From History of Walworth County Wisconsin by Albert Clayton Beckwith, Vol. II, 
publ. 1912, Page 1490-1494
 
THE LAKE GENEVA SANITARIUMS.  Apart from the summer villas, their residents 
and their guests, the most important interest of Lake Geneva is, without 
doubt, the sanitariums.  Our summer residents, the sanitariums and our dairies 
are about our only original sources of revenue.  In the course of most other 
business, in Lake Geneva, money is collected here and sent away.  The 
development of the Lake Geneva Sanitariums has been so regular and gradual 
that it has been accepted rather as a matter of course and their importance, 
we think, has been little realized.
 
Founded twenty-seven years ago, the growth of the sanitariums has been 
constant and important.  During the past ten years, from the proceeds derived 
from its patients, the sanitariums have brought each year, from a distance, 
from eighty-five thousand to one hundred thousand dollars and expended this 
money in Lake Geneva.  It is true that one hundred thousand dollars is a small 
sum for a town such as ours, but we would miss it if it were not constant in 
its arrival.
 
The sanitariums are not alone important to us on account of the money they 
bring to Lake Geneva, but their rooms are conveniently open to any one 
requiring the service of a hospital.  Any patient, whether surgical, medical 
or nervous, may put himself under the skillful care of its physicians and 
nurses.  The doors are open to any local or other reputable physician to bring 
his patient to the surgery, the Lakeside Sanitarium or to Oakwood, and there 
attend him throughout his illness.  If desired, physicians may bring with them 
their own nurses.  Members of the consulting staff are able to arrive within a 
few hours, from Chicago, on being called.  To anyone suffering from injury or 
illness, other than a contagious malady, the doors are open.  Thus Lake Geneva 
is well provided with hospital facilities, far beyond most cities large in 
size.
 
The Lake Geneva Sanitariums were founded by Dr. Oscar A. KING in 1883.  The 
work was begun systematically.  First, the Legislature of 1883 was asked to 
pass certain laws governing such institutions.  Up to that time the statutes 
of Wisconsin were silent on the subject.  Mr. KING's bills were passed without 
amendment, and, with but one small amendment, still continue in force.  To 
these statutes, more than to any other cause, are due the establishment of the 
great number of sanitariums in the state of Wisconsin, which are more numerous 
than those of any other state in the Union.
 
In the rivalry for location, Lake Geneva competed with Beloit, Janesville, 
Palmyra and other cities.  Janesville and Beloit each offered five thousand 
dollars bonus and a suitable site.  Palmyra offered a site of forty acres in 
the town and a perpetual leave of the springs.  Lake Geneva was able to offer 
only fifteen hundred dollars through subscriptions to the fund by citizens, 
and free water supply to the sanitarium buildings and grounds; this, through 
the offices and energy of James B. HEG, then owner and editor of the Herald.  
A substantial percentage of the promise was fulfilled.  Lake Geneva won 
through the beauty of location and its nearness to Chicago.
 
Oakwood, the first of the Lake Geneva Sanitarium buildings to be erected, was 
completed during the winter of 1884-5.  The building of the Lake Geneva 
Sanitariums has occupied all of one man's time for the past twenty-seven 
years.  For the building of such institutions is not alone the piling up of 
bricks and stone, the construction of buildings, but the filling them with 
patients.  Dr. KING has taken little or no time for social life.  His time has 
been spent with his patients in the sanitariums, in his office in Chicago, and 
in his college work.  This work he began as a young man, and while building 
the sanitariums at Lake Geneva, he was building a reputation in Chicago and 
the country.  On September 27, 1882, he delivered the first medical lecture 
ever given in the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, having been 
chosen professor of diseases of the mind and nervous system on his return from 
the University of Vienna, where he had studied, in this department, under 
Weiss, Lydersdorf and Meynert.  He has continued since 1882 as the head of the 
department of neurology, delivering three lectures and clinics each week.  He 
has been chief of the staff in the departments of nervous diseases of the West 
Side Free Dispensary during the same period of time.  In 1893 he was made 
secretary of the college and professor of clinical medicine, and in 1904 was 
elected vice-dean of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the College of 
Medicine of the University of Illinois, which office he still holds.  In these 
positions he has gained a wide reputation as a neurologist and the success of 
the sanitariums at Lake Geneva has been no less due to Dr. KING's work done in 
Chicago than to his work done in Lake Geneva.  Dr. KING has never missed a 
week out of his service in the college during the past twenty-nine years, and 
is now one of three of the present faculty who were members of the first 
faculty of the college, and during all of these years the upbuilding has also 
had his constant application.
 
