Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Baltimore's Historic Hospitals Zoom Lecture

Baltimore's Historic Hospitals

The entire lecture is on YouTube here. This virtual lecture was given in conjunction with the Baltimore Architecture Foundation. 

While we tend to think there are about six hospitals in Baltimore, there were at least sixty that I counted, the earliest dating from the 1700’s. And while hospitals these days are mostly generalists, hospitals during the 1800’s dealt with incredibly specific disorders, as we will see.

Due to time constraints, I had to whittle down my list to about 20, which we will visit in chronological order. I have bundled several similar hospitals together: for example, there were at least five eye, ear and throat hospitals, and a similar number of maternity hospitals.

One brief note, I will talk a lot about dispensaries, which were mainly out-patient clinics for the sick poor. A wide range of groups, including pregnant women, children, incurables and those with contagious diseases were often excluded from inpatient hospital services, so this was the reason for the dispensary movement. There were 34 dispensaries in the city, including the First and Second, the North, West, East & South Dispensaries, and ones for Nervous Diseases, Ears, Noses & Throats, Women and Children, Hebrews and Protestants, and even a homeopathic dispensary.

I have illustrated this lecture with both historic and contemporary photographs, engravings, and paintings from MedChi’s collection of historic portraits.

At the end, I will share my sources with you. If you have questions, please type them into the comments and I will answer them.


Founded in 1773, as the “Baltimore County and Town Almshouse,” it was initially located half a mile west of the then city line. However, the expansion of the city resulted in a number of relocations.

In 1820, the Almshouse moved to the Calverton Mansion and stayed until 1866, when it made its final move to the present location. The name was changed to Bay View Asylum because of its close proximity to the Chesapeake. In the mid-1880s, William H. Welch began seeing patients there as part of his research, creating the first connection between the asylum and Johns Hopkins.

The transition to a hospital began in 1925 when Bayview became an acute and chronic care hospital and was renamed Baltimore City Hospitals. In 1984, the City of Baltimore transferred ownership of the Baltimore City Hospitals to Johns Hopkins Hospital, which renamed it the “Francis Scott Key Medical Center.” In 1994, the name changed to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, to convey its strong connection with Johns Hopkins. 

William Hazlett Clendenin and Samuel Stringer Coale were both associated with the Almshouse during its earliest years. 

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The Female Humane Associated Charity School was founded when a group of women banded together to assist widows and their children suffering in the aftermath of the Revolutionary War. Over the years, it merged with other organizations, including the Female Orphaline Charity School, Baltimore Female Orphan Asylum, the Home of the Friendless and finally the Baltimore Orphan Asylum. It moved around the city from Calvert to Mulberry to Stricker Street and finally, to Druid Hill Avenue.

Children were given an elementary education and girls were taught cooking, sewing, laundry and housework, so as to find suitable positions as servants. Boys were taught a trade.

In 1926, the Abell family donated their property on Woodbourne Avenue, known as Marble Hall. The house, known as Tivoli, had been the summer home of Enoch Pratt. In 1965, the name of the organization was changed to Woodbourne, which remains to this day.                      

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The Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland was founded in 1799 to prevent “quackery and pretenders to the medical arts.” One hundred founders, four from each county in Maryland, petitioned the legislature to establish an organization which would set standards for medical practitioners in Maryland.

The name derives from medicine, which is the scientific aspect of the profession, and chirurgury, which is the old Latin word for surgery. The faculty aspect comes in 1807, when members established what is now the University of Maryland School of Medicine. For the next 180 years, the organization was known as the Faculty. It is now known as MedChi, The Maryland State Medical Society, and is the professional association for physicians in Maryland.

Upton Scott was the first President of the Faculty. John Archer was the first person to receive a medical diploma in the United States. John Crawford developed the first vaccines in America. Marcia Noyes was the librarian who lived and worked at the Faculty for 50 years… and she’s still here. But that’s another entire lecture!

