Onondaga General Hospital

Text Source: Syracuse and Its Environs, by Franklin H. Chase, Lewis Historical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL, 1924, pg. 495.

In 1917 was established the Onondaga General Hospital in the Senator Frank Hiscock Homestead at 415 West Onondaga Street, at the end of South West Street. In 1923 Herbert Hess was president, Tennyson L. Deavor vice-president, Harry N. Clark secretary, Annie Ballantyne superintendent, and Frederick S. George treasurer.

Onondaga County Medical Society, 1906-1956, by Stanley A. Groman, M.D., The Onondaga County Medical Society?, Syracuse? 1956, pp. 63-64.

The Onondaga General Hospital was founded by Dr. Tennyson Deavor as a general surgical hospital. The hospital was incorporated May 15, 1919. The original founders were Drs. Deavor, Schumacher, Benham, and Leroy Greer. Dr. Tennyson Deavor, the founder of the hospital was a famous thyroid surgeon. He taught anatomy at the Syracuse College of Medicine. Prior to the establishment of the hospital, he did surgery at the Hospital of the Good Shepherd.

The original Onondaga General Hospital was started as a 40 bed hospital with the purchase of Senator Frank Hiscock's home on West Onondaga Street. Mr. Frank Hiscock was United States Senator from 1887 to 1893. At that time West Onondaga Street was considered the finest residential street in Syracuse. Upon the death of Senator Hiscock, June 18, 1914, the home was used by Rev. William A. (Billy) Sunday for his revival campaigns. Dr. Deavor and the men associated with him purchased the Hiscock home and thus began the Onondaga General Hospital. The first superintendent of the hospital was Miss Ballantyne.

Nurses were trained in the old hospital. At that time the nursing classes were not as large as they are in present day hospitals. Mrs. Frieda Savage, the present night supervisor of nurses and Mrs. Ann Kulba, the operating room supervisor are graduates of the old hospital. The nurses resided in a nursing home on Lincoln Avenue and Temple Street. The training of nurses continued until 1939. Some the graduates of this hospital are still doing active duty at the hospital. Miss Mary Agnes Kelley, the director of nurses graduated in 1938, Charlotte Pfohl class of 1937, Mrs. Anne Smith class of 1939, Mrs. Alice DeFlorio class of 1937.

As the City of Syracuse grew it became apparent that the Hiscock home was not the answer for a good general surgical hospital. Dr. Deavor secured the services of the building of a new hospital. A portion of the land was sold to the First Trust & Deposit Company for $125,000.00. The rest of the Hiscock land was used for the building site of the new Onondaga General Hospital. Over 7,000 people subscribed $200,000.00 towards the new hospital building. An additional sum of $100,000.00 was obtained by a first mortgage. The corner stone of the new hospital was laid in 1927. The new building was dedicated on December 9, 1928. Miss Shear became superintendent of the new hospital. There were 70 beds in the new building. It was entirely fireproof.

The first Board of Directors of the new hospital consisted of: Frank C. Love, Dr. T. L. Deavor, George N. Crouse, Dr. F. S. George, W. A. Drinkwine, Edward Eagan, Lewis E. Ireland, Dr. George E. Luke, S. Holt Starin, Edward D. Vinal.

The staff of the new hospital was as follows: Dr. F. R. Benham, Dr. B. F. Colegrove, Dr. T. L. Deavor, Dr. B. M. Domser, Dr. E. J. Eckel, Dr. H. Leland Fifield, Dr. C. B. Frawley, Dr. Leroy T. Geer, Dr. F. S. George, Dr. Mark Heiman, Dr. George E. Luke, Dr. R. W. Mills, Dr. I. A. Oberlander, Dr. D. T. Ostrander, Dr. C. L. Schlosser, Dr. Orton E. White, Dr. B. A. Hall, Dr. L. L. Kelley, Dr. R. L. Sullivan.

The new hospital became a member of the American Hospital Association on September 12, 1929. Mr. Max Rosenbloom became one of the directors of the hospital in February 1930. He was elected as president of the Board of Directors in 1938 and has served in that capacity to the present day. The next superintendent that followed Miss Shear was Miss Constance M. Johnson.

On January 3, 1931, Dr. Tennyson Deavor, the Chief of Staff and founder of the Onondaga General Hospital passed away. Following the death of Dr. Deavor, the superintendency of the hospital was taken over by Dr. Fifield on December 14, 1932.

Dr. B. F. Colegrove, a graduate of Syracuse University, class of 1908 became superintendent on January 12, 1938. Dr. Colegrove served for 22 months as commanding officer of a 300 bed hospital at St. Amond, Mount Rond, France. He attained the rank of Major in the United States Army. For fourteen years he served under Dr. Guthrie at the Robert Packer Hospital at Sayre, Pennsylvania. Under Dr. Colegrove's able leadership, the hospital paid off most of the mortgage leaving only $13,000.00 balance to be paid. During his administration the hospital had one of the best ambulance services in Syracuse. There were two surgical residents at the hospital at all times. The ambulance from the Onondaga General Hospital covered 60% of the traumatic work in the city of Syracuse. With the establishment of the Eastern Ambulance Service, the Onondaga General Ambulance was sold. The hospital is now rotating emergency calls with other hospitals in the city.

Text Source: A Short History of Hospitals in Syracuse, SUNY Upstate Medical University: Health Services Library: Historical Collections: http://www.upstate.edu/library/history/hospitals.shtml

Onondaga General Hospital was founded as a surgical facility in 1919 by Tennyson L. Deavor, M.D., who specialized in thyroid surgery. First located in the former home of U.S. Senator Frank Hiscock on West Onondaga Street, it moved in 1928 to a new building at 423 West Onondaga Street, thus increasing its capacity from 40 to 70 beds.

Submitted 14 March 2006 by Pamela Priest
Updated 22 April 2006 by Pamela Priest