Flu illness devastated city a century ago

Worldwide death toll in millions

A century ago, Lorainites were mourning the loss of their native sons and praying for a swift end to World War I.

But a rapidly spreading illness at home claimed the lives of more Lorain residents than fighting overseas.

In October 1918, Allied forces were claiming victory after victory in battles across Europe in the Great War.

But at the same time, the flu pandemic of 1918 struck the world, including Lorain.

It’s an episode that was relatively brief compared to four years of trench warfare.

As a result, the spread of the flu and its local effects may be less well known than other historical events of Lorain, Ohio or around the world.

“We have massive files on World War I, but not a lot on the flu,” said Kaitlyn Goss Donaldson, collections supervisor at the Lorain Historical Society.

But in Lorain, the flu outbreak would claim 200 lives, more than World War I and the Great Tornado of 1924 combined. That was just one city. The flu caused an estimated 50 million deaths worldwide,

“Every day during the epidemic, 267 dreadfully sick people were living or dying within the deskless rooms and halls of Lorain High School. His boys and girls and their parents.”

— Excerpt from a tribute to Dalton J. Boone, who served as Lorain school superintendent from 1914 to 1935.

with 675,000 of those in the United States, said Cindy Modie, director of community health for Lorain County Public Health.

“The flu is one of the most overlooked tragedies of the 20th century, I believe,” said Jim Smith, a local historian.

Lorain history

A few historical references to the flu outbreak cropped up over the years.

The Lorain Historical Society has an American Red Cross nurse’s uniform worn by Mae Ginnane during the flu epidemic of 1918, Donaldson said.

Ginnane was among those treating victims who were bed-ridden at Lorain High School, which became a makeshift hospital.

“A Century of Care,” the 1992 memorial book published for the 100th anniversary of the former St. Joseph Hospital, had a brief reference to the hospital and other buildings filled to capacity with flu victims.

Two nuns and a probationer nurse caught the flu and numbered among 200 Lorainites who died.

Year 1918

As the weather turns colder, Ohioans get ready for winter and flu season through the winter.

But conditions in 2018 are different from those of the flu outbreak of 1918, Modie said.

“There was no flu vaccine in 1918,” she said. “In fact, the flu virus wasn’t even typed back then.”

The 1918 strain was a form of Influenza A that was new at the time, Modie said.

“Back then, no one had any protection to it,” she said. “It was a brand new strain, which is why it was a pandemic. No one had any immunity to it.”

Researchers and historians now believe the flu started at Fort Riley, Kan., among troops there.

“Yeah, they were sick, but they were in the military and there was a war, so they got shipped,” Modie said.

They carried the disease to Europe, where it spread, and it returned to the United States.

Spain, a neutral country in World War I, began tracking deaths.

Misinterpretation of the Spanish efforts ultimately led to a name, or misnomer, for the illness, which became known as “Spanish flu,” Modie said.

In 2018, people may think of babies and older people as most susceptible to effects of the flu.

A century ago, the 1918 flu affected young people in their 20s and 30s, Modie said.

“I’m trying to paint the picture that this was sheer pandemonium,” she said. “Think about that - there was no effective treatment; they weren’t sure what it was.”

In Lorain

The factors are identifiable in hindsight.

A century ago, the flu led to drastic measures locally.

On Oct. 7, 1918, the Lorain Times-Herald had headline: “‘Flu’ Here But Is Not Epidemic.”

The next day: “Here’s How To Check The ‘Flu’.”

City health officer Dr. Valloyd Adair advised the sick to stay away from others.

Victims “would do well to remain in bed during the period of high temperature of fever, not only for his own good, but for the protection of others.”

The situation changed quickly.

By Oct. 11, 1918, the newspaper read: “Close Up City To Fight Flu.”

Mayor A.J. Horn issued a proclamation: All movies, theaters, churches and Sunday schools, all schools and dance halls were ordered closed.

All “loafing” in billiard halls, soda parlors and saloons was prohibited, to be enforced by police.

“The move has been taken to check Spanish flu,” the article said.

Ten days later, there were 3,000 cases of flu in Lorain.

The day after that, Lorain High School was taken over for use as a hospital, according to the Lorain TimesHerald.

Calls went out for cots and volunteers: doctors, nurses, then anyone who could distribute water and medicine.

The paper focused on Lorain, but there were occasional references to other communities.

On Oct. 10, there were 250 flu cases in Wellington; on Oct. 23, there were 50 new flu cases in Elyria, along with 50 cases of smallpox, according to the newspapers.

Stop the spread

Doctors and people generally saw the disease would spread from the sick to the healthy in close contact.

In an Oct. 8, 1918, article of the Lorain Times-Herald, Adair advised the sick to stay away from others.

Victims “would do well to remain in bed during the period of high temperature of fever, not only for his own good but for the protection of others.”

A Lorain Times-Herald article from Oct. 12, 1918, advised people to “avoid needless crowding,” “smother your cough and sneezes,” “wash your hands frequently” and “don’t use a napkin, towel, spoon, fork, glass or cup that has been used by another person.”

It was sound advice, that now is, backed up by science.

But in 1918, doctors treating the flu had no anti-viral medications.

Side effects included pneumonia and dehydration, which can be treated more easily now with medicine and intravenous fluids, Modie said.

“It was almost like the perfect storm of why it was so catastrophic,” she said.

By Oct. 29, 1918, the Lorain Times-Herald said the city could “show optimism with only three flu deaths reported in 24 hours.”

But it also carried an “influenza warning,” noting the danger of the epidemic had not passed.

For days, the paper would carry reports of more deaths of flu or complications.

Another reference

As months turned into years, in some ways, the flu faded from local memory.

“I think with all the jubilance of the end of the war, the pandemic was quickly forgotten,” Smith said. “People wanted to get on with their lives.”

After the Great Tornado of 1924, Lorain High School was used as a morgue for the dead, a grim necessity that has become lore of the city.

That was a historic second, Smith said.

The 1936 Lorain High School Scimitar was dedicated to Dalton J. Boone, who served as Lorain school superintendent from 1914 to 1935.

A photo collage in the yearbook includes a picture of people lying in bed. It is not a hospital. It shows Lorain High School, the first time it became a medical ward in 1918, because of the flu, Smith said.

“Every day during the epidemic, 267 dreadfully sick people were living or dying within the deskless rooms and halls of Lorain High School,” said the tribute to Dalton. “His boys and girls and their parents.”