Health and Medicine | Page 23

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.

Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives

Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives near Walker, Minnesota, September 1982.

Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives

Minnesota State Sanatorium for Consumptives near Walker, Minnesota, ca. 1950.

Burns, Dr. H. A. (1883–1949)

Dr. Herbert Arthur (H. A.) Burns was named superintendent of the Minnesota Sanatorium for Consumptives (Ah-Gwah-Ching) in 1928. Over the next fourteen years, he brought crucial changes to the institution that improved patient care, housing, therapy, and recreation.