Early women doctor

Dr. Caroline Eliza Hastings House // 1890

Buildings of New England2 Comments

A fine example of the Queen Anne style of architecture, this late 19th century residence in Sharon, Massachusetts, is equally significant for one of its owners, Dr. Caroline Hastings. Caroline Eliza Hastings (1841-1922) was born in Barre, Massachusetts, and after attending public schools there, would enroll at the New England Female Medical College (later absorbed into the Boston University Medical School), graduating with an MD degree in 1868. She conducted a private practice and additionally worked as an instructor at her alma mater. She was affiliated with the Talitha Cumi Home in Jamaica Plain, Boston, a medical facility run by women to treat and house unmarried mothers and their young children. Doctor Hastings was an amazing woman who also established and was president of Boston’s first women’s medical society, and while on the Boston School Committee, implemented the first free school lunch program for poor children in the country. In the early 20th century, Dr. Hastings and her husband, Charles Printer, purchased this house built in 1890 and moved here together, where they likely enjoyed retirement. Dr. Caroline E. Hastings died in 1922, and her Sharon home has been preserved by later owners and resembles the property when she resided here.

Dr. Gertrude Heath House // c.1850

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Constructed c. 1850, this Gothic Revival house in Farmingdale, Maine, has many identifying features common in the style: a symmetrical facade, steeply pitched gable, and lancet windows in the front gable. Besides its architectural significance, the home is also historically significant as the home of Dr. Gertrude Heath. Gertrude Emma Heath (1859-1935) was born in Gardiner, Maine in January 1859. When Gertrude was just three years old, after the American Civil War began, her father died in battle at Fredericksburg, leaving his widow Sarah to run the family affairs. She excelled in school and received her early education in the public schools of Gardiner, afterward attending Hahnemann Medical College at Chicago, Illinois, taking special courses. She graduated from this institution in 1883 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and began medical practice in Chicago in 1884, moving back home within that year. Soon after returning to Maine, she accepted a position at the Maine State Hospital, at Augusta, where she specialized in eye and ear conditions. It is amazing learning stories about such strong women, when at the time, women medical practitioners were almost unheard of and women were decades away from earning the right to vote.