"The capital of the poor man" - The history of public health in Lowell - The Town & the City: Lowell before and after The Civil War - LibGuides at University of Massachusetts Lowell

"The capital of the poor man" - The History of Public Health in Lowell

“The capital of the poor man” is a series of historical examinations by Brad MacGowan that will be published to the web as they are written. At this time, the first twelve are available here. The goal of this series of articles is to chronicle some of the history of medicine and public health in Lowell, and all of the social, political, psychological, and economic issues involved in the health of a city over a long period of history.

The capital of the poor man is his health.
The interest which he receives upon his capital is the wages of each day's labor. . . .
The health of the people is the real foundation upon which the prosperity of the city depends.
James C. Abbott Mayor of Lowell, Massachusetts Jan. 4, 1887

Introduction - "The capital of the poor man"

Part 1 - almost totally destroyed by the great sickness

c. 13,000 BC to 1603 AD and 1604 to 1726 AD (Indians and first contact with Europeans)

Part 2 - a curious medley of well-filled phials of medicines

1721 to 1822 (East Chelmsford)

Part 3 - a pest-house prepared

1822 to 1824 (A stranger with smallpox)

Part 4 - - indeed a fairy scene

1825 to 1836 (Local government and public health)

Part 5 - the general tenor and amount of our success

1837 (A smallpox outbreak)

Part 6 - - a few feeble constitutions

1837 to 1850 (The health of the operatives controversy)

Part 7 - there is a wide-spread skepticism

1832 to 1861 (Physicians and medicine in early Lowell)

Part 8 - among our Irish population

1849 (A cholera epidemic)

Part 9 - this severe visitation

1871 (A smallpox epidemic)

Part 10 - this instructive picture

1890/1891 (A typhoid epidemic)

Part 11 - the necessities of the many

1890 to 1920 (The Golden Era of Bacteriology and the Progressive Era)

Part 12 - in the face of probes

1920 to 1924 (The first years of the Isolation Hospital)

The Introduction through Part 12 are available in pdf format.and as webpages.

