CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOCIATION - Key Persons
ALLEN, PETER (1 July 1787-1 Sept. 1864), was a prominent doctor in the WESTERN RESERVE. Born in Norwich, Conn., he obtained a preliminary education at the Norwich Academy where he later taught for 2 years. He received his medical education under Dr. Phineas Tracy in Norwich. In 1838 he received an honorary degree from Jefferson College. He married Charity Dudley on 13 May 1813. Their only child, Dudley Allen, succeeded his father in his practice.
Allen began practice in the Kinsman, Ohio, area in 1808. In 1812 he was appointed surgeon in the Western Army under Gen. Simon Perkins and served in the campaign on the Maumee River. He was censor at the Medical College in Willoughby and later at the Cleveland Medical College. In 1835 he was elected first president of the Ohio Medical Convention, which later fostered the Ohio State Medical Society of which he was president in 1856.
Dr. Allen's practice at one time covered 12 townships in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. In addition to the general practice of medicine, he performed various surgical operations, including ligation of the femoral artery for aneurysm; tracheotomies; amputations of the leg, thigh, arm, and shoulder joint; and operations for strangulated hernia and removal of tumors. These were performed without the use of an anesthetic. Before the establishment of medical schools, Allen usually had 3 or 4 students studying under him. His saddlebags and their contents are exhibited at the HOWARD DITTRICK MUSEUM OF HISTORICAL MEDICINE in Cleveland. Allen died at the family home in Kinsman, Ohio and is buried at the Kinsman Cemetery.
Job Titles:
- Circulation Manager & Serials / Cataloging Assistant
ALLEN, DUDLEY PETER (25 Mar. 1852-6 Jan. 1915), was one of the founders of the CLEVELAND MEDICAL LIBRARY ASSOC. and an eminent surgeon and professor. Born in Kinsman, Ohio, the son of Dudley Allen and grandson of PETER ALLEN, both doctors, in 1862 he went to Oberlin to study, receiving his A.B. in 1875 and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1879. He settled in Cleveland in 1883.
WALKER, FRANK RAY (29 Sept. 1877-9 July 1949), with HARRY E. WEEKS, founded the architectural firm Walker & Weeks. He was born in Pittsfield, Mass., son of Frank and Helen Theresa (Ranous) Walker, and graduated from MIT in 1900. He studied at the Atelier of Monsieur Redon in Paris and lived a year in Italy. Walker then practiced architecture in Boston, New York, and Pittsburgh before moving to Cleveland in 1905 to join the firm of J. MILTON DYER, which had been commissioned to design a city hall for Cleveland as part of the Group Plan. Both Walker and Weeks worked for Dyer; they established their own practice in 1911. They completed 60 bank buildings throughout Ohio. In Cleveland, they designed major commercial, public, and religious structures in classical revival styles, including Bingham Co. Warehouse (1915); Guardian Bldg. renovation (1915); PUBLIC AUDITORIUM (1922); FEDERAL RESERVE BANK (1923); CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY (1925); EPWORTH-EUCLID METHODIST CHURCH, with architect Bertram Goodhue (1928); First Baptist Church in Shaker Hts. (1929); ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Cleveland Hts. (1929); Pearl St. Savings & Trust; and CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL STADIUM with OSBORN ENGINEERING CO. (1931). Walker also played a major role establishing design and planning standards for Cleveland as the first professional advisor to the City Planning Commission and a member of that body 10 years. He assisted the development of GATES MILLS as president of the Gates Mills Improvement Society (1917-19) and the village's first mayor (1920-24). He was a trustee of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church of Gates Mills.
WEEKS, HARRY ELLIS (2 Oct. 1871-21 Dec. 1935), architect who, with FRANK R. WALKER, founded WALKER & WEEKS, Cleveland's foremost architectural firm during the 1920s. The son of Charles F. and Clarissa Allen Weeks, he was born in W. Springfield, Mass., graduated from MIT in 1893, and worked for several prominent Massachusetts architectural firms before owning his own firm in Pittsfield, Mass. for 3 years. In Pittsfield, Walker's birthplace, Weeks met his future business partner. At the suggestion of John M. Carrere, a member of the Cleveland Group Plan Commission, Weeks moved to Cleveland in 1905, the same year as Walker. Both men joined the firm of J. MILTON DYER. In 1911, Walker and Weeks left Dyer's office to establish their own practice. Their firm was known as a specialist in financial buildings, completing 60 banks throughout Ohio. In Cleveland, however, Walker & Weeks were best known for designing major commercial, public, and religious structures, most of them in classical revival styles, including Bingham Co. Warehouse (1915); Guardian Bldg. renovation (1915); PUBLIC AUDITORIUM (1922); FEDERAL RESERVE BANK (1923); CLEVELAND PUBLIC LIBRARY (1925); EPWORTH-EUCLID METHODIST CHURCH, with architect Bertram Goodhue (1928); First Baptist Church in Shaker Hts. (1929); ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH in Cleveland Hts. (1929); Pearl St. Savings & Trust; and CLEVELAND MUNICIPAL STADIUM with OSBORN ENGINEERING CO. (1931). Weeks was a member of Euclid Ave. Baptist Church and president of its board of trustees in 1926. He married Alice B. Tuggey in 1896. They had two children, Ellis and Donald. Weeks was buried in LAKE VIEW CEMETERY.