Administrative History of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago
Scope and Contents of the Records
Detailed Description of the Records
Collection Summary |
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| Creator: | College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago | |
| Title: | College of Physician and Surgeons of Chicago. Buildings - Cornerstone, 1862 - 1882 | |
| Dates: | 1862 - 1882 | |
| Abstract: | The collection contains lead cornerstone box from the first building of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago located at the northwest corner of Honore and Harrison Streets and its contents. The building was erected in 1882 and razed in 1938. The cornerstone contains: College of Physicians and Surgeons announcements, photographs, newspaper clippings, newspapers, letters, business forms, Cook Country Hospital Rules and Regulations, University of Michigan Catalogues, Woman's Hospital Medical college announcement, Masonic programs, and periodicals. | |
| Quantity: | 1.5 linear feet | |
| Identification: | 27/51/1 | |
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Before there was the College of Medicine at UIC, there was the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. The P & S, as it quickly became known, was founded in 1881 by five physician-educators: Charles Warrington Earle, a civil war veteran and a founder of the Women's Hospital Medical College in 1871, Abraham Reeves Jackson, a gynecological surgeon who taught at Rush and became the first president of P & S, Daniel Atkinson King Steele, a professor of orthopedic surgery and the youngest founder, Samuel Anderson McWilliams, an Irishman educated at the University of Michigan and an instructor at the Women's Hospital Medical College, and Leonard St. John, a Canadian medical graduate of McGill and the first Professor of Demonstrations of Surgery, Surgical Appliances, and Minor Surgery (Ward, Roots 7).
The founders purchased a 97 by 100-foot lot at the northwest corner of Harrison and Horore Streets, opposite the entrance to the Cook County Hospital, as the site for college building. McWilliams chaired the building committee that selected George H. Edbrooke as architect. "In order to acquire a knowledge of the latest improvements in buildings of this character, [Edbrooke] visited the principal medical schools in the eastern cities, and obtained many valuable suggestions. As a result of his labors the college edifice is scarcely surpassed by any in this country in beauty of design, excellence of construction, or adaptation to its purposes," states the first annual announcement of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The four-story, Queen Anne-style building was completed in August 1882 and a lead cornerstone box of documents relating to the founding of the P & S was incorporated into the structure. Topped by a 100 foot Gothic tower, and faced in Lemont limestone, some of the building's notable features included: a "dead-house" refrigerator with capacity for 100 bodies, a lecture room for 226, a museum gallery, a chemical laboratory, a library, and a 450-seat amphitheater. The first floor of the building housed the West Side Dispensary, which provided both medical relief and material for college clinics (Ward, Experiment 33-34).
"The College of Physicians and Surgeons opened on September 26, 1882 with an enrollment of 100 students which grew to 165 over the course of the first year" (Ward, Experiment 33). The P & S began an affiliation with University of Illinois in 1897 and later became the College of Medicine of the University in 1913. The original college building was razed in 1938 at which time the contents of the sealed lead cornerstone were discovered. The stone cornerstone was saved and is currently located in the courtyard of the College of Medicine West building.
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The collection contains the lead cornerstone box from the first building of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago located at the northwest corner of Honore and Harrison Streets and its contents. The building was erected in 1882 and razed in 1938, at which time the Library of Medical Sciences first inventoried the contents of the cornerstone. The cornerstone contains: College of Physicians and Surgeons announcements, photographs, newspaper clippings, newspapers, letters, business forms, Cook Country Hospital Rules and Regulations, University of Michigan Catalogues, Woman's Hospital Medical college announcement, Masonic programs, and periodicals. Material was water-soaked, some letters and photographs are indecipherable. Collection consists of 30 items, including the cornerstone box. The box has an indecipherable inscription dated August 26, 1882. Three items from the 1938 inventory are missing.
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Organization of the Records |
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| These records are organized into one series | ||
| College of Physican and Surgeons of Chicago Cornerstone and Contents, 1862-1882 | ||
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no arrangement
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The collection may be used during regular business hours (Monday to Friday, 10AM to 4PM). Appointments are appreciated. No special equipment is required to use this collection.
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Index Terms |
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| Names: | ||
| Organizations: | ||
| College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago | ||
| University of Illinois at Chicago. College of Medicine | ||
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Record Group 27 College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago
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The custodial history is unknown, althought the material in the cornerstone was probably stored in the Library of Medical Sciences, 1853 W. Polk St., 1938-1974, then transferred to the Library of the Health Sciences, 1750 W. Polk St., 1974-current.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago. Buildings - Cornerstone, 1862 - 1882 University Archives Record Group 27/51/1 University of Illinois at Chicago
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This collection was processed by Ann C. Weller, December 2001 and Krystal M. Lewis, September 2002.
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Ward, Patricia Spain. "An Experiment in Medical Education; or How the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Chicago Became the University of Illinois College of Medicine." In Medicine in Transition: The Centennial of the University of Illinois College of Medicine, edited by Edward P. Cohen, M.D., 26-51. Chicago: University of Illinois College of Medicine, 1981.
Ward, Patricia Spain. "The roots...the founding." 'Scope 8 (1981): 4-8.
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