BOLD BEGINNINGS
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BUILD A CITY FROM SCRATCH?
In the mid-1800s, on the western shores of Lake Michigan, a boomtown was rising up, entrepreneurs were rushing in and the essential institutions of a great city began to take root. Within two days in 1837, RUSH Medical College and the city of Chicago each received its first charter. Just a decade later, the Chicago Tribune — celebrating its 175th anniversary in June — was founded.
Since then, the greater Chicago area has grown to 9.6 million people, and its medical systems, news organizations and other institutions have adapted to meet its needs. But it was one visionary, Dr. Daniel Brainard, who saw the need and potential for an ambitious medical college in the rapidly growing metropolis of Chicago.
This is the first of a threepart look at RUSH University System for Health’s role in Chicago’s history. In this conversation, edited for length and clarity, RUSH archivist Nathalie Wheaton, MSLS, discusses RUSH’s founder, the institution’s bold beginnings and how it has expanded to serve Chicago.
Q RUSH University System for Health’s oldest institution is RUSH Medical College, chartered in 1837. Tell us what you’ve learned about the earliest medical school classes.
NATHALIE WHEATON: Daniel Brainard traveled to Chicago from Pennsylvania in 1836, after graduating from Jefferson Medical College. Chicago was the frontier at the time, but it was growing. He had a vision for Chicago and what he named the RUSH Medical College when he got its charter on March 2, 1837. Within two months, though, the Panic of 1837 hit and everything halted. Brainard left to spend a few years in Paris — the center of medicine at the time. He came back to Chicago in 1843, after the economy picked up, to start holding his college’s first medical classes in a building at Dearborn Street and Grand Avenue, in what is now the River North neighborhood.
During this era, most physicians didn’t hold medical degrees and learned medicine on the job as apprentices. Medical licensing wasn’t required in Illinois until the 1870s. So these early RUSH students were seeking an education well beyond what was required. They’d attend 16 weeks of lectures, then return the following year to repeat the same course.
Q
Where did the name “RUSH” come from?
NATHALIE WHEATON: It was Brainard’s idea to name his college for Founding Father Benjamin Rush, the only physician with a medical degree to sign the Declaration of Independence. It was a fundraising idea, because Rush, who had died in 1813, was very well known and very respected — especially back East where Brainard was raising money.
Q
The RUSH University Medical Center is now such an integral part of the city’s West Side. Why did it take root there?
NATHALIE WHEATON: Tragically, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed RUSH’s building. Brainard had died in 1866, but RUSH’s leaders carried on his belief that medical students should incorporate treatment of patients into their education. They moved west to be close to Cook County Hospital, where a new medical district was emerging. Eventually, with the help of several local Presbyterian congregations, RUSH developed its own teaching hospital, Presbyterian Hospital, which later merged with St. Luke’s Hospital in 1956.
Q
Tell me more about Dr. Brainard’s approach to medicine and teaching.
NATHALIE WHEATON: On social issues, Brainard seemed less interested in making political statements than he was in simply doing the work of a physician and educator — but his work was progressive for the time. For instance, in 1847 RUSH graduated the first Black American physician, David Jones Peck. So Peck would’ve been in one of the first classes after the school opened.
It seems that Dr. Brainard was thinking, ‘Well, if a student can do the work, then why not?’
Then a little later, there was Emily Blackwell. Her older sister, Elizabeth, had been the first woman to graduate from an American medical school, and Emily wanted to be a doctor too.
RUSH was the only school to accept Emily in 1852, so she came to Chicago and attended one year. Dr. Brainard really took her under his wing because she loved surgery, which was also his passion. To him, she was smart, so why would it matter that she was a woman? But the Board of Trustees was concerned that accepting women students would diminish the reputation of the school and — while Brainard was on an overseas trip — they blocked her from returning for her second year.
Q
And what contributions did RUSH make to Chicago, especially as the city expanded and new immigrant populations arose?
NATHALIE WHEATON: From its early days, the schools and hospitals affiliated with RUSH ran free medical clinics for the poor. The Central Free Dispensary served anyone who needed treatment, and that included recent immigrants and people of color who were not being assisted by other institutions. RUSH still serves these communities, through clinics across the region, STEM education programs for young students, supporting local businesses, and other outreach initiatives. That’s all a legacy of Dr. Brainard.