William Larned Allen, M.D. Bio
From "Vol 2 History of Davenport and Scott County" by Harry E. Downer - S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago
Equipped by thorough training at home and abroad, Dr. William Larned Allen in the practice of his profession has demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate problems which are continually confronting the physician and surgeon. His broad study and research, his correct application of scientific knowledge and his wide experience have given him eminence in his chosen calling and he is moreover entitled to public recognition as the promoter of the electric street car system in this city.
Born in Davenport on the 7th of June, 1858, Dr. Allen is a son of William and Augusta Dorrance Allen, nee Seabury.
The father, who was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1824, served as chief paymaster of the district of Cumberland from 1861 until 1865. Coming to this city at an early day, he was active in its substantial development and progress and from 1870 until 1874 was a partner in the firm of Mandeville & Allen, railroad contractors. His death occurred the following year and he was long survived by his wife. She was born in Portland, Maine, in 1830, and died in Davenport in 1899.
Among the early American ancestors of Dr. Allen are Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Thomas Allen of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the great-grandfather, who was called "the fighting parson" because of his action in 1777 at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Allen supplemented his early education, acquired in the common schools, by study in Griswold College of Davenport, and in preparation for a professional career entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, from which he was graduated in 1881. He afterward spent two years in Vienna, Austria, in special work in surgery and gynecology. He has always remained a close student of the profession, keeping in touch with the advanced thought that marks the onward march of the medical fraternity, and the ability which comes through wide study, careful analysis and broad experience is his, making him one of the prominent and successful physicians of Davenport.
On the 1st of October, 1885, Dr. Allen was married to Miss Alice Van Patten, a daughter of John P. Van Patten. Their children are: Mary, Larned V. P., Elizabeth M. and William Seabury.
His experiences in other lines have also been of a somewhat varied nature. In early manhood he spent one year on a farm in Iowa and one year in managing a plantation in Arkansas, being called to this task on account of the death of his father and his father's partner.
Having inherited some stock in a street railway company in Davenport and having seen the successful trial of an electric car in Richmond, Virginia, he bought up all the stock owned by parties who would not consent to adopt electricity as a motive power and equipped the Davenport Central Railway with electric cars in August, 1888.
This was the second road to be thus fully equipped in the United States. The undertaking required nearly all of Dr. Allen's capital. The attempt to operate lines in Stillwater, Minnesota, and another in Dubuque, Iowa, which he had equipped, together with the necessity of purchasing new motors which had soon to be replaced with more powerful ones, required more capital than he could command and the electric supply companies and his banker forced him to give up his property, which was then carrying only a small bonded debt, and which a few years later was sold to an eastern syndicate for several million dollars.
The early change to electricty gave Davenport a widespread reputation, but few of the citizens were willing to put any money into the electric venture, believing that it would be impossible to run cars up the heavy grades.
Resuming the practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Allen has since confined his attention almost exclusively to his professional duties and in 1895 founded St. Luke's Hospital and was elected president of its medical board and chairman of the executive committee, which position he still retains. He has done notable work along surgical lines, prominent among his operations being the removal in 1895 by gastrotomy of a hairball from a girl's stomach, it being the largest foreign body ever successfully removed from the human stomach. Other operations which he has performed have been almost equally notable and have brought him wide reputation as a skilled surgeon. For twenty years he has been surgeon of the [Annie Wittenmyer] State Orphans Home and for a similar period of the Tri-City Railway Company. For two decades he has been a member of the state, district and county medical assocations and for fifteen years of the American Medical Association. He was the president of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science for three years, from 1893 until 1895 inclusively, and in the latter year was chosen president of the Scott County Medical Association. in 1900 he was elected to the presidency of the Iowa & Illinois District Medical Society and in 1908 became the chief executive of the Second District Medical Association.
In his political views Dr. Allen is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and, though not an office seeker, has been concerned in various public movements of widespread benefit, acting as president of the Davenport Business Men's Association in 1889 and cooperating in various projects for general progress.
The family are Episcopalian in religious faith and Dr. Allen is prominent in the various departments of the church work, serving as a member of the vestry and also as president of the Men's Club of the cathedral. He joined Trinity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in 1888 and has ever been an exemplary representative of the craft, utilizing the opportunities which his practice affords for the exemplification of its basic principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness.