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Baltimore has been a port for all of its existance, and from the beginning, one thing that the city wanted to do was prevent diseases from ships infecting the citizens. Check points were established at Hawkins Point, close to where the Key Bridge is, and Lazaretto Point, across from Fort McHenry, so ships could stop and their crews could be given health checks. Anyone who was deemed unhealthy was sent to the “Quarantine & Pest Hospital of the Port of Baltimore.”

The Marine Hospital was for sailors on American-registered ships who became sick or were injured in the line of duty. They initially applied at the Custom House downtown, and were then moved to the hospital at Wyman Park. Dr. Francis Donaldson was the only physician at the Marine Hospital who escaped an epidemic of typhus which swept the hospital in 1848. The Marine Hospital later became a US Public Health Hospital, and now is part of the Hopkins University Campus. 

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Over the years, there were a number of dispensaries in Baltimore, but the Baltimore General Dispensary was first to open. Dispensaries provided medical and health services to the poor in Baltimore. This one was founded by Dr. James Crawford, who was also the founder and most active member of the Maryland Society for Promoting Useful Information (something which I’d love to join!). Many other members of the Faculty were associated with the Baltimore General Dispensary over the decades, including Dr. Ashton Alexander, whose family gave their name to Alexandria, Virginia.

Funds to support this Dispensary came from the state lottery, concerts, and “Fines imposed on persons keeping houses of ill-fame.”

In 1959, a decision was made to sell the Dispensary building and establish a foundation which would grant money to the city’s hospitals for the free distribution of medicine at out-patient clinics.

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In 1807, the Legislature passed a bill creating the College of Medicine in Maryland. However, this would never have happened without the work of members of the Faculty, including Dr. John B. Davidge. From the Annals of Medicine, published on our centenary: The founding of this college, the forerunner of the University of Maryland, emanated from and owes its existence directly to the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty.

However, it was almost over even before it started! Dr. Davidge owned a building on Liberty Street where he began instructing students. He “procured a subject” and began anatomy classes. Prejudice against dissection was great and the public was bent on destroying the building and its contents. However, physicians had the opposite reaction. They rallied to Davidge’s support, found another building, collected funds and secured the necessary legislation to allow dissections to continue.

The story doesn’t end there. What is now Davidge Hall was built in 1814, conveniently right around the corner from the Westminster Burying Ground, and there are stories about the medical staff procuring cadavers from the newly dug graves for the students to dissect!

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Church Home & Hospital was originally founded as the Washington Medical College in 1835. Dr. Horatio Gates Jameson was the head, along with five other physicians.

Edgar Allan Poe was taken to this location when he was found semiconscious and ill in a street gutter near East Lombard Street. This is where he subsequently died in October of 1849. It is suspected that he died of rabies.

Dr. Jameson was in a feud with another member of the Faculty, Dr. Frederick E.B. Hintze. Jameson’s colleagues were jealous of him, and Hintze published a pamphlet disparaging Jameson’s surgical skills, so Jameson sued. He was awarded $50, but Hintze assigned away all of his property so not to have to pay Jameson.

The building was purchased in 1857 by the Episcopal Church and renamed Church Home & Infirmary. Patients were required to present a certificate indicating that they were free from mental diseases before they would be treated.

The hospital closed in the early 2000s and the buildings are now used by Hopkins.

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Between 1819 and 1825, Dr. Horace Hayden delivered a series of lectures on dentistry to medical students at the University of Maryland. In 1839, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery was chartered by the Maryland State Legislature as the first dental school in America, because of the need for systematic formal education for the dental profession.

Dr. Hayden was a renaissance man, founding the Maryland Academy of Science, and serving as its President. He was a geologist and botanist, and published the first general book on geology in America.  He also discovered a mineral which he named "Haydenite."

The present dental school evolved through a series of consolidations, the final taking place in 1923, when BCDS and the Dental Department of the University of Maryland were combined to create a distinct college of the university under state supervision and control.

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The Mount Hope Retreat was a private, Catholic institution founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1840. In 1843, Dr. William H. Stokes became the supervisor of Mount Hope Retreat, located just north of Baltimore City and held the position for more than 40 years. Mount Hope was an atypical mental hospital – it was open and bright, and used non-restraint methods of care, and a cottage plan for residents.

