Preface
While
enduring “safe” time at home during the current COVID-19 Influenza
pandemic, I decided to take a trip back in time to get a feel for and
write about the 1918 Spanish Influenza pandemic and its impact on
Johnson County.
Spanish Influenza is said to have come in at
least two waves in 1918… one in late spring – called the “three day
fever” with few deaths resulting. It returned in the fall with a
vengeance and carried over into the New Year. For the
purposes of
my project, I limited my research to the time period that appears to
have been the deadliest for Johnson County… during the last three
months of 1918.
The majority of my reporting comes from the
perusal of old newspapers. For the most part, I
used
newspapers.com to review the Iowa City Press Citizen’s pages between
October 1 and December 31, 1918. I also used Ancestry.com to
review Johnson County cemetery records. As a result, I
was able to capture a historical picture of the epdemics impact on
Johnson County during that time frame. On the following pages, you will
find the results of my research – showing the sick, the survivors and
the dead. There are personal stories about some of the victims. Also included, is a sampling of local news and
advertisements during that time.
Please realize that as hard
as I tried to scour each newspaper page, I can’t guarantee the list of
names are complete or are spelled correctly. There were so many victims
during that time, the newspapers squeezed their flu victim news into
every available spot on every page. That made it challenging to spot these hidden news items. I found many
names were miss-spelled, but I recorded them as they were written.
At the start of my work, I couldn’t
decide whether to label the disease as an “epidemic” or a
“pandemic”. The Spanish Influenza was truly a pandemic as it
infected 500 million people around the globe. However, since
I limited my project to Johnson County, I decided to speak to it in
terms of an epidemic: “a disease spreading rapidly within a community
or region”.
It's my
hope my work will give you a better understanding
and appreciation for the impact the Spanish Influenza had on Johnson
County over a hundred years ago. Perhaps it will also help put our
current COVID-19 Influenza crisis in perspective.
Respectfully,
Cindy Booth Maher
If you have 1918 Spanish Influenza stories, letters, photos or information for Johnson County, please send to
me. I’ll be happy to include it on these pages I’ve dedicated
to the epidemic.
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INFLUENZA NOTICE
Official Notice of an Order of the Health Officers of Iowa City, Iowa,
Relating to the Prevention of the Spread of Influenza.
Notice
is hereby given that the Board of Health of Iowa City, Iowa, on
Saturday, October 5, 1918, adopted the following resolution:
“Whereas,
There is an epidemic of influenza in the State of Iowa, and surrounding
States, and during the prevalence of this same disease in other
localities many fatalities have occurred and there being at the present
time a large number of cases of said disease in Iowa City, Iowa, and
the spread of said disease being rapidly on the increase; it therefore
seems advisable in order to protect the inhabitants of the city and
others from this dread disease and to prevent the further spread of the
same to close all public places and all places where in the past it was
the custom for a number of persons to congregate, including all public
and parochial schools, theatres and moving picture shows, churches and
lodges and to forbid the congregating of children upon the streets, in
the parks and public places and private grounds or private houses in
Iowa City, Iowa.
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF HEALTH OF
IOWA CITY, IOWA That the Mayor and the Health Officer be directed to
close all public and parochial schools, all theatres and moving picture
shows and all churches and lodges and to prohibit all public gatherings
and the congregating of adults or children upon the streets, parks and
other public places and upon private grounds or in private houses in
Iowa City, Iowa, the above order to remain in full force and effect
until rescinded by this Board of Health.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED,
That the Board of Health hereby requests the co-operation of the
officers of the schools, churches and lodges, the owners of theatres
and moving picture shows together with each and every citizen of Iowa
City, in carrying out this order or any other orders or directions of
the Health Officer issued for the purpose of preventing spread of said
disease.”
It is therefore ordered that all public and parochial
schools, all theatres and moving picture shows, all churches and
lodges, be closed, all public gatherings and congregating of adults or
children upon the streets, in the parks and other public places and
upon private grounds or in private houses in Iowa City, Iowa, coughing
and sneezing on the streets and public places of Iowa City, Iowa,
without first placing a handkerchief over the mouth and nose is
prohibited, and are hereby forbidden until further notice.
It is further ordered that the officers of Iowa City, Iowa, strictly
enforce the provisions of this order.
The
co-operation of the officers of the schools, churches and lodges, the
owners of theatres and moving picture shows, and parents of children
and
every citizen of Iowa City, Iowa are earnestly invited to help the
officers in carrying out this order to the end that the further spread
of influenza in Iowa City may be prevented.
Dated October 5, 1918
F.K. STEBBINS,
Mayor
DR. WM. M. ROHRBACHER, Health Officer
(Source: Iowa City Press Citizen, 5 Oct 1918, Sat, pg. 3)
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