From "Vol 2 History of Davenport and Scott County" by Harry E. Downer - S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago
Equipped by thorough training at home and abroad, Dr. William Larned Allen in the practice of his profession has demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate problems which are continually confronting the physician and surgeon. His broad study and research, his correct application of scientific knowledge and his wide experience have given him eminence in his chosen calling and he is moreover entitled to public recognition as the promoter of the electric street car system in this city.
Born in Davenport on the 7th of June, 1858, Dr. Allen is a son of William and Augusta Dorrance Allen, nee Seabury.
The father, who was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1824, served as chief paymaster of the district of Cumberland from 1861 until 1865. Coming to this city at an early day, he was active in its substantial development and progress and from 1870 until 1874 was a partner in the firm of Mandeville & Allen, railroad contractors. His death occurred the following year and he was long survived by his wife. She was born in Portland, Maine, in 1830, and died in Davenport in 1899.
Among the early American ancestors of Dr. Allen are Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Thomas Allen of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the great-grandfather, who was called "the fighting parson" because of his action in 1777 at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Allen supplemented his early education, acquired in the common schools, by study in Griswold College of Davenport, and in preparation for a professional career entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, from which he was graduated in 1881. He afterward spent two years in Vienna, Austria, in special work in surgery and gynecology. He has always remained a close student of the profession, keeping in touch with the advanced thought that marks the onward march of the medical fraternity, and the ability which comes through wide study, careful analysis and broad experience is his, making him one of the prominent and successful physicians of Davenport.
On the 1st of October, 1885, Dr. Allen was married to Miss Alice Van Patten, a daughter of John P. Van Patten. Their children are: Mary, Larned V. P., Elizabeth M. and William Seabury.
His experiences in other lines have also been of a somewhat varied nature. In early manhood he spent one year on a farm in Iowa and one year in managing a plantation in Arkansas, being called to this task on account of the death of his father and his father's partner.
Having inherited some stock in a street railway company in Davenport and having seen the successful trial of an electric car in Richmond, Virginia, he bought up all the stock owned by parties who would not consent to adopt electricity as a motive power and equipped the Davenport Central Railway with electric cars in August, 1888.
This was the second road to be thus fully equipped in the United States. The undertaking required nearly all of Dr. Allen's capital. The attempt to operate lines in Stillwater, Minnesota, and another in Dubuque, Iowa, which he had equipped, together with the necessity of purchasing new motors which had soon to be replaced with more powerful ones, required more capital than he could command and the electric supply companies and his banker forced him to give up his property, which was then carrying only a small bonded debt, and which a few years later was sold to an eastern syndicate for several million dollars.
The early change to electricty gave Davenport a widespread reputation, but few of the citizens were willing to put any money into the electric venture, believing that it would be impossible to run cars up the heavy grades.
Resuming the practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Allen has since confined his attention almost exclusively to his professional duties and in 1895 founded St. Luke's Hospital and was elected president of its medical board and chairman of the executive committee, which position he still retains. He has done notable work along surgical lines, prominent among his operations being the removal in 1895 by gastrotomy of a hairball from a girl's stomach, it being the largest foreign body ever successfully removed from the human stomach. Other operations which he has performed have been almost equally notable and have brought him wide reputation as a skilled surgeon. For twenty years he has been surgeon of the [Annie Wittenmyer] State Orphans Home and for a similar period of the Tri-City Railway Company. For two decades he has been a member of the state, district and county medical assocations and for fifteen years of the American Medical Association. He was the president of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science for three years, from 1893 until 1895 inclusively, and in the latter year was chosen president of the Scott County Medical Association. in 1900 he was elected to the presidency of the Iowa & Illinois District Medical Society and in 1908 became the chief executive of the Second District Medical Association.
In his political views Dr. Allen is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and, though not an office seeker, has been concerned in various public movements of widespread benefit, acting as president of the Davenport Business Men's Association in 1889 and cooperating in various projects for general progress.
The family are Episcopalian in religious faith and Dr. Allen is prominent in the various departments of the church work, serving as a member of the vestry and also as president of the Men's Club of the cathedral. He joined Trinity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in 1888 and has ever been an exemplary representative of the craft, utilizing the opportunities which his practice affords for the exemplification of its basic principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness.