There was an infamous trial against Dr. Stokes and the Sisters of Charity alleging assault and false imprisonment of several residents. 

The lengthy trial came to an abrupt end when the State said that it was “…unable to sustain the indictment under the evidence offered. From beginning to end an utter shame and disgrace…” Dr. Stokes, whom the State had sought to brand as a liar and conspirator, was a gentleman whose life had been dedicated to the treatment of diseases of the mind.

The current building, four stories, with a two-story chapel, was built in 1911. In 1940, it was renamed the Seton Institute. It closed in 1973 and the land was sold to the city for an office park. 

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Moses Sheppard was a wealthy Baltimore merchant and Quaker. By 1816, Sheppard amassed a substantial estate. In addition to a store, he added a counting house, a twine manufacturing company, and a tobacco warehouse.

Sheppard wanted to improve conditions for individuals with mental illness, and envisioned an institution that would feel more like a home than a prison, and treat patients with respect and dignity. At his death in 1857, Sheppard left his fortune to build the Sheppard Asylum, the largest bequest made to mental health at that time.

Sheppard’s vision was shared by Enoch Pratt, a local merchant and philanthropist. He admired what was happening at The Sheppard Asylum, so on his death in 1896, he left it a $2 million endowment, and the institution was renamed Sheppard-Pratt. Dr. Edward Brush was the superintendent of the hospital. 

The original buildings near Towson were designed by the architect Calvert Vaux. And if anyone wants to see an intact MCM hospital setting, Sheppard Pratt’s Ellicott City Campus is a prime example. 

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The College of Physicians and Surgeons was incorporated in 1872 with 43 students. After a merger with Washington University in 1878, CP&S moved to Calvert and Saratoga Streets, which was connected to the Baltimore City Hospital. By 1880, the combined school had an enrollment of 336 students from 23 states. All were men. 

Both Dr. John Wesley Chambers and Dr. Isaac Ridgeway Trimble taught at the College. 

The college had total medical control over Mercy Hospital, Maternite Hospital, the Maryland Lying-in Asylum, the Hospital for the Colored Race, the Dispensary, and the Pasteur Department for the Treatment of Rabies. CP&S also used the Bay View Hospital and the Nursery and Child's Hospital, so that students had numerous opportunities for clinical experience. The hospital is the current Mercy Medical Center.

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Southern/Maryland Homeopathic Medical College was chartered in 1890 and was the first homeopathic medical college south of the Mason-Dixon Line and east of the Mississippi. Homeopathy was founded by Samuel Hahnemann based on the observation of the action of medicines on healthy persons, where it could be seen unmodified by disease.

Southern Homeopathic College occupied a building on Saratoga Street. In 1902, the school moved to a new building on Mount Street, adjacent to the Maryland Homeopathic Hospital, providing clinical opportunities for students.  

The college closed in 1910, and the property was sold to the Maryland Homeopathic Hospital, which was looking to expand. However, by 1921 that facility had also closed.

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The Hebrew Orphan Asylum was organized in 1872 as a safe haven for Jewish immigrants and children. It was originally funded by private contributions from prominent Hebrews in the city of Baltimore. In 1874, it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1876 at a cost of $50,000. It had a capacity of 150 inmates.

The younger children were taught at the Asylum, and the older children went to local public schools. The boys were taught a trade and the girls became seamstresses at local stores. Dr. Merville Carter was associated with the Hebrew Asylum for many years.

The orphanage moved to West Belvedere Avenue in 1923 once a better foster care system came into practice. The building was reopened as the West Baltimore General Hospital and later, Lutheran Hospital until the 1980’s when it closed once again.

The Hebrew Orphan Asylum has recently been completely renovated by our friends at Southway Builders. 

