Jas. Willett, tuberculosis & the Oakdale Sanatorium

One of the original pavilions at Oakdale Sanatorium. Yes, that's snow. Patients slept outside on porches unless conditions were extreme.

Tuberculosis, often called consumption, was the great killer of young adults in Iowa and elsewhere at the turn of the 20th century. While many lived normal lives with the infection in its latent form, once active, there was little that physicians could do other than treat symptoms.

In 1904, acting under pressure from Iowa physicians, the state Legislature appropriated $50,000 to establish the Oakdale Tuberculosis Sanatorium near Iowa City --- isolated because of the infectious nature of the disease, near a railroad for transportation convenience and close to University Hospitals. The Sanatorium opened during February of 1908, expanded greatly during the years that followed and transferred its last patient to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in 1981.

When the Oakdale Sanatorium opened, James Willett, just 26, was a talented and hard-working Chariton machinist, struggling to support his young family. Although his skills were in great demand, his health had been failing for several years and as he grew weaker he became unable to work. For that reason, he became one of the Sanatorium's earliest patients.

James also was a young man with a gift for words and had a friendly relationship with Sam Greene, then editor and publisher of The Chariton Herald. During mid-July, 1908,, probably homesick and bored, James set pen to paper and wrote a letter to Sam that duly was published on the front page of The Herald on July 23. It's a rare, early, first-person account of patient life at Oakdale:

Oakdale, Iowa, July 14, 1908

Friend Greene,

Owing to my health failing I was compelled to give up my position and have now landed in the State Sanatorium of Tuberculosis at Oakdale, Iowa, about 6 miles northwest of Iowa City on the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Interurban railroad.

The institution has about 280 acres of land. There are several buildings. First the administration building. This is the main building and consists of offices, dining room, kitchen, reading room and also sleeping apartments for the employees. Second, the pavilions where the patients sleep. There are two of these (one for men; one for women), both of them facing the main building, one on the north side and one on the west. 

These buildings are about 220 feet in length and divided into 20 sleeping apartments, kitchen, bath rooms, wash rooms and closets. The rooms are about 10 feet square, partitioned off with heavy canvas. These rooms are used only when there are severe storms and it rains in on the porch. There are two long porches along the front of these rooms about 12 feet wide, all screened in. This is where we sleep. We do not pay any attention to drafts here like we did at home. It seems like nonsense after we are here a while. We certainly get drafts here through the big double door and window in our room. Of course we get all the cover we want. Each bed is equipped with 2 blankets, 2 sheets, 1 spread, 1 mattress and a pillow.

When a patient first arrives he is examined, weighed and put to bed for a few days. If his pulse and temperature are normal he is permitted to go to the dining room for meals. As soon as they get back they are supposed to go to bed. As they gradually get better they are permitted to stay up longer. Some of them do not go to bed at all but work most all day --- mowing weeds, hoeing in the garden, washing dishes, working in the laundry and most anything that is to be done around here.

Each man has his own towels, comb and brush and cuspidor box. This box is a tin frame with a lid on which contains a paper box. The paper box is exchanged every morning for a new one. Much care is taken with these. They are carefully wrapped up and burned.

There are several other buildings, such as barns, sheds, etc. They have 10 cows and 4 horses. The cows have all been tested for tuberculosis. They had one in the herd and she was killed. Our diet consists mostly of milk and eggs. We do not have any fried food. It is all stewed or boiled, such as potatoes, oatmeal, meat, hominy, etc. The only medicine taken is olive oil, and a medicine called tuberculine is injected into the top of the shoulder or back. This medicine is poison and acts the same as vaccination, as I understand.

Most every body that comes here gains in flesh in a few days. I was surprised to see some of them gain. Some gained as much as 6 pounds per week. I gained 5 pounds the first 14 days and the next 7 days gained 4-1/2 pounds. This makes 9-1/2 pounds in 18 days. I am certainly satisfied with this, if it just keeps up a while. I am up to normal weight now. There are lots of people that have this disease that do not suspect it. 

Yours Respectfully, Jas. Willett

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James's treatment at Oakdale was a success in the sense that he regained strength and weight and was able to return home later that year. As was most often the case, however, without specialized treatment and plenty of rest, the disease quickly reasserted itself and proved fatal two years later, on Sept. 16, 1910. Here is his obituary, as published in The Herald-Patriot of Sept. 22, 1910:

James Willett Passes Away

The many friends throughout the county will learn with sorrow of the death of James F. Willett, of this city, which occurred at his home on Friday afternoon, Sept. 16, 1910, at 3:30 o'clock, after an extended illness with tuberculosis. Largely attended funeral services, conducted by Rev. C.C. Davis, were held at the Christian church on Sunday afternoon at two o'clock, after which the remains were laid to rest in the Chariton cemetery.

James Franklin Willett was born at New Amsterdam, Indiana, March 28, 1882. He came to Lucas county with the family in 1893, residing at Russell for a time, then removing to Chariton, where he grew to manhood and received his education in the Chariton schools. His father died when he was eight months old.

November 15, 1903, he was united in marriage to Miss Cora B. Mingles, who with three little ones survive him. He was a skilled machinist and his labor was in demand, so much so that long after he was unfit for work, he was unable to give up. For some five or six years he was in ill health. He went to the state hospital for treatment and was apparently bettered, but it did not prove permanent, and soon he was losing again. He continued to work at this trade, however, a part of the time until a few weeks ago, when he was compelled to take to his bed. From that time the decline was rapid; but many kind hands ministered to his wants. He suffered greatly, but was patient and grateful for kindness shown him.

He was a man of clean habits; in his home life he was kind and considerate, of affectionate disposition, and made many friends. At the last he expressed himself as prepared in mind for the great change we call death. His good qualities are to be admired and commended, his faults, if any, covered with the mantle of christian charity, as becometh those who hope in the mercy and forgiveness of God. May the father of the fatherless comfort the widow and orphaned children, and may all remember the sorrowing and the needy ones around us, for we may, all too soon, be in that class, too.

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At the time of his death, James left three young sons --- Milford, age 5; Virgil, 3; and Frederick, 1 --- in the care of their mother, Cora. Tuberculosis, however, claimed her life, too, just three years later, on June 15, 1913, at the age of 30, leaving the children to be raised by others.