The Strange Career of Municipal Health Initiatives

See, for example, Richard Harrison Shryock , The Development of Modern Medicine (Philadelphia, 1936), 86ff.;

George Rosen , "Politics and Public Health in New York City (1838-1842)," Bulletin of the History of Medicine 24 (1950), 441-462, and

William G. Smillie , Public Health: Its Promise For the Future A Chronicle of the Development of Public Health in the United States, 1607-1914 ( New York, 1955), 137ff .

The term, "organized public health," is used by John Duffy, A History of Public Health in New York City 1625-1866 (New York, 1968), 124.

Jon C. Teaford , The Municipal Revolution in America: Origins of Modern Urban Government, 1650-1825 (Chicago, 1975) is the foremost proponent of this interpretation. Others share or incorporate a similar view. See, for example,

Richard C. Wade , The Urban Frontier: The Rise of Western Cities, 1790-1830 ( Cambndge, 1959), 270-304, and

Zane L. Miller , "Scarcity, Abundance, and American Urban History," Journal of Urban History 4 ( 1978), 134-140.

M iller since has modified his position, as can be seen in Zane L. Miller , "Fragmenting the Metropolis," Reviews in American History (forthcoming) and

Zane L. Miller , "The Role and Concept of Neighborhood in American Cities," in Robert Fisher and Peter Romanofsky, eds., Community Organization for Social Change: A Historical Perspective (Westport , forthcoming).

Minute Books of the City Council of the City of Cincinnati ( hereafter cited as Council Minutes), April 26, 1821, February 26, 1823; July 23, 1823; November 12, 1823; and November 23, 1823. Also see City Council of the City of Cincinnati, "An Ordinance to Prevent Nuisances and To Provide For the Security of the Public Health of the City of Cincinnati," "An Ordinance Supplementary to an Ordinance to Prevent Nuisances, and For the Security of the Public Health of the City of Cincinnati," "An Ordinance to Secure the Health of the City, and to Prevent Nuisances," "An Ordinance Supplementary to An Ordinance Entitled 'An Ordinance to Prevent Nuisances, and To Provide For the Health of the City of Cincinnati,'" and "An Ordinance Further to Secure the Health of the City of Cincinnati," in City Council of the City of Cincinnati, An Act Incorporating the City of Cincinnati, and Ordinances of Said City, Now in Force (Cincinnati, 1828), 58-62 and 82-83.

City Council , "An Ordinance to Prevent Nuisances and to Provide For the Security of the Public Health of the City of Cincinnati," Act Incorporating the City of Cincinnati, 59.

See, for example, "Petition from H. Fairbanks to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati, January 20, 1823," and "Petition of Ernest Dudley to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Relative to Standing Water on Western Row, August 3, 1824." The Clerk of Council's office of the City of Cincinnati houses a remarkable but uncatalogued collection of early nineteenth-century documents. The collection not only includes council minutes, but also petitions to the mayor and the council, drafts of ordinances, and reports of many council committees. All unpublished material cited in this paper comes from that collection. Newspapers also occasionally complained about hazardous conditions and urged the council to have the marshal investigate. See, for example, Cincinnati Liberty Hall, March 27, December 17, 1823.

Council Minutes, May 10, June 14, August 16, August 21, 1821; August 28, September 11, 1822; April 23, 1823. Often, a health officer was employed to kill wild dogs after a rabid animal was sighted in the area.

There had been a smallpox scare a month earlier, and the filth accumulated in chimneys was thought to exacerbate the threat. Council investigated the matter, however, and found it "not nysisary [sic] to legislate on that subject at the present time. See"Report of the Committee of City Council on Cleaning Chimneys," January 18, 1826.

National Republican, February 24, 1826; Council Minutes, February 22, 1826; City Council, "An Ordinance to Prevent the Introduction of the Small Pox Into the City of Cincinnati, and For the Establishment of a Board of Health in Said City," in CityCouncil of the City of Cincinnati, Ordinances Passed by the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Between April, 1825 and February, 1826 (Cincinnati, 1826). 17-18.

Cincinnati Liberty Hall and Cincinnati Gazette, March 2, 1826. The dual operations of early nineteenth-century boards of health seems to suggest that their creation was not a consequence of a change in theories of the etiology of disease. Rather, the boards supervised activities consistent with the miasmatic theory and the theory of contagion.

New Haven, for instance, created its first health board in 1795, and Savannah, Georgia established a board of health in 1804. For a useful, but not entirely reliable, list of early health boards in American municipalities, see J.M. Toner , "Board of Health In the United States," in Public Health: Reports and Papers Presented at the Meeting of the American Public Health Association in the Year 1873 (New York , 1875), 499ff

Duffy , A History of Public Health in New York, 152-159;

John Duffy, ed., The Rudolph Matas History of Medicine in Louisiana, 2 vols. (Baton Rouge, 1958 ), 1, 397; and

William Travis Howard, Jr., M.D. , Public Health Administration and the Natural History of Disease in Baltimore, Maryland 1797-1920 ( Washington, DC, 1924). A close examination of the Baltimore material shows that in the years in which the city was not threatened by an epidemic, its health board either compiled no mortality returns or gathered scattered returns. Also, in the years in which mortality returns were tabulated, they often were compiled only for those months that the city was under siege from pestilential disease. See

Commissioner of Health of Baltimore , Baltimore City Health Department. The First Thirty-Five Annual Reports, 1815-1849 (Baltimore, 1953).