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Founded in 1873 by Johns Hopkins with an endowment of $3 million, construction on the Johns Hopkins Hospital began in 1877, with buildings designed by Nielson and Niernsee. Originally intended to be built at what is now Clifton Park, a better property closer to downtown was purchased. The first patients were not admitted until 1888. The “Big Four” William Osler, William Welch, William Halsted and Howard Kelly all helped establish the hospital and the medical school, as well as its reputation as one of the top hospitals in the world.

Hopkins was one of the first medical schools to admit women, mainly because one of the original donors, Mary Garrett required this before she would give them the funding they needed. 

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Baltimore Medical College was founded by a group Baltimore physicians and advertised itself as a “practical Christian medical school.” Among the twenty graduates in 1883 were four women. The original offices of the college were in the YMCA building at 93 North Paca Street. In 1885, Maryland General Hospital was added to the college, as was a dental department.

By 1888, BMC obtained a property on Howard Street, just north of Madison. In 1895, they built a new five-story college building at Howard Street and Linden Avenue. This contained a 600-seat lecture hall, a 500-seat amphitheater, a dispensary, and four laboratories. Drs. John Blake and Stephen Earle were both associated with the early years of the hospital and college.

In 1913, Baltimore Medical College merged with the University of Maryland Medical College, but the ownership of Maryland General Hospital was separate. One hundred years later, Maryland General became UM-Midtown.

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In 1881, the Sisters of Bon Secours sent three members to Baltimore at the request of Cardinal Gibbons. Their convent was located at West Baltimore and Payson Streets, where the hospital still stands.

By 1907, there were about 20 nuns at the mission, nursing the sick, caring for children and performing other duties. In 1919, they built a 20-bed hospital and in 1921, a nursing school. All Bon Secours nuns become nurses, and “the order trained its own for many years.”

Dr. AlexiusMcGlannan was the President of Bon Secours Hospital and his wife was the first woman medical school graduate from Johns Hopkins.

Over the years, the hospital has grown continuously: in 1958, a new wing was built; in 1964, a new intensive-care unit; in 1972, a new emergency room. It is now part of the LifeBridge group of hospitals.

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The Presbyterian Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Charity Hospital was located at 1017 E. Baltimore St, where the building still stands. It was founded by noted Civil War surgeon and former Dean of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Dr. Julian John Chisolm.

Baltimore Charity E&E, E&E Dispensary of Church Home, E&E of Baltimore General Dispensary, also, Baltimore Throat Dispensary all merged in 1882 to become the Baltimore Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital

In 1961, Women’s Hospital sold its building and equipment to the Baltimore Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, and acquired 42 acres from Sheppard-Pratt for the construction of GBMC. Through a series of moves and mergers, they ended up at GBMC, and recently, the Presbyterian Eye, Ear & Throat Charity Hospital Board of Governors funded their Cochlear Implant Center.

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In an era when women were not admitted to most medical schools, Baltimore had a medical college for women. The Women’s Medical College was founded by two of the Faculty’s members, Dr. Randolph Winslow and Dr. Thomas Ashby.  

They wanted to provide a medical college for women of the highest standard, so all applicants took a preliminary exam in order to be admitted. There were on-site clinics and labs. Dr. Claribel Cone, one of the sisters responsible for the Cone Collection, the finest assemblage of modern French art in the United States, was a graduate of the Women's Medical College. Dr. Lillian Welsh was one of a group of women affiliated with the WMC and Goucher College.

The Evening Dispensary for Working Women and Girls provided outpatient medical care for women. It was especially important for two reasons: women could not leave work in the daytime to go to a doctor’s appointment; and many women disliked having male physicians. The Dispensary provided an opportunity for female medical students to gain practical experience.

In addition to providing free care for women, it also provided a clean milk distribution system for sick babies, a visiting nurse program and public baths.

The women who founded the Evening Dispensary were mainly graduates of the Women’s Medical College. Contemporary accounts note that these early women physicians were friends with the Suffragettes and proponents of women riding bicycles.

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Whereas contemporary hospitals are generalists, in the 1800’s, hospitals were quite specific. The Dispensary for Plaster of Paris Jackets and Free Day School is one of those.

