Images in Mississippi Medicine: TOM FRANKLIN HOSPITAL, 1900, FIRST HOSPITAL IN STATE OPERATED BY FEMALE PHYSICIAN

Images in Mississippi Medicine

TOM FRANKLIN HOSPITAL, 1900, FIRST HOSPITAL IN STATE OPERATED BY FEMALE PHYSICIAN— Located at the intersection of 14^th Street and College Street in Columbus, the former Tom Franklin Hospital occupies a prominent position at the front of the campus of current Mississippi University for Women (MUW) as Franklin Hall. The school (originally called the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College) and hospital also occupy critical positions in the history of medicine in our state. The institution produced Rosa Douglass Wiss, MD (1868-1931) of Meridian, who in 1895 became the first female licensed as a physician in Mississippi. Wiss graduated in the Industrial Institute and College’s class of 1891, later graduating from the Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia.¹ The hospital also was the first medical institution in the state which was operated by a female physician, May Farinholt Jones, MD (1866-1940), who in 1898 became the second woman licensed to practice medicine in Mississippi.^2,3

Figure 1.Tom Franklin Hospital stands today as Franklin Hall

Established in 1884, the Mississippi Industrial Institute and College (I. I. & C.) was the first state-funded college for women in the United States, and the institution remains a top-ranking national university, enrolling both females and males since 1982. From its opening in October 1885 until 1893, sick students at I. I. & C. were cared for by the school’s Matron, with any medical care provided by local Columbus physicians. The school president’s report to the legislature of 1886 noted that “[t]he Matron keeps on hand a supply of common medicines used in families, and when there is any slight disorder of which she understands, she administers the appropriate remedy. For all cases of any gravity or threatened gravity, the patient is removed to a room which is kept for the sick in a part of the house as remote from noise as possible and a physician is summoned. The patient selects her own physician if she or her parents choose to exercise the right of selection. When left to me or the Matron we call the physicians of good reputation and skill in turn.”³

Figure 2.Tom Franklin Hospital in early 1900s photograph collection Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library Mississippi University for Women Columbus, MS

From 1893 to 1897, there was a Superintendent of Infirmary, Miss Kate Duffy, who utilized two rooms in the main dormitory. The school’s catalogue of 1894 states, “Two of the most attractive rooms in the College are set apart for the sick. Here they receive every attention and the most skillful nursing, so that it seldom becomes necessary to call in a physician.” Duffy was followed by Miss L. Banks. Both were probably practical nurses, and neither claimed R. N. after their names.³

In the fall of 1897, May Farinholt Jones, MD, was employed as the I. I. and C.'s first resident physician. A native of Virginia and a widow with a son, she was taught by the legendary Sir William Osler during her studies at the Women’s Medical College of Baltimore, one of the first female medical institutions in the country, where she graduated with an MD in June 1897. She was awarded the school’s highest honor, the “faculty gold medal,” and was also appointed in recognition of her record the position of “resident physician at the Good Samaritan Hospital” in Baltimore for one year.⁴ However, she resigned this honorary position at the Good Samaritan Hospital on September 12^th, being appointed to serve as resident physician at I. I. & C.⁵ She soon headed to Mississippi to begin her work, bringing with her a registered nurse from her Baltimore hospital, a Miss Burgown.

Figure 3.Dr May Farinholt Jones came to Columbus in 1897 bringing with her a Registered Nurse from Good Samaritan Hospital

Jones appears to have received a temporary Mississippi license in the fall of 1897, pending her passing of the official exams of the Mississippi Board of Health, which occurred in the first week of May 1898. A newspaper reported her name without fanfare in a list of those who passed the exams that spring, noting that only 50% of the number examined were successful candidates, which speaks to the rigor of the written licensure examinations. Jones was only the second woman to pass the examinations.² (Previous research¹ had indicated 1901 as the date she came to the state, but MUW records and state newspapers establish 1897 as the date of her arrival and temporary licensure in our state. Among those listed as passing full licensure in 1898 with Jones, also without fanfare or special notice, was Dr. Sidney D. Redmond of Jackson, an early African-American physician, who also became a significant physician in state history.) In addition to her duties as college physician, Dr. Jones taught a class in anatomy and supervised the physical culture classes. An 1898 newspaper lists her among the faculty signing a joint faculty letter, and an 1899 newspaper article lists her as “resident-physician” and as “mistress of physical culture, physiology, and anatomy.”^6,7

Figure 4.May Jones receives highest award from her medical school in Baltimore, here is article from Baltimore Sun June 9, 1897

