University of Minnesota. Students' Health Service

The Students' Health Service at the University of Minnesota was officially organized in 1917 and opened in 1918 on the Minneapolis campus in two fraternity houses vacated during World War I. Additional dormitory space was also provided for the health service on the Agriculture campus.

In the fall of 1918, Spanish influenza struck the University of Minnesota as a result of the influx of students in the Student Army Training Corps. This occurred during the first weeks of the opening of the new health service, taxing its personnel and facilities. 2,000 cases of influenza were reported and twenty deaths occurred. Influenza struck again in 1919-1920. Forty-three cases of smallpox were reported in 1920-1921 leading to a campaign of small-pox vaccinations for students and prompted epidemiological studies with the aid of the state Department of Health. Paratyphoid fever cases that same year proved to result from milk contaminated by an infected employee, leading to the use of only pasteurized milk in sealed bottles.

After the war, returning students requested that the Health Service vacate the fraternity houses. As a result, the first floor of Pillsbury Hall was remodeled and occupied by the Health Service on February 1, 1919.

In 1921, Harold Diehl became the director of the Students' Health Service, replacing John Sundwall. During his first year as director, Diehl appointed two full-time physicians, Drs. Ruth Boynton and William P. Shepard. Their first year of service was devoted to an outbreak of scarlet fever at the School of Agriculture, followed by influenza. Seeing the need for better facilities on the Agricultural campus, the Old Home Building was remodeled for an out-patient department and a new health service building was built on the St. Paul campus in 1939.

An outbreak of smallpox in 1924-1925 in Minneapolis lead to another effort by the Health Service to get its student population vaccinated. 8,000 students received the vaccine and smallpox vaccinations then became part of the University's entrance requirement.

By 1925, the problem of new quarters for the rapidly growing health service on the Minneapolis campus was becoming a very real one. It was debated whether Jones Hall could be used for health service purposes, with the final decision being to build a new wing of the University Hospital. Construction was completed in 1929. Nicknamed "The Pill Box", the new building allowed for additional health services for both students and employees of the University.

Besides conducting physical examinations, some of the other duties of the Health Service included supervising sanitation of swimming pools, inspecting and rating rooming houses, inspecting eating places on or near campus, and offering courses in hygiene and public health.

In 1936, Dr. Ruth Boynton became the director of the Students' Health Service, developing a comprehensive health program in preventive medicine that included pre-employment examinations for nonacademic employees, later extending it to academic staff. A dietitian was employed to study and assist students with nutrition. During World War II, servicemen assigned to the University for military training were also given medical care by the Students' Health Service.

In 1950, a new health service building was built on the Minneapolis campus with a wing added in 1959. Ruth Boynton retired as director in 1961 and in 1975 the Students' Health Service was renamed Boynton Health Service.

Notes taken from Masters of Medicine: An Historical Sketch of the College of Medical Sciences, University of Minnesota, by J. Arthur Myers, Warren H. Green, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, 1968.

From the guide to the Students' Health Service papers, 1918-1943, (University of Minnesota Libraries. University Archives [uarc])