This phrase can be found in Howard , Public Health, 51.

In addition to material cited elsewhere, see John B. Blake , Public Health in the Town of Boston, 1660-1822 (Cambridge, 1956), 238-241.

For evidence of the epidemic orientation of early nineteenth-century boards of health in American cities, as well as the temporary or seasonal functioning of these institutions, see John Duffy , "The Impact of Asiatic Cholera on Pittsburgh, Wheeling, and Charleston," Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine 47 (1964), 203, 210;

Jacqueline K. Corn , "Municipal Organization For Public Health in Pittsburgh, 1851-1895" (D.A. thesis, Carnegie-Mellon University, 1972), 15-17;

Nancy D. Baird , "Asiatic Cholera's First Visit to Kentucky: A Study In Panic and Fear," Filson Club History Quarterly 48 (1974), 228-229;

Stuart Galishoff , "Cholera in Newark, New Jersey," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 25 (1970), 440-443;

Joseph loor Waring , "Asiatic Cholera in South Carolina," Bulletin of the History of Medicine 40 ( 1966), 460-464;

Thomas N. Bonner , Medicine in Chicago, 1850-1950: A Chapter in the Social and Scientific Development of a City (Madison, 1957), 176-177; and

Robert S. Drew , "A History of the Care of the Sick Poor of the City of Detroit (1703-1855)," Bulletin of the History of Medicine 7 (1939), 764-766. also see

John Duffy , The Healers: The Rise of the Medical Establishment ( New York, 1976), 201-202. For a detailed history of the efforts of city government and its health board during one epidemic, see

David A. Langtry , "The 1832 Epidemic of Asiatic Cholera in New Haven, Connecticut," Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 25 (1970), 449-456.

The best account of the new initiative in urban education is Stanley K. Schultz , The Culture Factory Boston Public Schools, 1789-1860 ( New York, 1973).

Council Minutes, May 10, 1827. Also see City Council, "An Ordinance Providing For the Abatement and Removal of Nuisances; To Keep the Streets, Lanes, Alleys, and Commons of the City of Cincinnatiy Open and In Repair, and to Regulate the Use of Sidewalks," Act Incorporating the City, 63-65.

Council Minutes, August 7, 1839. City Council, "An Ordinance to Prevent Nuisances Arising From Grave Yards," William C. Williams, comp., Laws and General Ordinances of the City of Cincinnati. (Cincinnati, 1854), 521-522.

"Petition of William Wallace to City Council of the City of Cincinnati Applying For the Position of Health Officer, April 12, 1826" "Petition of Jesse Churchill to City Council of the City of Cincinnati Asking For Reappointment as Health Officer, April 18, 1826."

"Petition of F. Falconer Asking For Appointment as Health Officer For the Lower Part of the City, April 19, 1826"; "Petition of F. Falconer to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Requesting a Change in Territory and an Increase in his Daily Wage, May 17, 1826"; Council Minutes, April 12, 1826.

Petitions for the investigation of nuisances include: "Petition of Thomas Pierce to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Relative to the Standing Water in Cellars of Second Street Houses, March 22, 1826," "Petition of William Holyoke and Morris Symonds to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Relative to a Nuisance East of Sycamore Street Between Third and Fourth Streets, May 29, 1826," "Petition of the Citizens of the Second Ward to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Complaining of a Lot Filled with Stagnant Water on the South Side of George Street, May 23, 1827," and "Complaint of Citizens Near Western Row to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati About the Filth Accumulated Between Front and Water Streets, October 28, 1829." Results of nuisance investigations include: "Reports of Samuel Ramsay, Health Officer, to City Council of the City of Cincinnati as to the Situation of Columbia Street, April 11, 1826," "Report of Thomas Henderson, Health Officer, of the Nuisance at Western Row, May 5, 1827," and "Report of Joseph Ruffner, Health Officer, to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati as to the Standing Water at Race and Second Streets, May 14, 1827." The reports also served to alert council as to the time the health officer devoted to the task.

Council Minutes, May 12, 1826; May 16, 1827; January 10, 1829; June 25, 1832.

Council Minutes, August 1, 1827.

"Report of the Board of Health to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati, August 3, 1827" and Council Minutes, August 3, 1827.

Council Minutes, June 25, 1832; City Council, "An Ordinance to Establish a Board of Health For the City of Cincinnati," Williams, Laws, 181-182. Petitions include: "Petitions of Citizens to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Relative to the Stagnant Water on Wayne Street, August 29, 1832" and A.G. Dodd's Communication to the City Council of the City of Cincinnati Relative to the Water Standing in Her District, September 12, 1832."

Council Minutes, June 25, 1832. Also see Cincinnati Daily Advertiser and Ohio Phoenix, October 6, 9, 10, 1832; Cincinnati Daily Gazette, October 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 1832.