A later I. I. & C. student remembered meeting Dr. Jones and recounted her memories of her arrival on the campus in 1897: “Dr. May F. Jones of Virginia was the first I. I. & C. physician. Also, she was one of the earliest women to study medicine in the United States. I met her first in 1924 when she was staff physician at Miss. State Tuberculosis Sanatorium. She was intellectual, vigorous, dedicated, witty,— and caustic at times. I loved her story about arrival at I. I. & C. Upon reaching the front gate she observed persons inside the front windows, peering out curiously as if expecting to see a ‘creature with portable horns and a switchable tail.’”⁸ The institution’s Board of Trustees’ minutes in 1898 discuss the employment of Dr. Jones’s nurse, Miss Burgown, an undergraduate of the Good Samaritan Hospital of Baltimore, at a yearly salary of $300 and living expenses (the next year, her salary would be increased to $600/year).³ Burgown was one of the earliest formally trained and educated registered nurses working in Mississippi. The success of Dr. Jones and Nurse Burgown would encourage the Board of Trustees to construct a modern hospital and infirmary on campus.

The Board of Trustees of the institution soon built the impressive Tom Franklin Hospital, designed by renowned architect R.H. Hunt (1862-1937). Located at the front of the campus, it would be the first hospital operated by a full-time resident female physician in Mississippi and included the assistance of a professional “registered” nurse, also a new concept. The Tom Franklin Hospital’s cornerstone was placed May 14, 1900, and its opening would occur by December 20^th of that same year. A state newspaper wrote at the time, “The new infirmary of the Industrial Institute and College was formally declared open on the night of December 20 with appropriate ceremonies, and was named ‘Tom Franklin Hospital,’ of whom President Kincannon, in his remarks, very justly said: ‘Happily for the college it has upon its governing board a successful business man beneath whose broad and manly bosom there throbs a generous heart; who following the emotions of his impulsive nature, has given liberally of his time, of his talent and of his influence to the upbuilding of the college, and to whose unflagging zeal more than to any other agency is this magnificent hospital attributed, and to whom the young women of our commonwealth are indebted.’”⁹

Figure 5.Dr. Jones became the second female licensed to practice in Mississippi when she received her full-time license in 1898

Figure 6.Tom Franklin Hospital in 1915

Captain Thomas Blewett Franklin (1848-1931), who gave his name to the hospital, was a Columbus banker and merchant with interests in the Bell Lumber Company and the Tombigbee Cotton Mills. He belonged to one of Columbus’s most respected families and was recognized as a visionary philanthropist. A native of Columbus and called “Tom” by his friends, he served in the Confederate army while in his late teens and became president of the Columbus Insurance and Banking Company, leading to his great prominence in the state, which included his election as Grand Master of the Mississippi Masons in 1905. He married Lilla Young and had one daughter named Lula Franklin Pratt. The Clarion Ledger asserted in 1905 that “'Tom Franklin, as he is familiarly known to his thousands of friends, is one of the most jovial, hearty, and popular men in the state of Mississippi. He is a prince among men and has given more to charity than any one man, perhaps, in north Mississippi.” He served as president of the Board of Trustees of the Industrial Institute and College (I. I. & C.). later the Mississippi State College for Women, on the Board of Trustees of George Peabody College in Nashville, and as president of the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors. His brothers included two physicians and a prominent state legislator, who championed I. I. & C. Franklin’s nephew, Cornell Sidney Franklin (1892-1959), was the first husband of Estelle Oldham (1897-1972), who subsequently married 1950 Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner of Oxford.^10–12

The hospital did well serving the “girls in blue” (as the female students were called). A state newspaper reported in 1901 that “The Tom Franklin Hospital, finished less than a year ago, is fully equipped with everything necessary for taking care of those who may get sick. A splendid lady physician and trained nurse are there to give every attention to their patients.” The newspaper reflected: “This, the twentieth century, is pre-eminently the era of women…It is upon the women of Mississippi that her future depends, and the girls who go from the I. I. & C. may make or mar it.”¹³ One of Dr. Jones’s students, Claudia Whitney, remembered that the “lady doctor…discovered I had a heart murmur” and had her moved from a fourth floor dormitory room to a second floor room for the benefit of her health so not to stress her heart.³

Figure 7.Tom Franklin Hospital in the snow in the early 1900s photograph collection Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library Mississippi University for Women Columbus, MS

