1873 — Smallpox, esp. Boston/668, Baltimore/631, Chicago/515, NYC/117, Charleston/106–2,201
–2,201 Wayne Blanchard tally of breakouts below.[1]
Summary of State Breakouts Below
California ( >3) Sacramento and San Francisco
Illinois (515) Chicago
Kentucky ( <4) Jackson County
Maryland (631) Baltimore
Massachusetts (668) Boston especially
Michigan ( 90)
New Jersey ( ?) Cases reported in Newark
New York (117) New York City
Ohio ( 64) Cincinnati (48) and Cleveland (16)
Oregon ( ?) Portland (to the extent a smallpox “pest-house” was built.
Pennsylvania ( 39) Philadelphia
South Carolina (106) Charleston
Utah ( ?) Cases reported in Salt Lake City and Sanpete County.
Breakout of 1873 Smallpox Fatalities by State and Locality (where known to us):
–1 Sacramento, by July 12, from six cases. Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, 7-12-1873, 3.[2]
–? San Francisco, Feb 21. “It is reported there are several cases of small pox in the city.”[3]
–? San Francisco, June 27. “Several additional cases of small-pox are reported today.”[4]
–2 San Francisco, July 6-12.[5]
–? San Francisco, Oct 13, cases noted and “a small-pox epidemic from the Chinese quarter.”[6]
Illinois (515) Chicago
–515 Chicago, Jan-Dec. IL State Board of Health. Fifth Annual Report of… 1883, p. 332.
–515 Chicago. US National Board of Health. Annual Report of…1883, p. 134.[7]
Kentucky ( <4)
–>4 Jackson County. Notes man died from smallpox after burying three smallpox victims.[8]
–631 Baltimore, Nov 1872-Nov 1873. Quinan. Medical Annals of Baltimore… 1884, p. 46.[9]
Massachusetts (668) Boston especially
–668 State. Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Vol. CIX, July-December 1883, p. 498-99.[10]
Boston:
–56 Jan 5-11. Mountain Democrat, Placerville, CA. “Current Events,” 1-16-1873, p. 2.
–35 Jan-19-25. Boston Board of Health report, also noting 134 new cases.[11]
Michigan ( 90)
–90 Michigan Secretary of State. Sixteenth Annual Report…for the Year 1882.p. 269.
New Jersey ( ?)
–? Newark. “There are no less than forty-seven cases now known to the authorities.” April 26.[12]
–117 Annual Report of Dept. of Health of the City of New York for Years 1911-1912, p. 227.
Ohio ( 64) Cincinnati (48) and Cleveland (16)
— 64 Blanchard tally from breakouts below.[13]
— 48 Cincinnati. National Board of Health Bulletin, Vol. 3, No. 28, 1-7-1882, p. 229.
— 48 Cincinnati. Twitchell. “The Prevention of Smallpox.” The Lancet-Clinic, 1906, p. 693.
— 16 Cleveland.
–1 William Woodward, November.[14]
–1 Nov 22, young Irishman, at 16 Division Street. WPA. Annals of…1873, p. 174.
–4 Nov 25. At 16 Durson, 65 Garden, 90 Lorain and 58 Monroe streets. WPA, p. 174.
–1 ~Dec 1-2, at 258 Detroit Street. WPA, p. 174.
–1 Dec 6, at 287 Lorain Street. WPA, p. 175.
–2 Dec 9, on west side. WPA, p. 175.
–1 Dec 15. John Hannon of 246 Detroit Street. WPA, p. 175.
–1 Dec 25 report of death of George D. Phillips, 221 Woodland Avenue. WPA, p. 176.
–4 Dec 27 report to sanitary health police. WPA, p. 176.
Oregon ( ?)
–? Portland. “The small-pox has appeared in an epidemic form in Oregon…Portland has suffered most.”[15]
Pennsylvania ( 39) Philadelphia
–39 City of Philadelphia. Annual Report (Vol. III), 1907, p. 100.[16]
South Carolina (106) Charleston
–106 Charleston. Jones. Contagious and Infectious Diseases. 1884, p. 205.[17]
–8 White –98 Black
Utah ( ?)
–? Salt Lake City. “There has been an increased number of cases of small-pox…in this city…”[18]
–? Sanpete County. “…terrible state of affairs…owing to the ravages of the small-pox.”[19]
Narrative Information
Maryland
Quinan: “1786 cases of Smallpox in Baltimore, and 631 deaths from November 1, 1872 to November 1, 1873; vaccinations, for six months ending July, 1873, 67,576…”
Massachusetts
Jan 15: “Boston, Jan. 15….The gordian knot was cut today, and for the first time since the breaking out of the epidemic, which has carried off hundreds of the people of this city, we have a smallpox hospital and a Board of Health to insure the stoppage of the plague within its present limit….” (New York Times. “Boston…A Small-Pox Hospital.” 1-16-1873, p. 1.)
