Health and Medicine | Page 21

Dr. James Kline and Staff

Postcard with a photograph of Dr. James Kline and his staff on the front porch of the Kline Sanatorium. The image is undated but falls in the 1902-1932 period, while Dr. Kline worked there. Photographer unknown. Anoka County Historical Society, object ID #2057.3.8‒2.
Used with the permission of the Anoka County Historical Society.

Kline Sanatorium

The Kline Sanatorium was built in 1902 by Dr. James Kline and served hundreds of patients before it closed in 1935. Serving as a shelter for those left without homes in the wake of a 1939 tornado, the building again provided relief for people in the area. Later, it served as a hotel and then as a private residence and apartments. It remains one of the city of Anoka’s more iconic structures, clearly visible as you enter the city from across the Mississippi River.

Henry Martyn Bracken

Henry Martyn Bracken (chief executive of the Minnesota State Department of Health, 1893‒1919, 1916).

Gerard Armauer Hansen

Gerard Henrik Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician who discovered Mycobacterium leprae, the bacterium that causes leprosy. Undated.

Letter to Surgeon General on transportation of patient D.P.

In this letter, a doctor describes the transportation of Italian immigrant D.P. to the Diamond Point Quarantine Station in Washington state, chosen for its isolation and temperate mountain climate. Leprosy was still incurable, and although leprosy is virtually impossible to transmit without sustained contact, great care was taken to ensure the patient left no disease-causing bacteria behind. On the journey, Mr. D.P. separated his bedsheets from the mattress with a thick towel to ensure no skin flakes or body fluids were left behind, regularly cleaned his sink with a 60% alcohol solution, gargled and flushed his nose with a antibacterial wash multiple times daily, and kept his used linens separate for later disposal.

Christian Just Grönvold

Christian Grönvold, physician who immigrated from the country of Norway and lived in Norway, Minnesota. Studied leprosy in Norwegian immigrants. Undated. From the photography collection of the Goodhue County Historical Society, Red Wing. Used with the permission of the Goodhue County Historical Society.

Charles Hewitt

Charles Hewitt, creator of the Minnesota State Board of Health and the first secretary of the State Board of Health, 1872‒1897, 1891.

Norwegian leprosy patient

Copperplate heliogravure of Arran Reeve, a Norwegian man suffering from leprosy, by Pierre Arents, ca. 1886.

Leprosy in Minnesota

When Minnesotans think about leprosy, they may recall Biblical references to the “unclean,” the National Leprosarium in Louisiana, or a Hawaiian leper colony. In our state, however, leprosy was a medical concern during the late 1800s and early 1900s, when many of the affected were Norwegian immigrants.

Beltrami County Poor Farm

The Beltrami County Poor Farm provided shelter and care for elderly and disabled people from 1902 until 1935, when old-age assistance programs replaced the poor farm system.

Gale Family Library