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Looking back on Willimantic’s history, there were many people who
contributed immensely to the growth and the quality of life in
Willimantic. Many, perhaps most, of them are no longer remembered and so
today we’ll take a look at the life of one of the city’s “unsung
heroes”, Doctor William Patrick Stuart Keating. When he died in 1958, he
was considered to be one of the area’s oldest and most respected
veterans of World War I. Doctor Keating was born in 1874 in Manchester,
CT and graduated from the Jefferson Medical College. Soon after, he
began his practice in Manchester and was one of the physicians
especially chosen to work with those who had contracted smallpox. He
moved his practice to Willimantic and by 1905 had been appointed as the
city’s health officer. He immediately began a campaign to rid the city
of a number of unsanitary conditions including the still-common practice
of using cesspools. He was known to travel throughout the city checking
backyards, alleyways and streets and insisting on treatment of any
problems he found. It was his belief that, “the welfare of a community
depends on the health of individuals”. Occasionally, cases of smallpox
were found and the treatment of the patients became Doctor Keating’s
responsibility as well. In 1909-1910, he became part of a controversy
started by “The Willimantic Medical Society”. The Society’s position, as
presented to the Common Council, was that the salary of the City Health
Officer should not be less than $1,000 per year. It was rumored that the
Society had hoped to remove Doctor Keating from the position. However,
Doctor Keating let it be known that he would be happy to reaccept the
appointment at his current salary of $300 and Mayor Dunn “plainly
intimated that he would reappoint Doctor Keating who was one of the
eleven members of the Medical Society and its Secretary. During one of
the Society’s longest meetings, he was criticized by his fellow members
for continuing his candidacy as health officer. The Society also decided
to “make a full explanation to the aldermen, giving the Society’s
reasons for favoring an increase in the health officer’s compensation”.
Keating was reappointed and was “severely criticized” by the Society for
having accepted the appointment at less than $1000 per year. The Society
then voted to subject Keating to a “mild reprimand”.
Undaunted, Keating continued his diligent work and now increased his
attention to checking and testing the quality of milk since a great
number of local farmers sold their milk in Willimantic. Previously, the
mortality rate had been high but after his testing began, the death rate
dropped significantly and Keating believed that the reason was because
of the quality of the milk available locally had improved. ”.
By Spring, 1912, Willimantic had been hit with the smallpox
epidemic. Within weeks, under Keating’s direction and guidance, City
officials opened an “isolation hospital” on Pleasant Street.
The smallpox outbreak lasted until July. During the time of the
epidemic, not one Willimantic resident died from smallpox and this was
in large part attributed to the unselfish and heroic efforts of three
people who had volunteered to remain at the isolation hospital for the
duration of the epidemic. Doctor Keating, who had fifteen years
experience in treating smallpox, Nurse Ryan who also had training and
experience in caring for smallpox patients and
had worked together with Doctor Keating several years before that
in the isolation hospital in Manchester and Frank Brooks, the cook, who
was a Willimantic resident who had been in the British Army and had
cared for smallpox patients in Turkey. These three remained at the
hospital for its entire twenty-two week operation (today’s photo).
During that time approximately one hundred people were admitted to the
hospital.
During the course of the epidemic, not one person in the city died from
the disease.
. Six of the patients had “very serious” cases of smallpox. Doctor
Keating also had to perform surgery on three patients. After the
hospital closed in July, Keating encouraged the city to appropriate
$5,000. to be used as a contingency fund to care for any future smallpox
cases, and to pay any outstanding accounts. Shamefully, however, the one
bill that was not paid, but rather had been held up and sent from one
committee to another was the one submitted by Doctor Keating. (To be
continued.)
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