Arthur H. Hawkins

Arthur H. Hawkins was born on December 27, 1868 in LaPlata in Charles County. He received his medical degree from the College of Physicians & Surgeons in Baltimore in 1895. He was a resident physician at Bayview Hospital from 1895 to 1896, and a resident physician at the Maryland Hospital for the Insane at Spring Grove from 1896 to 1897. 

Before his move to Cumberland, Dr. Hawkins spent several months in post-graduate study at Johns Hopkins, the University of Maryland, and the Physicians & Surgeons Hospital in Baltimore. His interests were in surgery and pathology.

In Cumberland, he became the Chief Surgeon at the old Western Maryland Hospital, and later at Memorial Hospital. He was consultant surgeon at Allegany Hospital in Cumberland, Miners’ Hospital in Frostburg, the Hazel McGilvey Hospital in Meyersdale and the Bedford County Hospital.

Continuing his education, between 1907 and 1913, Dr. Hawkins studied in Chicago under Dr. John B. Murphy, at the Mayo Clinic, the Grile Clinic and in Berlin. He also performed special work in surgery in Berlin, London and Edinburgh, as well as in many American cities. He was a fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

During the two World Wars, Dr. Hawkins served as Chairman and Surgeon of the Selective Service Medical Advisory Board, and as the chair of the Army Examining Board.

Dr. Hawkins was the past president of the Allegany-Garrett County Medical Society, President of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty and of the Cumberland Rotary Club.

Dr. Hawkins was considered the “Dean of Western Maryland Surgeons” and continued to practice medicine until shortly before his death on June 9, 1952 in Cumberland.