Jan 19: “Boston, Jan. 19. – The small-pox epidemic in Boston and vicinity is beginning to create grave apprehensions among the people of all classes. For months the disease has been on the increase, and the feeble efforts of the authorities to prevent its spread have amounted to nothing. The new City Government has grappled with it with an apparent determination to check its progress, but the disease has obtained such a firm foothold that it will be a long time before it can be wholly eradicated. It is probably no exaggeration to say that 3,000 cases now exist in this City, and the percentage of deaths is much larger than by all other causes combined. Nearly all the burials are made in the night, and from midnight until daylight there are very busy times in the various cemeteries surrounding the city.
“Two hospitals have been established for the treatment of Boston patients, and within two days after they were ready they were filled to their full capacity, and yet there are accommodations for only a fraction of the cases now existing and rapidly multiplying. The authorities, of course, endeavor to conceal the real state of affairs, and, until within a day or two, they have partially succeeded. The alarm now, however, is becoming general, and a great many families whose means allow it have removed from the city. There is probably not a single hotel of any class in the whole city but has had its quota of cases, but of course the patients have in every instance been promptly removed, and therefore no deaths have occurred in the public houses. Only last night Judge Colt, of the Supreme Judicial Court, was taken with the disease, and at midnight was taken from his hotel to one of the hospitals in the Highland District. His condition tonight is very critical, and it is probable he cannot recover. The epidemic has already begun to affect business, and its damage to the commercial interests of the city promises to be scarcely less than that occasioned by the November fire. Of the suburban cities most afflicted Charlestown is the most prominent.” (New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Boston.” 1-20-1873, p. 1.)
New Jersey
April 26: “The number of cases of small-pox in Newark is much larger than has been heretofore supposed. There are no less than forty-seven cases now known to the authorities, and doubtless there are others which have never been brought to their notice. There are thirteen cases in the hospital for contagious diseases, and the Board of Health finds it necessary to order an addition to the hospital, though the new structure will be only temporary, as new hospital buildings will be erected during the Summer.” (New York Times. “Small-Pox in Newark.” 4-26-1873, p. 2.)
New York
Jan 26: “The increase of immigration from Germany and other European countries in which small-pox prevails extensively, and the alarming spread of the disease in the sea-board cities of the United States, have necessitated the strictest measures to guard against the further progress of the epidemic in this country; not only that the Quarantine laws should be rigidly enforced, but that the inland authorities should remove every unhealthy medium by which the infection could be carried. The Times has repeatedly demanded the strict attention of the Municipal authorities to this, and the Board of Health, recognizing the importance of the subject, razed to the ground Gotham Court, and other hotbeds of disease in the more densely populated and poorer parts of the City.
“The Commissioners of Charities and Correction have just taken another step in the right direction, by the erection of a larger hospital for the reception of small-pox patients, previous to their being conveyed to the island hospital. A Times reporter inspected the building yesterday. Heretofore, when a case of small-pox was discovered by the Board of Health, the patient was placed in the ambulance and driven to Bellevue Hospital. There are five small huts for the reception of such patients, and their size only allowed 500 cubic feet of air to each patient. The hot and poisoned air from these huts passed away unrefined and deadly, endangering any citizen who might inhale it. And in these huts the small-pox patients had to be for hours before being removed to the proper institution on Blackwell’s Island. Seeing the danger of this, the Commissioners consulted, and the result is the erection of the present hospital, in which all the poisoned air is completely burned up, before leaving the building, a hygienic improvement in hospital construction hitherto unknown in any country. Messrs. Reawick and Sands, architects, of Wall-street, designed the structure, and Supervising Engineer Knapp invented the air-consuming apparatus, which he has patented….” (New York Times. “The Small-Pox,” 1-26-1873, p. 3.)
Feb 26: “The Board of Health met yesterday [26th]….Owing to the marked decrease in the cases of small-pox in this City, the Sanitary Committee recommended that the services of the Vaccinating Corps be dispensed with on and after the 1st of March, which recommendation was adopted.” (New York Times. “The Health Department. Decrease of Small-Pox…” 2-27-1873, p.2.)
April 3: “The attention of Dr. Otterson, the Health Officer of Brooklyn, having been called to the sanitary condition of the Eleventh Ward of the city, and the recurrence of cases of small-pox in certain localities, a thorough sanitary inspection of the suspected quarter was commenced yesterday [2nd]. The district is bounded by Gold and Raymond streets and Dekalb and Park avenues, a small portion of the district being in the Fifth Ward. The locality is densely populated, chiefly by factory operatives living in tenement-houses. Cases of small-pox occurring there heretofore have been studiously concealed from the authorities for days together. On Thursday last a child died of the disease at No. 15 Boliva-street, and lay until Sunday, the parents being afraid to apply for a permit, and the case was at last discovered by one of the Health Officer’s subordinates. On Friday a boy six years of age died of small-pox at No. 68 Raymond street, and the body lay until Monday without burial. Only a few streets in the district were inspected yesterday, but the condition of affairs fully justified the representations made.
