Joiner Room Honored To
Be Part Of The DeKalb County
Community Foundation
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The Joiner History Room Endowment Fund was established in 2008
to honor Ralph Joiner and the first appointed DeKalb County
historian, Phyllis Kelley. Phyllis continues to lead our
activities. If you wish to donate to our Endowment Fund, click
on the DCCF logo or send a check directly to The Joiner Room at the
address above. |
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Can You Help?
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The Joiner History Room is seeking to add to its archives pre
1960 telephone books and city directories for the cities of
Dekalb and Sycamore. We are also interested in historical
documents pertaining to DeKalb County. You don't have to
send the original historical document, copies will be just as
good. If you have such an item to donate, please email the
Joiner History Room. In the subject line enter "Item to
Donate." Thank you.
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In Our Archives
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Letitia Westgate |
In spring 1902 the annual small pox season began. Major cities
in the U. S. instituted vaccination programs. The New York
Times reported, "Not for years has the world known an epidemic of
smallpox such as is now sweeping it from one end to the other." (1)
New York City required mandatory vaccination. To enforce this
program the city sent health professionals accompanied by police into
areas where outbreaks were possible, forcing people to be inoculated.
Sycamore was not immune to small pox outbreaks. As early as the
mid 1800's the Sycamore True Republican newspaper had notices
of people who died from the disease. Sycamore didn't have
mandatory vaccination in 1902. What it did have was a woman
physician, Letitia Westgate, who believed that vaccination would save
lives and for the first time in the city's history she established a
vaccination program. DeKalb County commissioners agreed to
reimbursed her $.50 for each inoculation given. She vaccinated
120 men, women and children in the Sycamore area.
[List of Names]
Letitia always wanted to be a physician. She was born in LaSalle
County, IL in 1866, attended Knox College in Galesburg and in 1892
graduated from the Women's Medical College of Chicago. It was
Sycamore's fortune that she chose to practice medicine in the city.
She went on to build a hospital in Sycamore, the first woman doctor in
the United States to do so. This building still stands in the
center of the city. Shortly after the hospital opened, two
gossiping nurses spread rumors accusing her of over-dosing a young
woman patient with morphine. She filed and won a slander suit
against the two women, but the damage was done. Her practice
failed and she was forced to close the hospital. She moved to
Aurora, IL where she continued in the medical field until 1930 when
she retired. Letitia died in her childhood home near Mendota in
1945.
In our archives are papers pertaining to the building of the hospital,
the law suit, personal writings, photographs, family information and
much more. Contact the Joiner History Room if you are interested
in these papers.
(1) THE SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC; Crowds Thronging to a
Philadelphia Convent and Telegraphing for "Mother Gonzaga's Cure.",
New York Times, February 16, 1902,
http://nytimes.com
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NEW!
Picture Puzzles
Help us identify the people in the pictures.
One has been solved!
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Images of America-Sycamore
Available
from Borders, Barnes and Noble, Amazon
and at Local Stores
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The Current Issue of the
Joiner Room Journal is Online
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