In 1912, Jones left I. I. & C. (which would become Mississippi State College for Women in 1920) to become Professor of Hygiene and Sanitation and resident physician for the Mississippi Normal College (now USM) at Hattiesburg. This move was probably motivated by a desire to locate closer to her son’s family, which was based in Laurel. Dr. Jones, while teaching at Mississippi Normal College, explored how to effectively present hygienic facts to children. The result was the popular children’s textbook Keep-Well Stories for Little Folks, first published in 1916 and republished in 1925. This small hardback volume, which includes imaginative stories and poems, was used in the primary schools of several states. In 1918, Jones left her work at Women’s College in Hattiesburg and entered significant public health work, appointed by Dr. Boswell to assist his medical work as superintendent of the newly opened Mississippi State Sanatorium for tuberculosis. Boswell later placed her in charge of travelling x-ray clinics, a critical part of the diagnosis of tuberculosis in the general population. She was a beloved and respected figure in the early days of the Sanatorium. She retired from her work at the Sanatorium due to “ill health” in 1929, and moved first to Laurel then later back to her hometown of West Point, Virginia. After her death, she was buried at Sunny Slope Cemetery in West Point, Virginia.¹

Figure 8.Tom Franklin Hospital in the 1950s after its use as college infirmary ended photograph collection Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library Mississippi University for Women Columbus, MS

Following Dr. Jones was another pioneer “lady doctor” named Emily Earle Chenault Runyon, MD (1857-1956), a native of Lexington, Kentucky, who would serve 5 years as college resident physician, arriving at Columbus to serve in 1913.^14,15 Runyon was a widow of a physician with two children. She had originally practiced medicine in Richmond, Virginia, in 1895 and is remembered as the first female member of the Medical Society of Virginia and the first female member of the Richmond Academy of Medicine. The daughter of a neurologist, she studied at the University of Michigan and Northwestern University Medical School for Women (graduating in 1888), interning at the Cook County Infirmary in Chicago. Before coming to Mississippi, she had practiced in clinical medicine in Richmond and then performed missionary work in China. Her memories of “licensure” of that period reveal the stress most physicians faced when approaching state licensure. Upon her arrival in Richmond, the state board granted her a “temporary license” pending the spring board meeting. At the spring meeting, she faced the state examiners: “In a class of 103 applicants, I was the only woman. Three blocks from my home, down in the Senate chamber, from 9 a. m. to 11 p. m. in sessions of three hours to each subject for three days, we wrote what we knew of medicine. It was then just seven years since I left medical college. The shock of the loss of my former life, and the sudden death of my father had wrung me out, and Dr. Ben Johnston, dear man, had to build me up for the approaching examinations. He did wonders, for I passed them flying. I was among the only 50 who lasted.”^16–18

Figure 9.Tom Franklin Hospital in 1920 from its rear revealing a large open area

Runyon’s description of the stressful aspects of acquiring medical licensure in each state is revealing. In Mississippi, following the passage of legislation in 1882 to regulate the practice of medicine, the Board of Health would meet as the “State Medical Censors,” usually at the State Capitol building in one of the legislative halls to examine candidates for medical licensure. (This law applied only to newly practicing physicians, all of the practicing physicians in the state in 1882 were grandfathered in with licensure.) This licensure “ordeal,” as one newspaper described it, was a rite of passage for most physicians of the period, and usually involved the censors agreeing on a number of questions to ask the applicants, and the applicants answering those questions on paper (a written examination was required in statute) in long testing sessions, held over evenings and days, with the papers graded over several more days by the examining committee. Temporary licenses were often issued by the Board pending the official examination process, and examination sessions of applicants were frequently postponed during yellow fever or other epidemic outbreaks.^19–25

Runyon credited the writing of John Ruskin in his book Sesame and Lilies (1865) as an early inspiration for her desire to make a difference in the world through her education. While in Richmond, the conservative medical establishment had to change its by-laws to elect her to the local and state societies. Also, a bill before the Virginia legislature at the time of her arrival sought to require a female physician be appointed at every mental institution in Virginia to oversee the female wards. The importance and benefit of a female physician at public institutions, especially those serving female patients and students, was becoming a national political issue. However, as the only female physician in Richmond, she faced resentments by the established male fraternity. Before her death, Runyon commented in a newspaper interview upon her struggles as a female pioneer in medicine, “It’s a wonder I have any hands at all after banging on a stone wall to make a hole for women to creep through!”^26–28

Figure 10.Dr. Emily Runyon in 1907 a few years before she arrived as resident physician at I.I.C.

