Building the Old Iron County Hospital
submitted by: Jay Jones Jones
02 Old Hospital |
Dr. Middleton later wrote of his experience in starting practice in Cedar City: “All the older people predicted dire failure for the young doctor. They had seen a whole generation come and go without the aid of a physician, and they could not imagine that conditions would sustain a lucrative practice. Yet in less than a year these same people were advising me to engage a partner for fear I would be run to death.”
The doctor did run hard. He was the driving force for Cedar City to develop a culinary water system, which led to a dramatic reduction of cases of typhoid fever. He served as mayor of Cedar City. He traveled far and wide making house calls to treat patients in need.
In an editorial published 15 May 1903 in the Iron County Record:
"It is becoming more and more apparent every day that it is only a question of time when a hospital will have to be built in our city, or Dr. Middleton will have to move away to some community where such a convenience can be obtained. Mr. Middleton has been so successful in his practice of the science of surgery, that he is put to his wits end to serve the many afflicted people who come from all parts to avail themselves to his skill in this line.”
A large home on 300 West, across from the college, was adapted as much as possible to serve as a hospital for several years, but this was not a long-term solution. In a few years, Dr. Middleton did move to Salt Lake City, partly due to a desire to practice in a better hospital.
Some citizens of Cedar City remembered that lesson when a similar situation arose several years later.Also from the Iron County History: “Menzies J. Macfarlane of St. George was first a student and then a very popular science teacher at the Branch Normal School. He enrolled at Jefferson College of Medicine in Philadelphia, graduating in 1913. After a brief internship at St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake City, he established his medical practice in Cedar City in November 1913.”
During the Spanish Flu pandemic, Dr. Macfarlane and other doctors and nurses provided heroic service in minimizing the effects of the disease in the local area. In January 1919 Dr. Jacob Bergstrom, after finishing his internship, began practice in Cedar City in partnership with Dr. Macfarlane.
A letter to the editor of the Iron County Record on 9 May 1919 stated: “With due respect to our county practitioners, we still maintain that hospital care for the sick is woefully wanting. . . . A small and well planned and regulated hospital will not only be a pride but a god-send to the community.”
Two weeks later the paper announced that Dr. Macfarlane had accepted a position with the “Middleton and Allen aggregation of physicians and surgeons at Salt Lake City. . . . Dr. Macfarlane has won the confidence and respect of the people of the south and has built up a splendid practice here. His decision to leave us will be sincerely regretted, but if his best interests prompt the move, we believe that we should unite in giving the doctor and family a rousing farewell.”
On 13 June 1919 two announcements were made in the Iron County Record. First, Dr. Bergstrom recruited Dr. Sundwall of Fairview, Utah, a college classmate, to become a partner in the practice that Dr. Macfarlane was leaving. Second, Dr. H. H. Wilkinson of Hurricane and Dr. Samuel J. Russell, an experienced and prosperous physician in Chicago, announced their plans to start practicing in Cedar City.
In the meantime, several citizens did not want to give Dr. Macfarlane a rousing farewell. They convinced him to change his mind and stay in Cedar City. Part of the bargain was for the citizens to push for a county hospital.
When Dr. Macfarlane announced his change of plans, the plans of the doctors Sundwall, Wilkinson and Russell all changed as well. They decided not to come to Cedar City after all.
In an 18 July 1919 editorial titled “County Hospital Next Need”: “Possibly the most urgent requirement of this county now (excepting only better roads) is a county hospital.”
After signatures were gathered to prompt action from the county commissioners, a bond election was set for 10 April 1920. Two separate issues were up for consideration: a $125,000 bond for road improvements and a $25,000 bond for the county hospital.
Both bonds were successful. The road improvement bond passed 487-61. The hospital bond passed 344-195. Parowan and Paragonah provided significant opposition to having the hospital built in Cedar City.
Local architect Randall L. Jones drew up the plans for the hospital. Land was donated by Lehi W. Jones, one of the lobbyists persuading Dr. Macfarlane to stay. The winning construction bid was by Chester A. Kemp of St. George.
At the dedication of the building on 22 October 1922 it was stated that the county taxpayers had done their share by passing the bond, and now friends of the hospital were needed to buy equipment. Donations totaling $15,000 were collected.
Next came a nurses home to the south of the hospital, built with donations, starting with a $1,000 contribution by Mrs. Katherine G. Bell and land donations by John S. Woodbury and Uriah T. Jones. It was completed in 1925. The 1940 census shows twelve women living in the home: five nurses employed at the hospital, three women training as nurses, one “kitchen helper”, one “house keeper”, and two listed as “helper”.
The hospital kept busy and a needed addition adjoining the north end of the building was started on 1 November 1935 under the direction of Moroni Perry. This addition – more than doubling the size of the building – was completed in 1936. It was funded by the Works Progress Administration, one of the programs of the New Deal.
L. W. Macfarlane provides the following story in the book “Dr. Mac: the Man, his Land, and his People”:
One Saturday afternoon Dr. Mac was performing an operation in the hospital. “A stranger appeared at the door of the operating room, announced that he was a doctor, and asked if he might come in to watch the operation. Hardly looking up from his work, the doctor [Macfarlane] instructed one of the nurses to get sterile apparel for the visitor, and soon, properly clad, he came into the operating room and watched the operation.”
At the conclusion of the operation, the visitor introduced himself. “I am Doctor Will Mayo of the Mayo Clinic,” he said. “I am out here seeing your beautiful country with two of my colleagues, Doctor Balfour and Doctor Henderson. They have gone to service our car, and while they are doing that, I decided to come to the hospital and see what sort of a shop a country doctor might keep, and see what sort of surgery was being done.”
He then summarized: “If every community like Cedar City would build such a hospital they could prevent the loss of well-trained doctors to the city.”
That afternoon, Dr. Mac went home to tell his wife Kate this almost unbelievable story.