Oakwood was opened for patients on the 13th day of May 1885.  Sometime later, 
Mr. WALTER's house, now the surgery, was purchased.  An addition to Oakwood 
was built in 1889.  In 1893, Lakeside Sanitarium was founded and in 1896 
Lakeside Cottage, the former residence of Robert BAKER, of Racine, was 
established.  In the past few years another addition to Oakwood has been built 
and many interior and exterior improvements made.  Oakwood is practically fire-
proof.  Its exterior walls are of stone and brick, with hollow space; there is 
no furring.  The inner walls are of solid brick from basement to attic and all 
walls are plaster upon the brick.  The main stair is of marble and the floors 
of mosaic tile and hardwood.  Where hardwood floors exist there is two inches 
of cement between the lining and the finishing floor and running from wall to 
wall.  It is lighted by electricity and heated by steam, while the ventilating 
system is such that any room may be filled with smoke and perfectly cleared in 
ten minutes without opening windows or door.
 
An extensive hydropathic department with thorough equipment for various 
treatment-baths and exercises occupy an entire floor.  Separate parlors and 
dining rooms are available for every five to seven patients.  The whole 
building is thoroughly well equipped and furnished.  Its carpets are English 
wilton and rugs of equal grade and its beds are furnished with box springs and 
hair mattresses.  Within, the parlors and rooms present the appearance of a 
most comfortable hotel or private residence and none of the appearance, sounds 
or odors commonly thought unavoidable in hospitals are discernible.
 
The surgery is a separate building.  It has a well-equipped, thoroughly 
antiseptic and modern operating room.  There are large, airy bedrooms with 
pleasant outlooks, suitable baths and diet kitchen.
 
Lakeside Sanitarium is situated on the very shores of Lake Geneva and is 
equipped and utilized for the care and treatment of medical and general 
sanitarium cases.  The grounds of Lakeside are about half mile distant from 
those of Oakwood.  The lake borders these grounds in front and to the west, 
while Maxwell park bounds the grounds on the east, thereby affording quietude 
and a delightful outlook from the windows of every room.
 
There are broad porches, wide, sunny lawns, fine trees, deep shade and 
excellent play grounds.
 
In summer, bathing, boating, fishing, sailing croquet, tennis, riding and 
driving are available for patients who have the inclination or for whom 
activity is desirable.  In winter, sleighing, skating, ice-boat sailing and 
all outdoor winter sports are available under the most agreeable 
circumstances.  Within doors billiards, books, music, dancing, social 
entertainments and agreeable associations pass the time acceptably and with 
benefit to all.
 
One entering Lakeside or the Cottage sees nothing to suggest a habitation for 
the sick.  The halls and parlors are well furnished, fresh and bright and 
suggest a private home rather than an institution.  There is observed, in all, 
a cordiality and cheerfulness seen no where apart from the freest social 
intercourse among friends.  Nevertheless the treatment of the sick practically 
engages the entire attention of doctors and nurses.
 
Dr. KING has strong support in the resident and attending medical staff.  We 
may mention these: Dr. U. G. DARLING, assistant professor of neurology and 
psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Chicago, with long experience 
in general practice and for ten years assistant to Dr. KING in the college, 
resident physician at Oakwood; Dr. Oscar HAWKINSON, former intern at Passavant 
Hospital, Chicago, resident physician at Lakeside; Dr. James C. REYNOLDS and 
Dr. William H. McDONALD of this city, attending physicians, and Dr. T. A. 
DAVIS, Chicago, attending surgeon.
 
The active consulting staff, resident in Chicago, include men of national 
reputation, among whom are, Dr. Frank BILLINGS, Dr. Henry B. FAVILL, Dr. James 
B. HERRICK, Dr. Archibald CHURCH, Dr. Twing B. WIGGIN, Dr. Otto SCHMIDT, Dr. 
Hugh T. PATRICK, Dr. E. J. DOINING, Dr. Sidney KUN, Dr. Walter METCALF and Dr. 
C. B. KING, physician; Dr. T. A. DAVIS, Dr. Alex. H. FERGUSON, Dr. David B. 
GRAHAM, Dr. D. N. EISENDRATH, Dr. Matthew CORBETT, and Dr. Henry T. BYFORD, 
surgeons.
 
In the first place stands the laboratory.  Trained assistants are employed in 
the use of instruments of accuracy and methods of procedure in chemical, 
microscopical and physical examinations, as well as in thorough psychological 
investigation.
 
Regular courses of instructions are given in appropriate fields of knowledge, 
mental exercises and drills are conducted with a view to strengthening, 
restoring or developing the faculties, particularly that of the will.  Such 
treatment is believed to be important in a very large percentage of sanitarium 
cases, particularly in neurasthenia, hysteria and habit.
 
Such a course is regarded as a foundation stone in a permanent cure of 
hysteria and many other habit symptoms, the result of a nervous constitution, 
irrational living, slipshod and vicious education and idle indulgence - cases 
that can seldom be treated successfully at home.  A training school for nurses 
was established a few years ago, which includes a course in domestic science.  
The course of instruction covers three years.
 
The full apartments at Oakwood and the increased number of applications as 
patients during the summer and fall lead to anticipations of greatly increased 
demand for accommodations in the near future.
 
Submitted by Carol