This dispensary specifically cared for women and children suffering from curvature of the spine and scoliosis. Plaster of Paris jackets were applied and then changed as the spine began to straighten. Miss Charlotte C. Barnwell, a wealthy spinster, funded the clinic and applied the plaster jackets herself.

Because of the unwieldly jackets, the children could not attend regular school. The children lived at home, but came to the clinic every day. The mornings were for white children and the afternoons were for black children. Students were taught bible instruction, sewing, drawing, singing, and physical exercises. Men were not admitted.

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Until the latter half of the 19th century, most women gave birth at home, assisted by a mid-wife or a maid (think Gone with the Wind), and physicians were rarely in attendance.

In May of 1887, the Free Lying-In Hospital of the University of Maryland opened in Baltimore under the direction of Dr. George W.Miltenberger, who was President of the OB/GYN Society. (As an aside, the portrait in our collection of Dr. Miltenberger is my favorite.)

When this hospital opened, the only other hospitals for women in Baltimore were the Maryland Woman's Hospital (shown here) and the Maternité Lying-In-Asylum, both associated with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Part of the reason that medical schools opened hospitals was so that their students would gain practical experience, and not just academic instruction.

In addition to the private maternity hospitals, the St. Vincent’s Infant Asylum also cared for “unfortunate women needing reformatory influences.”

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Founded in 1895 by Dr. R. Tunstall Taylor, the Hospital for Crippled and Deformed Children was originally located at 6 West 20th Street. It was a free orthopaedic hospital for “crippled and deformed children.”

Mr. James Lawrence Kernan was a theater owner, showman and philanthropist. After a visit to the hospital, he purchased the Radnor Park estate in West Baltimore, and deeded it to be the hospital.

In 1911, after converting the mansion into a working hospital, the name was changed to The James Lawrence Kernan Hospital and Industrial School of Maryland for Crippled Children, Inc. It is now part of the University of Maryland.

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Franklin Square Hospital was an outgrowth of former National Temperance Hospital of Baltimore, located on Calhoun and Fayette Streets. It was a general hospital for both private and free patients. Being a Temperance Hospital meant that cases were treated with as little use of alcoholic stimulants as possible.   

Milton Linthicum was the chief surgeon at Franklin Square for many years.

In 1957, Franklin Square Hospital purchased a 41-acre site in Baltimore county for a modern general hospital of approximately 300 beds. By 1964, Franklin Square Hospital moved to eastern Baltimore County to serve 165,000 people in Dundalk, Essex and Middle River area.

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The original Sydenham Hospital for Communicable Diseases was constructed near Bay View Asylum and opened in 1909. Almost immediately, the 35-bed facility was deemed “fatally inadequate” for the needs of a city of 600,000.

In 1922, architect Edward Hughes Glidden submitted plans for a nine-building campus near Lake Montebello that could care for up to 140. The campus was built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style and opened in 1924. It was equipped to treat more contagious diseases, ranging from polio to whooping cough to typhoid, and was in a location that would allow room for expansion.  

By 1949, the need for care for contagious diseases had dwindled, but it was still being used to treat tuberculosis patients. In the 1950’s, the property was renamed and opened as Montebello State Hospital. Nearly $3 million was spent on renovations and additions. Staffing shortages plagued the hospital and in the 1960s it closed for good. Many of the buildings were demolished, although several are still being used by Morgan State University. 

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Happy Hills Convalescent Home was founded by the 22-year old Hortense Miller Eliasberg as a graduate school project for children who had been hospitalized but needed a healthy place to recuperate. She enlisted Dr. William Welsh as President.

The first location was a farm-house on Poplar Hill in North Roland Park. They outgrew the space by 1928 and relocated to Rogers Avenue, where they are now. In the 1950’s, the name was changed from Happy Hills Convalescent Home to Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital.

Ironically, the earliest children came to Happy Hills because of malnourishment, but now they come because of obesity.

The Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital is the only jointly owned project of Johns Hopkins and the University of Maryland Medical System. 

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This is the list of resources that I used to research this lecture. 


Thank you for reading!

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