The webpages -

PDFs of Parts 1 through 12 -

Introduction
Part 1 - almost totally destroyed by the great sickness
Part 1 - c. 13,000 BC to 1603 AD and 1604 to 1726 AD (Indians and first contact with Europeans)
This first article in the series discusses the earliest inhabitants of present-day Lowell, Massachusetts from the first Paleo-Indians to the Pawtucket Indians, to the arrival of the first Europeans, through the epidemics, through the wars and ethnic cleansing, to the diaspora that followed, and ending, in 1726, the year that Wamesit was annexed to Chelmsford. There will be a focus on the epidemic diseases that infected the Indian communities who lived in this region between 1616 and 1634, and on the interpretations of these diseases by the settlers, chroniclers, historians, scientists, and others.
Part 1 - Bibliographic Essay for "almost totally destroyed by the great sickness"
Part 2 - a curious medley of well-filled phials of medicines
Part 2 - 1721 to 1822 (East Chelmsford)
This second article in the serires discusses people’s lives and their health in and around what was called Wamesit Neck and East Chelmsford from 1726, the year that Wamesit was annexed to Chelmsford, to 1822, the year of the arrival of the workers who built the mills and the canals and the first doctor who treated them. This span of time encompasses the latter decades of the Colonial era, the years of the American Revolution, and the first decades of the United States.
Part 2 - Bibliographic Essay
Part 3 - a pest-house prepared
Part 3 - 1822 to 1824 (A stranger with smallpox)
This third part of this series begins in 1822, when the area was still East Chelmsford, with the arrival of the workers who built the mills and canals and the first doctor who treated them. It ends with a controversy about a smallpox victim who came to East Chelmsford when the town was unprepared for someone with his disease.
Part 4 - Indeed a fairy scene
Part 4 - 1825 to 1836 (Local government and public health)
In the fourth part of this series, I will discuss some of the public health issues behind and beneath this “fairy scene” and how they were dealt with over the next eleven years. I will use some events mentioned in documents from that period including archived town/city documents, Dr. Green’s diary, Dr. Green’s autobiography, and other primary and secondary sources. The main theme that will be discussed here is that of governmental interventions based on the understandings of disease at that time, culminating in the first Board of Health regulations for the city of Lowell (July 11, 1836).
Part 5 - the general tenor and amount of our success
Part 5 - 1837 (A smallpox outbreak)
This fifth part of the series covers a very brief period in the history of Lowell – from September 22, 1837 to November 7, 1837. We know the details of what happened in Lowell during these seven weeks thanks to an article written by Dr. Green and published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in December of the same year.mThis is a public health case study of a smallpox outbreak in a period where there were people with various levels of immunity and non-immunity. In addition, though an effective though imperfect vaccination was available, it was not universally administered or universally trusted.
Part 6 - a few feeble constitutions
Part 6 - 1837 to 1850 (The health of the operatives controversy)
This sixth part of the series focuses the health of the operatives controversy, which was a series of very public debates about mill conditions that included working hours, air quality, and the physical demands of mill work. During these years, the realities of mill work began to attract attention from outsiders, and some of the mill girls themselves began to speak up. This part of the series will also address the general health of Lowell during this period.
Part 7 - “there is a wide-spread skepticism”
Part 7 - 1832 – 1861 (Physicians and medicine in early Lowell)
While the last section focused on the health of the operatives controversy between 1837 and 1850, it did not describe the types of health care practitioners in Lowell during this period. As this period is an interesting one in the history of medicine and of Lowell, the current section will discuss the treatment options available in Lowell from 1836 to 1861. While there is chronological overlap with the previous section, the focus and subject matter is different.
Part 8 - among our Irish population
Part 8 - 1849 (A cholera epidemic)
This section chronicles a cholera epidemic in Lowell during the summer and early fall of 1849. Cholera was not common or endemic in the US, but appeared in towns and cities in distinct waves. Three waves of cholera hit the United States in the 1800s; the first in 1832, the second in 1849, and the third in 1866. Lowell escaped the epidemic that hit many US towns and cities in 1832. At the time the population density was increasing but was still relatively low, there was plenty of clean water available, and the new arrivals to the town were coming from rural areas where cholera was not present. This does not mean that Lowell was immune to an outbreak or epidemic of cholera in 1832, as many areas with similar populations and density were affected, some of these such as Boston as Haverhill were also not far away.
Part 9 - this severe visitation
Part 9 - 1871 (A smallpox epidemic)
This chapter discusses the 1871 smallpox epidemic in Lowell. It illustrates the value of effective laws that protect the public, effective public health measures, and an effective Board of Health. Like a before and after photograph, this is a case study of the consequences of not having and having these measures in place.
Part 10 - this instructive picture
Part 10 - 1890/1891 (A typhoid epidemic)
This section discusses the Typhoid epidemic of 1890 and 1891 in the City of Lowell. The effects on the residents of the city, the efforts to control it, and the work to identify the source of the outbreak and prevent future epidemics are chronicled.
Part 11 - the necessities of the many
Part 11 - 1890 to 1920 (The Golden Era of Bacteriology and the Progressive Era)
Part 11 of this series discusses the role of public health and related laws, ordinances, and other interventions for the prevention of infectious diseases in Lowell at the turn of the century. It will begin by presenting some background information about the changes in the understandings of infectious diseases during this period. Then it will present some of the changes in US society taking place at the time and the areas where these changes and understandings of disease came into conflict. The discussion will then be about Lowell’s challenges during this period using examples or case studies of public health problems, including the tensions between the actions called for to address the problems and the difficulties of implementing and enforcing them.
Part 12 - “In the face of probes . . .”
Part 12 -1920 – 1924
This part begins with an overview of the state of contagious diseases in Lowell during this period of time.
Then the focus will be on first years of the Isolation Hospital. The story will begin in late 1920 when the Isolation Hospital officially opened as hospital for tuberculosis and other contagious diseases.

Phrenology in Lowell

The 1890-91 Typhoid Epidemic

The Isolation Hospital

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Lowell

Lowell History: The Isolation Hospital

The Effect of Tuberculosis Institutions on the Value and Desirability of Surrounding Property
by The National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis, 1914.

Medicine Meets Industry: A Historical Look at Lowell Massachusetts.
By Lewis S. Albert and Robert Weible, Physician East, January 1981, pp. 20 - 26. (Center for Lowell History, Documents Collections).
Introduction:
     “For fifty years following the Revolutionary War, the land that compromises Lowell remained a typical New England agricultural village, very similar to the kind of community that is so well preserved at Old Sturbridge Village today. When a number of small industrial concerns began to appear along the Concord River In the early 1800s, few could have realized that these isolated industries foreshadowed events that were to turn a rural community into a town, a town into the third city incorporated in Massachusetts, and Lowell into the most important textile manufacturing city in the country by 1840. The industrial experiment succeeded beyond anyone's expectations.
     Throughout its dramatic growth, much of Lowell's social history has run parallel with its advances in medicine. The founding of each of Lowell's hospitals, for instance, coincides with a specific period of growth and change in the city's industrial and social history. The Lowell Corporation Hospital was formed during the early "Mill Girl" era, and in many ways represented the culmination of that age with the promise and idealism of the Lowell System. St. John's met the needs of the early Irish immigration era when industrialization was outgrowing even the early manufacturer's best intentions. Lowell General was founded in response to the problems of urban sprawl, speaking of the city's phenomenal growth and latter day prosperity.
     Medical men around the country were among the first social reformers to protest conditions in industrial cities, and unlike any other educated group in Lowell, it was the city's physicians who came into close contact with the effects of industrialization on a daily basis, leaving their records as a valuable and objective source of information for historians today.”

The Town & the City: Lowell before and after The Civil War

"The capital of the poor man" - The History of Public Health in Lowell

Resources

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1888 - 1893

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1888

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1889

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1890

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1891

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1892

Board of Health Meeting Minutes 1893