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| Cheyenne Mounain,just west of Pikes Pike Colorado at sunrise |
As previously noted there
were women physicians who moved to and made Colorado their home
during the 1870s. In Colorado Springs, a new town which began in
1871, was home to Dr. Julia E. Loomis. Family stories have her living
there as early as 1876. Documents, such as ads in the local Gazette
newspaper, show she definitely was living there by 1878. Dr. Loomis
was an 1870 graduate of the Cleveland Women’s Homeopathic College. This institution was one of the women medical colleges that started
up to offer education to women who wanted to pursue medicine. This
and other women medical colleges is a result of Dr. Elizabeth
Blackwood, her sister, Dr. Emily Blackwell, and Dr. Maria E.
Zackrzewka who began a hospital in 1856-1857 in New York, and offered hands-on
education and experience to women in a practical setting Although
Dr. Loomis may have been practicing medicine prior to her two years
at Cleveland’s college, that she went to school after the death of
her only daughter at the age of 52, shows a desire to be more, to
also be one of the women who could and would practice medicine as the
men did.
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| Headstone for Dr. Julia E. Loomis- Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO |
Manitou
Springs, a near neighbor and also new town, had Dr. Harriet Leonard.
Like Dr. Loomis, family histories place her in the region in 1876.
Dr. Leonard graduated from the Keokuk School of Physicians and
Surgeons in Keokuk, Iowa. This school was the first co-ed schools in
the nation. Originally located in LaPorte, Indiana, in 1849, the
school moved to Keokuk and began classes in November 1850. The school
was the Medical Department of the State University of Iowa, located
in Iowa City, Iowa. As a result of this association, when the
University became the first publicly supported university to be
co-educational in 1870, the school in Keokuk, by mandate had to
accept female students into the medical program.
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| Headstone for Dr. Harriet Leonard, Evergreen Cemetery, Colorado Springs, CO |
These
two women were shortly joined by Dr. Esther B, Holmes, 1878 and Dr.
Clarabel Rowe, 1879. Dr. Holmes was born in 1844 in Rhode Island. Dr.
Rowe around 1833 in Massachusetts. Dr. Rowe received her license in
1881 and Dr. Holmes 1882, shortly after Colorado started its
licensing process. Dr. Rowe was also active in the Women’s
Christian Temperance Union, giving talks and traveling on behalf of
the organization. Dr. Holmes, who remained in Colorado Springs, was fondly known as 'the baby doctor'. Were
these women and Dr. Loomis friends? Quite possibly. The death card
for Dr. Loomis was signed by E. B. Holmes. In 1888 Dr. Rowe and Dr.
Holmes traveled together on a trip through Southern California.
While
Dr. Loomis was building her practice and taking care of her extended
family, Dr. Leonard was working as the proprietor at the Manitou
Spa. As far as records of any other female physician preceeding Dr. Loomis or Dr. Leonard in the Pikes Peak region, none have been found. Of the four women who were pioneers in the Pikes Peak region, only Dr. Rowe moved away. After the death of her husband, Dr. Rowe, moved to California.
Doris McCraw, pen name Angela Raines is an Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History
Colorado and Women's History
For a list of Angela Raines Books: Here
Photo and Poem: Click Here
Angela Raines FaceBook: Click Here
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