“The result of the day’s work was the discovery of eighteen cases of small-pox on the most virulent type. The small-pox wagon was sent for and over half the patients were removed to the hospital, some of the cases being of so aggravated a character as to render removal dangerous. The raid created great excitement in the neighborhood, and the relatives of the patients protested vigorously against the removal.” (New York Times. “Small-Pox in Brooklyn – Action of the Authorities.” 4-3-1873, p. 2.)
Oregon
Aug 30: “The small-pox has appeared in an epidemic form in Oregon, and the people are in a high state of excitement over it. As usual, it has attacked the larger towns most severely, and Portland has suffered most. The Bulletin, of that city, however, says there is no reasonable ground for panic, but ‘much room for the observance of a good deal more attention than has yet been given by either the city authorities, or others more immediately involved, to the means and measures required to prevent the spread of the contagion, or to give warning to the community of infected places. A pest-house in a remote and well-selected spot has been established, but it is notorious that not one-twentieth of the patients have been removed to it. Indeed, only a very few have been taken there. Also, the authorities have required that a flag should be conspicuously placed in front of any house in which small-pox patients are under treatment. Yet walk the city where one will, and nothing of the kind is visible, notwithstanding the number of cases known to be in various portions.’ Outside Portland, in the interior of the State, their chief city is given over to plague and destruction. A gentleman of this city went to Salem last Friday, but when it was found that he came from Portland he was refused sleeping accommodations, and had to return by the evening train.” (New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Oregon.” 8-30-1873, p. 2.)
Sources
Board of Health. Annual Report of the Board of Health of the Department of Health of The City of New York for the Year Ending December 31, 1912. NYC: 1913. Google preview accessed 11-26-2019: https://books.google.com/books?id=XqMGqwcyOp8C&ppis=_e&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=1871&f=true
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. Vol. CIX, July-December 1883. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1883. Google preview accessed 4-27-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Dp0EAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
City of Philadelphia. First Annual Message of John E. Reyburn, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia with the Annual Reports of the Departments of Public Health and Charities, Supplies, Public Education, Law, City Controller, City Treasurer, Commissioners of the Sinking Funds, Receiver of Taxes, and Board of Revision of Taxes for the Year Ending December 31, 1907 (Vol. III). Philadelphia: Dunlap Printing Co., 1908. Google digitized. Assessed 12-5-2012: http://books.google.com/books?id=0ihNAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, MD. 1-22-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagerstown-herald-and-torch-light-jan-22-1873-p-2/
Illinois State Board of Health. Fifth Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Illinois. Springfield, IL: H. W. Rokker State Printer and Binder, 1883. Digitized by Google at: http://books.google.com/books?id=rR-086nb37cC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true
Jones, Joseph, M.D., President of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana. Contagious and Infectious Diseases, Measures for Their Prevention and Arrest. Small Pox (Variola); Modified Small Pos (Varioloid); Chicken Pox (Varicella); Cow Pox (Variola Vaccinal): Vaccination, Spurious Vaccination Illustrated by Eight Colored Plates (Circular No. 2, Prepared for the Guidance of the Quarantine Officers and Sanitary Inspectors of the Board of Health of the State of Louisiana.). Baton Rouge: Leon Jastremski, State Printer, 1884. Accessed 2-12-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=3VTboPycbBgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Kern County Weekly Courier, Bakersfield, CA. “Telegraphic Courier.” 2-22-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-kern-county-weekly-courier-feb-22-1873-p-2/
Medina Gazette, OH. “Dead,” 12-5-1873., p. 3. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/medina-county-gazette-dec-05-1873-p-3/
Michigan Secretary of State. Sixteenth Annual Report Relating to the Registry and Return of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Michigan for the Year 1882. Lansing: W. S. George & Co., State Printers and Binders, 1884. Google digitized. Accessed 10-31-2013 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=X8sWAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Mountain Democrat, Placerville, CA. “Current Events,” 1-16-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/placerville-mountain-democrat-jan-18-1873-p-2/
National Board of Health. National Board of Health Bulletin. Vol. 3, Nos. 1-52, July 2, 1881-June 30, 1882. Washington, DC. Accessed 2-4-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=jVdNqUEYLOQC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=true
