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History of Johnson County

THE FLU EPIDEMIC OF 1918 - It's Impact on Johnson County

Researched and compiled by Cindy Booth Maher, April 2020

THE PREFACE
THE
SITUATION IN OCTOBER
THE
SITUATION IN NOVEMBER
THE
SITUATION IN DECEMBER
THE SICK THE SURVIVORS
THE DEAD

OCTOBER VICTIMS
THE DEAD

NOVEMBER VICTIMS

THE DEAD

DECEMBER VICTIMS

THE DOCTORS
THE DEAD

YOUNG SOLDIERS
THE SOURCES

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.














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)

SEE ALSO...SOURCES
1918 Flu - A Depiction & photos by Bob Hibbs

Newspapers.com
Iowa City Press Citizen
Cedar Rapids Gazette
CDC who used the following as their sources:
  • U of Michigan Influenza Encyclopedia
  • National Geographic
  • Smithsonian
  • The Gazette (Iowa)
The Daily Times, Davenport, IA
Ancestry.com : Iowa Cemetery Records 1662 - 1999
https://clickamericana.com/topics/health-medicine
idph.iowa.gov
https//medium.com/iowa-history/
archives.gov
Iowa History - State Historical Society of Iowa
Wikipedia

Page updated 20 Mar 2023