement by a Republican newspaper
against a Democrat city council?
Taxes were
collected and distributed to the city hospital. He described the money as
“promiscuously given away,” with “reprehensible carelessness.” He said the authorities’ “ears are too dull
to the wail of the infant, the groan and moan of the starving poor.” He ended
by saying his remarks were made “in good will and friendship for all
concerned…” He just wanted action on the part of the city government.
For several years
after that stinging indictment of the city hospital, little was written about it,
only the mention of small pox or someone dying there after an altercation on a
riverboat. In 1872, the city council put the hospital in charge of the city
physician and renovated the premises. The
separate rooms were turned into two wards, one for men and one for women, a
kitchen was organized, and a matron appointed to manage.
By 1873, the old
city hospital had been much improved by the city physicians which the October
30, 1873
Quincy Whig
complemented by saying they “… have done all they
possibly could do with the beggarly means at their command….” However, that
facility could only hold ten patients and the community was now close to 30,000
people.
About the same
time the newspaper was complaining about the city hospital, a charitable Relief
Association was established in Quincy. This private charity for the poor lasted
a few years and segued into the Ladies Aid Society. By October of 1873, the
association gathered twelve citizens and incorporated themselves under state
law as the Charitable Aid and Hospital
Association
of Quincy Illinois
.
The incorporation
document states that “the object of this Association shall be the relief and
support of sick, destitute and dependent persons and the establishment and
maintenance of an Infirmary and Hospital in said City of Quincy.” In July of
1874, some members of the city council wanted to turn over the city hospital to
this new association while others wanted to sell the facility and grounds. The
Association was under contract with the Trustees of the Board of Supervisors
“for the care and support of the poor and indigent paupers of the city of
Quincy.”
Throughout 1874,
the Relief Association took care of the poor and was in charge of the city
hospital south of Woodland Cemetery. By the end of the year, it was obvious
that the city hospital was not equipped to care for the sick and St. Mary
Hospital was often full. Money was raised, a plan was developed, and Blessing
Hospital opened in May of 1875.
Arlis Dittmer is a retired health science librarian and current president of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County. During her years with Blessing Health System, she became interested in medical and nursing history—both topics frequently overlooked in history.
Sources
Certificate
of Incorporation of the Charitable Aid and Hospital Association of Quincy,
Illinois,
October 27, 1873. Quincy, IL: Blessing
Archives.
“The City Hospital Or Pest House.” Quincy Whig and Republican, March 18, 1869, 4.
“City Hospital.” The Herald, April 13, 1872, 4.
“City Hospital.” The Herald, April 18, 1872, 4.
“Council Proceedings.” Daily Whig and Republican, March 13,
1866, 2.
“Council Proceedings.” Daily Quincy Herald, March 27, 1866, 3.
“Council Proceedings.” The
Herald, July 22, 1874, 4.
“ Hospitals.”
Hospitals
(chicagohistory.org)
“Medical Colleges And Hospitals.” Quincy
Whig, October 30, 1873, 4.
“The New Workhouse.” Daily Whig and Republican, June 18,
1868, 4.
“The Paupers.” The Quincy Whig,
September 4, 1874, 1.
“Quincy Medical College, City
Hospital, etc.” Daily Evening Call, October 14, 1873, 4.
Report
of the Charitable Aid and Hospital Association: To the Public [Brochure].
Quincy, IL:
Blessing Archives,
1877.
“Reports.” Quincy Whig and Republican, March 5, 1872, 4.
Tillson, Gen. John. “History of Quincy.” In
Past
and Present of the City of Quincy and Adams
County Illinois,
William H. Collins and Cicero F. Perry, 133 & 160. Chicago: The S. J.
Clarke Publishing Co., 1905.
