History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

268 History of Medical Practice in Illinoisscribed by the staff and trustees. The entire structure was destroyed in theChicago fire on October 9, 1871. Fortunately, no patients were injured.Funds were provided by the legislature from insurance and from gifts forthe rebuilding of what had become an important public medical institution.A site at Peoria and Adams Street was purchased for $18,000 and thebuilding (still occupied in 1954) was constructed at a cost of $48,ooo. 7Dr. Holmes remained active at the Infirmary long after it had passedfrom private to state ownership, and continued to be its guiding lightalmost to the time of his death. He had been appointed to the faculty ofRush Medical College in i860, and, in 1867, was made a full professor, aposition which he occupied until 1898. During the last ten years of thisperiod he also served as President of the College and was largely responsiblefor the founding of the Presbyterian Hospital. An early member ofthe American Ophthalmological Society which had been established in1864, he took an active part in organized medicine and served as the firstPresident of the Chicago Ophthalmological Society when it was formallyreorganized in 1892. A man of culture in itsbroadest sense and possessedof marked organizational ability, he left a deep impression on the life ofhis time. He died in 1900 after having completed an extremely activemedical career, participating in practically every medical movement in theState of Illinois during that period.Dr. Joseph Sullivan Hildreth was born at Cohassett, Massachusetts, onMay 1,1832. After graduating from the Medical Department of the Universityof Pennsylvania in 1856, he also went to Europe where he studiedunder Desmarres in Paris and Virchow in Berlin. In 1862, he marriedMary Howard of Detroit, daughter of a United States Senator. These familyconnections may have been responsible for his being called to Washingtonto establish an eye and ear hospital for the care of Civil War soldiers.On August 23, 1864, he was placed in charge of a hospital of the samenature in Chicago, the Army having commandeered the City Hospitalat Wentworth Avenue and 18th Street. Under his administration it wasrenamed the Desmarres Hospital. After being evacuated by the Army,this institution was turned over to the county and was reopened as theCook County Hospital on January 1, 1866. Political pressure caused Dr.Hildreth to be appointed aurist and oculist to the new County Hospital.This was not accomplished without vigorous objections as, according toDr. Lyman Ware: "It was thought that an eye specialist was out of placein a general hospital, and that every good all-round surgeon was quitecompetent to treat such cases."7From the humble beginnings of 1858, the Infirmary has increased in size and importanceuntil nearly a century later it handles over 100,000 outpatients and 5000hospital cases per year.