Jacob W. Bird

Jacob Wheeler Bird was born at West River, Anne Arundel County on October 3, 1885. He had completed two years of internship at University Hospital in Baltimore, when he heard that Dr. Roger Brooke of Sandy Spring had died, and the community was searching for a young physician to replace him.

After graduating from the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, he headed from Baltimore to Sandy Spring in a horse-drawn carriage with rubber tires. He would spend the next 50 years as the local doctor.

Upon his arrival, he found that there were a half-dozen elderly physicians in the county. He befriended them and became their physician over the next decade. In 1918, Dr. Bird gathered some of the area’s leading citizens and they raised enough money to begin a new hospital at once. Even before the hospital was complete, it opened to care for patients suffering from the Spanish Flu epidemic.

Dr. Bird was joined in this endeavor by Dr. Charles Tumbleson, who remained with the hospital until 1950. Dr. Bird did surgery and obstetrics and Dr. Tumbleson did pediatrics and medicine. It is estimated that Dr. Bird delivered more than 4,000 babies in 50 years.

Dr. Bird was a leader in the medical community including as the President of the Montgomery County Medical Society which he saw grow from 12 members to 350. He was secretary of MCMS for 27 years. In addition, Dr. Bird was a member of the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty for 52 years, only missing two meetings. He was elected President in 1944.

Dr. Bird and his wife were both killed in a car accident just months after more than 1,000 friends gathered to celebrate his 50 years of medicine. He died on October 25, 1959 and more than 1,200 people attended the double funeral.