William Larned Allen, M.D. Bio
From "Vol 2 History of Davenport and Scott County" by Harry E. Downer - S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago
Equipped by thorough training at home and abroad, Dr. William Larned Allen in the practice of his profession has demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate problems which are continually confronting the physician and surgeon. His broad study and research, his correct application of scientific knowledge and his wide experience have given him eminence in his chosen calling and he is moreover entitled to public recognition as the promoter of the electric street car system in this city.
Born in Davenport on the 7th of June, 1858, Dr. Allen is a son of William and Augusta Dorrance Allen, nee Seabury.
The father, who was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1824, served as chief paymaster of the district of Cumberland from 1861 until 1865. Coming to this city at an early day, he was active in its substantial development and progress and from 1870 until 1874 was a partner in the firm of Mandeville & Allen, railroad contractors. His death occurred the following year and he was long survived by his wife. She was born in Portland, Maine, in 1830, and died in Davenport in 1899.
Among the early American ancestors of Dr. Allen are Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Thomas Allen of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the great-grandfather, who was called "the fighting parson" because of his action in 1777 at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Allen supplemented his early education, acquired in the common schools, by study in Griswold College of Davenport, and in preparation for a professional career entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, from which he was graduated in 1881. He afterward spent two years in Vienna, Austria, in special work in surgery and gynecology. He has always remained a close student of the profession, keeping in touch with the advanced thought that marks the onward march of the medical fraternity, and the ability which comes through wide study, careful analysis and broad experience is his, making him one of the prominent and successful physicians of Davenport.
On the 1st of October, 1885, Dr. Allen was married to Miss Alice Van Patten, a daughter of John P. Van Patten. Their children are: Mary, Larned V. P., Elizabeth M. and William Seabury.
His experiences in other lines have also been of a somewhat varied nature. In early manhood he spent one year on a farm in Iowa and one year in managing a plantation in Arkansas, being called to this task on account of the death of his father and his father's partner.
Having inherited some stock in a street railway company in Davenport and having seen the successful trial of an electric car in Richmond, Virginia, he bought up all the stock owned by parties who would not consent to adopt electricity as a motive power and equipped the Davenport Central Railway with electric cars in August, 1888.
This was the second road to be thus fully equipped in the United States. The undertaking required nearly all of Dr. Allen's capital. The attempt to operate lines in Stillwater, Minnesota, and another in Dubuque, Iowa, which he had equipped, together with the necessity of purchasing new motors which had soon to be replaced with more powerful ones, required more capital than he could command and the electric supply companies and his banker forced him to give up his property, which was then carrying only a small bonded debt, and which a few years later was sold to an eastern syndicate for several million dollars.
The early change to electricty gave Davenport a widespread reputation, but few of the citizens were willing to put any money into the electric venture, believing that it would be impossible to run cars up the heavy grades.
Resuming the practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Allen has since confined his attention almost exclusively to his professional duties and in 1895 founded St. Luke's Hospital and was elected president of its medical board and chairman of the executive committee, which position he still retains. He has done notable work along surgical lines, prominent among his operations being the removal in 1895 by gastrotomy of a hairball from a girl's stomach, it being the largest foreign body ever successfully removed from the human stomach. Other operations which he has performed have been almost equally notable and have brought him wide reputation as a skilled surgeon. For twenty years he has been surgeon of the [Annie Wittenmyer] State Orphans Home and for a similar period of the Tri-City Railway Company. For two decades he has been a member of the state, district and county medical assocations and for fifteen years of the American Medical Association. He was the president of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science for three years, from 1893 until 1895 inclusively, and in the latter year was chosen president of the Scott County Medical Association. in 1900 he was elected to the presidency of the Iowa & Illinois District Medical Society and in 1908 became the chief executive of the Second District Medical Association.
In his political views Dr. Allen is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and, though not an office seeker, has been concerned in various public movements of widespread benefit, acting as president of the Davenport Business Men's Association in 1889 and cooperating in various projects for general progress.
The family are Episcopalian in religious faith and Dr. Allen is prominent in the various departments of the church work, serving as a member of the vestry and also as president of the Men's Club of the cathedral. He joined Trinity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in 1888 and has ever been an exemplary representative of the craft, utilizing the opportunities which his practice affords for the exemplification of its basic principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness.
