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Newton Thomas Enloe, M.D. |
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Born at Barton, Lamar County, Missouri on February 23, 1872, a son of Thomas Murray Enloe and Nancy Frances Vanpool, grandson of Enoch Enloe and Jane Compton Murray, and great grandson of the Honorable James Enloe and Nancy Jane Simpson, received his schooling in the public schools in the Russellville area. He then graduated from Hooper Institute at Clarksburg, Mo., and then off to Louisville Medical College for a year and finally earned his M.D. degree from the Missouri Medical College in St. Louis where he graduated in 1895. After graduation, he took several post-graduate courses at the Chicago Postgraduate School and the New York Polyclinic.
His first hospital, was a small five bedroom home, which he built with his own hands of scrap lumber. He treated lumberjacks of the camp for a fee of $1.00 per month. The lumber company provided board for himself, his 2 year old son Newton, Jr. and his 16 year old sister Emma. He worked for the Sierra Lumber Company for six years, and it was through them that he went to California in 1901. He worked as chief surgeon for the lumber company, which sold out to the Diamond Match Company. In 1907 he left for Chico and began his general practice clinic and then in 1913 he began to build a fine hospital, which opened September of the same year, located on Flume Street. It is called the Enloe Hospital and is still in use today. The hospital has grown from a small thirty-eight bed facility to a 391-bed state-of-the-art hospital, now called the Enloe Medical Center. With seven locations throughout the Chico area, it serves over 400,000 residents in a six county region, which also includes a Flightcare Helicopter Program.
Dr. Enloe and his efforts in organizing and building up his hospital was recognized by the State Board of Health and placed his training school on the accredited list of training schools for nurses in January of 1917. He served for a time as President of the Chico Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of the Board of Education when Chico High School was built, and was a member of the American College of Surgeons as well as the American Medical Association. He also volunteered for service in the Medical Reserve Corps of the United States Army in June of 1918 and was commissioned as Captain on June 28th and then assigned to active duty on July 13th at the Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco.
Newton first married Emma E. Leslie on November, 14, 1895. No children were born to this marriage. He then married Winnie Herrick on December 28, 1897. One child was born to this marriage, Newton Thomas Enloe, Jr. After divorcing Winnie, he moved to California where he married Isabell Manfield. He then married Dorothy Schram. To this marriage 3 children were born: Thomas Schram, Nancy Adell, and Ida Marie.
Dr. N.T. Enloe passed away in the hospital he built on December 21, 1954, at the age of 82. He had been in critical condition since suffering from a heart attack the week prior. Funeral services were held at the Bidwell Memorial Presbyterian Church and burial is in the family plot of Chico Cemetery. Dr. Enloe will long be remembered by the community of Chico for his contributions that made this town a more stable place to live.
Submitted by: Kelly Hagen
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