JEFFERSON COUNTY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
Top Row---
W.R. Ross, O.A. Suttle. J.A. Clark, A.W. Modert, J.W. Hamilton,
S.A. Thompson, Moss Maxey, L.C. Morgan, A.M. Frost
Bottom Row---
Robt. R. Smith, H. M. Swift, Wm G.
Parker, C. J. Poole, Chas. Hall
Jefferson County Dental Association
Top Row:
W. E. Setzekorn, John J. Corlew, M.M. Lumbattis, B.B. Tatman
Bottom Row:
R.G. Miller, Aurthur Iron, M.N. McAtee, G.H. Herbert
In 1870, almost all physicians were unlicensed. In most jurisdictions,
anyone could hang up a shingle and practice medicine.
The early physicians of Jefferson County were men who had studied
under preception for a number of years and recieved such instructions
and information as their preceptors could impart. This equipped them
just about as well as if they had attended a medical school in those
early days, because practically all the information they could receive
at the schools was through lecture courses. These schools had no labratories,
autopsies were not permitted to discover the causes of death, and subjects
for disection could only be secured by robbing newly made graves.
There was no law in Illinois prior to 1877 to prevent any one from
practicing medicine who so desired, as no license was required.
The Illinois Medical Practice Act of 1877 and Illinois State Board of
Health interpretations of their statute became important models for
numerous states. The requisite for this license was they should be a
graduate of an approved medical school, or should have been actively
engaged in the practice of medicine for ten years prior to the passage of
this law.
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Hospitals
The first hospital in Mt. Vernon was a temporary one set up in the
Appellate Courthouse after the 1888 Cyclone.
Excelsior Sanitarium
The first permanent hopital was the Excelsior Sanitarium opened
in 1895 by Drs. Frank and Will McClain.
Excelsior Sanitarium opened in 1895
The Mt. Vernon Hospital opened in July 1903 in the same building
Egyptian Hospital
Opened c.1909 and closed between 1915 and 1920
Thompson Hospital, North Twelfth St. Mt. Vernon
Opened in 1919 and closed in 1943
Good Samaritan Hospital
Opened in January 1944
and used the Thompson Hospital building until a new hospital
was built in May 1952
Jefferson Memorial Hospital
Originally the offices for the Mt. Vernon Car Manufacturing Co.
The building was converted into a hospital in 1947 and closed in 1979
Tuberculosis Sanitarium
Opened in 1951 and closed in 1974