From "Vol 2 History of Davenport and Scott County" by Harry E. Downer - S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago
Equipped by thorough training at home and abroad, Dr. William Larned Allen in the practice of his profession has demonstrated his ability to cope with the intricate problems which are continually confronting the physician and surgeon. His broad study and research, his correct application of scientific knowledge and his wide experience have given him eminence in his chosen calling and he is moreover entitled to public recognition as the promoter of the electric street car system in this city.
Born in Davenport on the 7th of June, 1858, Dr. Allen is a son of William and Augusta Dorrance Allen, nee Seabury.
The father, who was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1824, served as chief paymaster of the district of Cumberland from 1861 until 1865. Coming to this city at an early day, he was active in its substantial development and progress and from 1870 until 1874 was a partner in the firm of Mandeville & Allen, railroad contractors. His death occurred the following year and he was long survived by his wife. She was born in Portland, Maine, in 1830, and died in Davenport in 1899.
Among the early American ancestors of Dr. Allen are Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, and the Rev. Thomas Allen of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the great-grandfather, who was called "the fighting parson" because of his action in 1777 at the battle of Bennington.
Dr. Allen supplemented his early education, acquired in the common schools, by study in Griswold College of Davenport, and in preparation for a professional career entered the medical department of the Iowa State University, from which he was graduated in 1881. He afterward spent two years in Vienna, Austria, in special work in surgery and gynecology. He has always remained a close student of the profession, keeping in touch with the advanced thought that marks the onward march of the medical fraternity, and the ability which comes through wide study, careful analysis and broad experience is his, making him one of the prominent and successful physicians of Davenport.
On the 1st of October, 1885, Dr. Allen was married to Miss Alice Van Patten, a daughter of John P. Van Patten. Their children are: Mary, Larned V. P., Elizabeth M. and William Seabury.
His experiences in other lines have also been of a somewhat varied nature. In early manhood he spent one year on a farm in Iowa and one year in managing a plantation in Arkansas, being called to this task on account of the death of his father and his father's partner.
Having inherited some stock in a street railway company in Davenport and having seen the successful trial of an electric car in Richmond, Virginia, he bought up all the stock owned by parties who would not consent to adopt electricity as a motive power and equipped the Davenport Central Railway with electric cars in August, 1888.
This was the second road to be thus fully equipped in the United States. The undertaking required nearly all of Dr. Allen's capital. The attempt to operate lines in Stillwater, Minnesota, and another in Dubuque, Iowa, which he had equipped, together with the necessity of purchasing new motors which had soon to be replaced with more powerful ones, required more capital than he could command and the electric supply companies and his banker forced him to give up his property, which was then carrying only a small bonded debt, and which a few years later was sold to an eastern syndicate for several million dollars.
The early change to electricty gave Davenport a widespread reputation, but few of the citizens were willing to put any money into the electric venture, believing that it would be impossible to run cars up the heavy grades.
Resuming the practice of medicine and surgery, Dr. Allen has since confined his attention almost exclusively to his professional duties and in 1895 founded St. Luke's Hospital and was elected president of its medical board and chairman of the executive committee, which position he still retains. He has done notable work along surgical lines, prominent among his operations being the removal in 1895 by gastrotomy of a hairball from a girl's stomach, it being the largest foreign body ever successfully removed from the human stomach. Other operations which he has performed have been almost equally notable and have brought him wide reputation as a skilled surgeon. For twenty years he has been surgeon of the [Annie Wittenmyer] State Orphans Home and for a similar period of the Tri-City Railway Company. For two decades he has been a member of the state, district and county medical assocations and for fifteen years of the American Medical Association. He was the president of the Davenport Academy of Natural Science for three years, from 1893 until 1895 inclusively, and in the latter year was chosen president of the Scott County Medical Association. in 1900 he was elected to the presidency of the Iowa & Illinois District Medical Society and in 1908 became the chief executive of the Second District Medical Association.
In his political views Dr. Allen is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and, though not an office seeker, has been concerned in various public movements of widespread benefit, acting as president of the Davenport Business Men's Association in 1889 and cooperating in various projects for general progress.
The family are Episcopalian in religious faith and Dr. Allen is prominent in the various departments of the church work, serving as a member of the vestry and also as president of the Men's Club of the cathedral. He joined Trinity Lodge, A. F. & A. M., in 1888 and has ever been an exemplary representative of the craft, utilizing the opportunities which his practice affords for the exemplification of its basic principles of mutual helpfulness and brotherly kindness.
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Dr. William Larned Allen
1858 - 1930
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