Runyon’s arrival in Columbus in 1913 was perhaps influenced by the tragedy of her 19-year-old son Ely that occurred in Richmond in 1910: Ely dove into a shallow pool and suffered a traumatic brain injury. Prior to the accident, Ely had figured in burglaries in Richmond and other cities. After committing the crimes, he professed to have no knowledge of them, leading experts to believe he had a dual personality and was under the “spell of an obsession.” He was known to police as the “Boy Raffles,” named after the fictional character A.J. Raffles, a gentleman thief, created in 1898 by E.W. Horning, brother-in-law of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. It was hoped by physicians attending Ely that the blow to his head “would counteract the strange, criminal obsession.”²⁶ Ely died the following year. Perhaps, this tragedy encouraged Runyon’s departure from Richmond and her move to Mississippi.

An I. I. & C. student from her period of service remembered, “At that time, 1911-15, the college had a two-story well-equipped hospital located on the east side campus, and had always employed a resident woman physician and nurse. Dr. <Emily C.> Runyon, middle-aged and from another state, was there during my student days. Fortunately, I was too healthy for much hospital experience. I do remember that Dr. Runyon fussed a lot about girls sitting on the ground.”⁸ A newspaper article quoted Runyon as loving her “work in Mississippi, where she stayed for five winters.”¹⁸

Runyon’s retirement in 1918 was mentioned by the Jackson Daily News: “The close of each session always brings some resignations, and an unusually important position has been vacated this year by the determination of Dr. Emily Runyon to relinquish her post as college physician. Dr. Runyon has been connected with the college for a number of years and her skill has more than once been demonstrated by the efficient manner in which she handled incipient epidemics, which under the management of a physician possessing less skill might have been attended by the gravest consequences.”²⁷ The Commercial Dispatch wrote that “Dr. Emily Runyon who for many years past has been resident physician at the college, has resigned in order to take up the practice of medicine at her former home in Richmond, Va., and will be succeeded by Dr. Louise Elliott, who is a native of Holly Springs and who during the past session was resident physician at a female college at Blue Mountain, Miss.”^28–31

Figure 11.Dr. Emily Runyon making a house call in her new automobile in the early 1900s around the time she was working resident physician at Tom Franklin Hospital

At the opening of the 1925-26 session, there was a “mass smallpox vaccination” on the lawn in front of the school’s old gym (called the “Goose”) due to a local outbreak. “All of the students were dismissed from class, lined up and were vaccinated in one day. Volunteer doctors from State Health Department came. Most of us were lucky that our arms were not too sore!”³ With the inauguration of a required physical education course, the college physician was called upon to examine all the new students arriving at the college to certify them for the type of physical exercise their condition warranted.³

Figure 13.the interior of Franklin Hall reveals a stairway but is in need of extensive repairs

Figure 14.Tom Franklin Hospital in 1900

Figure 12.Franklin Hall sign at MUW

Franklin Hospital became a dormitory in 1934-35, with a new larger infirmary opening in the old Junior-Senior Dining Hall, which was felt more conveniently located for students. By 1973, Franklin Hall was utilized by the Center for Infants and Parents, with the building becoming both a laboratory for early childhood students as well as a popular day-care center for the children of students and faculty.¹⁴ Franklin Hall still stands today at MUW in a somewhat dilapidated state in need of woodwork repair externally and extensive renovations internally. It remains one of the most beautiful and historically significant structures on the MUW campus. MUW also holds an important place in the medical history of the state due to its respected School of Nursing, established in 1971-72, which has made and continues to make a critical impact on the health workforce of the state.

If you have an old or even somewhat recent photograph which would be of interest to Mississippi physicians, please send it to me at drluciuslampton@gmail.com or by snail mail to the Journal. — Lucius M. “Luke” Lampton, MD; JMSMA Editor

Figure 15.Tom Franklin Hospital in Columbus soon after it was constructed in 1900 on the I.I.C. campus photograph collection Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library Mississippi University for Women Columbus, MS

Figure 16.Tom Franklin Hospital in 1920 after the college changed it name to MSCW photograph collection Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library Mississippi University for Women Columbus, MS

Figure 17.the cornerstone to Tom Franklin Hospital reveals many of the names responsible for its building

Figure 18.Tom Franklin Hospital in 1920

Acknowledgements

Dr. Lampton expresses his great appreciation to Dr. Martha Jo Mims, Stephanie R. Salvaterra, and Sarah E. Parrish of the Beulah Culbertson Archives and Special Collections at Fant Memorial Library, Mississippi University for Women, Columbus, MS for their extraordinary assistance in the writing of this article. Attribution is made to the Reference Files in this collection as well as multiple photographs of the hospital from their Photograph Collection.