See, for example, Cincinnati Daily Gazette, November 8, 1832. In general, council appointed new members to the health board around May 1. In this manner, it could insure that the board had its full complement as the dangerous summer season approached. See, for example, Council Minutes, May 1, 1834; May, 4 1837.

State of Ohio, "An Act to Amend the Act Entitled, 'An act of Incorporate the Town of Cincinnati"' Statutes ( 1819) 17, 175-180, and City Council of the City of Cincinnati, "An Ordinance to Amend an Ordinance Entitled 'An Ordinance to Establish a Nightly Watch in the City of Cincinnati, Passed 9th of July, 1834,'" in Digest of Laws and Ordinances of Cincinnati; of a General Nature, Now In Force, 1842 (Cincinnati, 1842), 201-202. The 1834 ordinance merely provided for the temporary deployment of a non-paid watch. For evidence of a similar situation in other American cities before the late 1830's, see

Blake McKelvey , Rochester: The Water-Power City 1812-1854 ( Cambridge , 1945), 179, 252;

Constance McLaughlin Green , Washington: A History of the Capital, 1800-1950 ( Princeton, 1962), 160;

Bayrd Still , Milwaukee, The History of a City (Madison , 1948),97;

James F. Richardson , Urban Police in the United States (Port Washington, NY, 1974), 19 and

The New York Police: Colonial Times to 1901 (New York , 1970), 18-22, 32-34; and

Roger Lane , Policing the City: Boston, 1822-1885 (Cambndge , 1967), 10-12.

Ohio Anti-Slavery Society, Executive Committee , Narrative of the Late Riotous Proceedings Against Liberty of the Press in Cincinnati ( Cincinnati, 1836), 40-41. For evidence of similar situations in other American cities in the early nineteenth century, see

Richardson , The New York Police, 27-30 and

Lane , Policing the City , 26-33. Also of interest is

David Grimsted , "Rioting in the Jacksonian Setting," American Historical Review 67 (1972), 361-397.

City Council of the City of Cincinnati, "An Ordinance to Form the Fire Wardens of this City Into a Fire Company," in Ordinances Passed Between April, 1825 and February, 1826, 16-17 and "An Ordinance For Preventing and Extinguishing Fires, To Regulate the Keeping of Gun Powder; Also, to Prevent the Erection of Wooden Buildings Within Certain Limits," Digest of Laws and Ordinances, 1842, 69-76. Also see Green, Washington, 94-95.

See, for example, Cincinnati Daily Gazette, November 26, 1832, March 3, 1833.

Ibid. For evidence of similar situations in other early nineteenth-century cities, see McKelvey, Rochester, 218 and Raymond A. Mohl, Poverty in New York, 1783-1825(New York, 1971), 104-116.

Cincinnati's charter of 1819 was cast as an amendment of the town charter and, as a consequence, did little more than designate Cincinnati a city and provide for the employment of a marshal.

State of Ohio, "An Act to Incorporate and Establish the City of Cincinnati, and For Revising and Repealing All Laws and Parts of Laws, Heretofore Enacted on that Subject," Statutes (1827) 25, 40-56.

The best examination of the impact of an epidemic on a city is John H. Powell , Bring Out Your Dead: The Great Plague of Yellow Fever in Philadelphia in 1793, (Philadelphia, 1949).

Ohio, "An Act to Incorporate and Establish the City of Cincinnati, and For Revising and Repealing All Laws and Parts of Laws Heretofore Enacted on That Subject," Statutes (1834) 32, 244-259.

Maryland, "An Act to Erect Baltimore-Town, in Baltimore County, Into a City, and to Incorporate the Inhabitants Thereof, " Laws of Mary land (1786-1800), 361-367.

Massachusetts, "An Act Establishing the City of Boston," Statutes (1822) 188:734-753.

Pennsylvania, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Pittsburg," Statutes (1815-1816), 160-170;

Kentucky, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Louisville," Statutes (1828), 208-224,

Rhode Island, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Providence," Statutes (October, 1831), 21-30,

New York, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Rochester, Passed April 25, 1834," Statutes (1834) 57 281-342, and

New Jersey, "An Act to Incorporate the City of Newark," Statutes (1835-1836), 185-203.

Municipalities in early nineteenth-century America were not given the authority to construct turnpikes, railroads, and canals as a matter of course A case can be made, 1 think, that the bestowal of these privileges came only when the city's security was threatened. When a city no longer seemed a viable entity, when it was being superseded or menaced by other cities or corporations in the competitive commercial sweepstakes of the early nineteenth century, legislatures frequently either amended the city's charter or drafted a new charter providing it the right to build a turnpike, canal, or railroad. These privileges, in essence, were not offered indiscriminately with every city charter, but instead were given to municipalities only in the midst of crises that apparently threatened the ability of their citizens to engage in the pursuit of commerce and manufacturing.

For a fuller exposition of the individual's responsibility for health and well-being in early nineteenth-century America, see Alan I. Marcus, "In Sickness and In Health: The Marriage of the Municipal Corporation to the Public Interest and the Problem of Public Health, 1820-1870: The Case of Cincinnati" (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Cincinnati, 1979), Chapter 2.