New York Times. “Boston…A Small-Pox Hospital.” 1-16-1873, p. 1. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/01/16/79028705.html?pageNumber=1
New York Times. “Ravages of the Small-Pox in Utah…” 3-23-1873, p. 1. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/03/23/79035591.html?pageNumber=1
New York Times. “Small-Pox in Brooklyn – Action of the Authorities.” 4-3-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/04/03/79036507.html?pageNumber=2
New York Times. “Small-Pox in Newark.” 4-26-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/04/26/82406992.html?pageNumber=2
New York Times. “Small-Pox in San Francisco…” 6-29-1873, p. 1. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/06/29/90530105.html?pageNumber=1
New York Times. “The Health Department. Decrease of Small-Pox…” 2-27-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/02/27/79035260.html?pageNumber=2
New York Times. “The Small-Pox,” 1-26-1873, p. 3. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/01/26/79031188.html?auth=login-google&pageNumber=3
New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Boston.” 1-20-1873, p. 1. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/01/20/79029760.html?pageNumber=1
New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Boston.” 1-26-1873, p. 5. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/01/26/79031220.html?pageNumber=5
New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Oregon.” 8-30-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1873/08/30/79045155.html?pageNumber=2
Quinan, John R., M.D. Medical Annals of Baltimore From 1608-1880, Including Events, Men and Literature, to Which is Added A Subject Index and Record of Public Services. Baltimore: Press of Isaac Friedenwald, 1884. Google digitized. Accessed 1-14-2015 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=xNcRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Slabtown Tours. “Small Pox.” 8-27-2016. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: http://slabtowntours.com/tag/small-pox/
Twitchell, George B, MD (Cincinnati). “The Prevention of Smallpox.” Pp. 693-696 in The Lancet-Clinic (Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery). New Series, Vol. LVI. Cincinnati: Lancet-Clinic Co., Jan-June, 1906. Google preview accessed 4-29-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=4RACAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, 7-12-1873, p. 3. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weaverville-weekly-trinity-journal-jul-12-1873-p-3/
Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, “San Francisco Letter,” 7-19-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weaverville-weekly-trinity-journal-jul-19-1873-p-2/
Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, “San Francisco Letter,” 10-18-1873, p. 2. Accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/weaverville-weekly-trinity-journal-oct-18-1873-p-2/
Works Progress
Administration in Ohio, District Four – Cleveland Ohio. Annals of Cleveland, 1818-1935, Vol. LVI, 1873
Part I. (A Digest and Index of the
Newspaper Record of Events and Opinions in Two Hundred Volumes.) Cleveland: Cleveland
WPA Project 16492, 1937. Google preview accessed 12-1-2019 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=kM5YAAAAMAAJ&ppis=_e&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
[1] Document created by B. Wayne Blanchard in Feb 2015 and revised in April 2018 and Dec 2019 for incorporation in website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. At: https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/
[2] On page 2 it is written that a “Chinawoman” died from smallpox in Sacramento on July 4.
[3] Kern County Weekly Courier, Bakersfield, CA. “Telegraphic Courier.” 2-22-1873, p. 2.
[4] New York Times. “Small-Pox in San Francisco…” 6-29-1873, p. 1. The Times had previously reported on dead and alive small-pox victims arriving by boat from China and Japan.
[5] Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, “San Francisco Letter,” 7-19-1873, p. 2.
[6] Weekly Trinity Journal, Weaverville, CA, “San Francisco Letter,” 10-18-1873, p. 2.
[7] “Table of mortality from small-pox in the city of Chicago from 1851 to 1882, inclusive.”
[8] Hagerstown Herald and Torch Light, MD. 1-22-1873, p. 2.
[9] There is some overlap here with smallpox reporting for 1872 for Baltimore.
[10] “Registration Report of Massachusetts for the Year 1882.”
[11] New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Boston.” 1-26-1873, p. 5.
[12] New York Times. “Small-Pox in Newark.” 4-26-1873, p. 2.
[13] We believe there were other smallpox deaths elsewhere in the state – Cleveland and Cincinnati are on opposite ends of the state.
[14] Medina Gazette, OH. “Dead,” 12-5-1873., p. 3.
[15] New York Times. “The Small-Pox in Oregon.” 8-30-1873, p. 2. Another source notes “In 1873 the city of Portland built a pest house alongside Balch Creek to quarantine smallpox cases and possibly other illnesses such as leprosy.” (Slabtown Tours. “Small Pox.” 8-27-2016.)
[16] Table entitled “Deaths from Smallpox from 1807 to 1907, inclusive, and Rate per 1,000 of Population.” Notes smallpox death rate of 0.05 per 1,000 population. Previous year had been 3.83.
[17] Statistics proved by the Registrar.
[18] New York Times. “Ravages of the Small-Pox in Utah…” 3-23-1873, p. 1.
[19] New York Times. “Ravages of the Small-Pox in Utah…” 3-23-1873, p. 1.