Is there a Doctor in the House?


		Medicine at the Turn of the 20th Century



	At left: medical items such as a doctor’s medicine case & bag, copper steam sterilizer and more.

A past Hands-On Heritage School Tour Program theme was on early medicine from the 1880s -1920s. A fitting topic due to the fact that our house museum was the original home of Phoenix physician Roland Lee Rosson in 1895. Students participating in this special tour program had the opportunity to learn more about this fascinating segment of history including what doctors carried with them to make house calls, how their offices were furnished, patent medicines as well as print a keepsake on an antique printing press to take home with them.


		Featured below are excerpts from this program.



	If you needed one were they available? ...

From the Census of 1900 • Occupations in the United States All Occupations... 29,285,922 Physicians & Surgeons... 140,415 Nurses & Midwives... 121,269 Dentists... 29,683 Drug & Medicine Merchants... 57,346 By 1895 the city directory in Phoenix would list 21 physicians and surgeons including our very own Dr. Roland Lee Rosson and even one woman homeopathic doctor, Isabel Reed.

Early Motorcycle & Saddle Bag Ads Getting around town...

In the early 1900s one Phoenix doctor made house calls in town by bicycle and for his country calls he rented a buggy. Whether by foot, bicycle, horseback, buggy or car, companies were eager to fill a physician’s transportation needs.

All early advertisements on this page are from “The Medical World” & “The Medical Council” (1909-1910).


	An advertisement In one of these medical publications stated that you could win one of these nifty “Cozy Cab” buggies at an upcoming A.M.A. doctor’s convention.


	This advertisement expressed all the wonderful attributes that the Maxwell automobile had. This 2 cylinder, 12 horsepower runabout cost $600 in 1910. The ad stated that every doctor could afford one. The company claimed that it would cost $2.05 a week to operate including the cost of gas, oil, grease and the average tire expense (1 tire casing & 3 inner tubes).

Physician Insurance Ad Of Wages & Other Ventures...

“The New York Herald some time ago placed the average annual income of the profession at $1,250. There have been lower estimates than this even, but the figure named is conservative. This seems a most inadequate return for ten years of preparation, an outlay of from $7,500 to $10,000 before the student arrives at the age of earning capacity. - N.Y. State Journal of Medicine” - excerpt from the May issue of The Medical Council, 1910.

Not only did physicians contemplate their wages and how they could collect the payments owed them, but also went into other ventures to help supplement their income - mining interests, stocks investments, farming and other business pursuits such as owning their own pharmacy were not unheard of.

Doctors also had many things on their mind just as their counterparts of today - liability and accident insurance (as in the early 1900s advertisement above), new diagnosis theories, up-to-date treatments, finding quality medications, learning about the latest in instruments and equipment.


	Click Here! to view moments in Dr. Rosson’s medical career. Click Here! for Stethoscope History & how to make your own working model.

		This page brought to you by the 1895 Rosson House at Historic Heritage Square in sunny Phoenix, Arizona. For historical trivia, optical toy flip books you can download & print, early recipes and more Click Here! to visit our Historical Fun links page.