In 1864, Washington F. Peck – a young 23-year-old doctor, fresh from serving as an army surgeon in the Civil War – relocated to Davenport to open a medical practice in the expanding West. Over the next twenty-seven years, he helped start two hospitals – Mercy Hospitals in Davenport and Iowa City; a home for orphans in Davenport; and most importantly, Peck became the founder and first director of the State University of Iowa (SUI) School of Medicine. Prior to 1870, the state-sponsored medical school was located in Keokuk, and was under-staffed and poorly financed by the state. In a strong desire for more centrally-located medical education, Dr. Peck, in 1868, began a pursuit to convince the legislature in Des Moines to build a first-class medical school in Iowa City. By 1870, the school was open with Dr. Peck serving as surgeon, medical educator, and hospital director! Realizing the shortcomings of clinical demonstrations, Peck worked to create a hospital in which to teach. He raised $4,000 from Iowa City businessmen and $1,500 from the regents in order to convert Mechanics Academy into a 20-bed hospital complete with a surgical theater and outpatient dispensary. Peck then persuaded his good friends from Davenport – the Sisters of Mercy – to provide four nuns “specially educated in the treatment of the sick” to serve as nurses, and by September of 1873, Peck and his medical faculty had created Iowa’s first teaching hospital!
CHECK OUT THE COMPLETE BLOG SERIES – Iowa City’s Top 50 Influencers – Part II
Back in 1979 – The Iowa City Press Citizen ran a special seven-page section called Chronology 1841/1979 and it featured Iowa City’s famed historian – Irving Weber – and his look at 25 People Who Left Their Stamp On Iowa City. So, here we are – forty-four years later – and now, I’m offering these two posts – dedicated to those who have greatly influenced our city over the first 100 years or so. This page features the First 25, and as you can see, each of the 25 names has a brief overview with a link(s) to read more, if you like. Enjoy!
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