“The College of Physicians and Surgeons, chartered in 1849, and by act of the Legislature – session of 1849-50 – was made the Medical Department of the Iowa State University, being the first department organized. The College was located at Davenport, but finding the location unsatisfactory, it was, in 1850, removed to Keokuk, where it has been growing in usefulness and influence until to-day it occupies a prominent position among the regular medical schools of the country.”

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“The College held its legal connection with the State University until the adoption of the new Constitution, in 1858. By constitutional enactment, the University was located at Iowa City and its Medical Department, not wishing to change its location from Keokuk to an interior city, continued a nominal connection until 1870, when the new Medical Department at Iowa City was organized.”

 

”The College held its legal connection with the State University until the adoption of the new Constitution, in 1858. By constitutional enactment, the University was located at Iowa City and its Medical Department, not wishing to change its location from Keokuk to an interior city, continued a nominal connection until 1870, when the new Medical Department at Iowa City was organized.”

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“Since then, the Medical College at Keokuk, under its original name – the College of Physicians and Surgeons – with a renewal of its charter, has continued to prosper, until its building and appliances, with its able corps of teachers, equal any of the colleges, East or West. Over five thousand students have received instruction in her halls, and her Alumni, now numbering over thirteen hundred, occupy respectable and influential positions in the profession wherever located.”

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– The History of Lee County, Iowa (1879) Western Historical Co.

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“Keokuk no longer has a medical college. There has been one in existence here for fifty-eight consecutive years. The last session was held yesterday. All departments were closed this morning and the students were officially advised of the transformation that has taken place. The Keokuk Medical college – College of Physicians and Surgeons – has been transferred to and merged with the medical department of Drake University of Des Moines. This announcement will come as a regrettable surprise to a majority of the citizens of Keokuk, though there were many who had been advised of the fate towards which this educational institution has been drifting for several years past. It could only have been averted with an endowment. Fees derived from the students were wholly insufficient to meet the expense of maintenance at the high standard that is now required of medical schools of this day.”

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“While the entire department has been disposed of to Drake, the local corporation which owned and has controlled the college still retains ownership of the real estate. Included in the equipment is famous Hughes Museum, one of the best of its character in the west. The number of students has been gradually decreasing for several years. At the present time there are sixty medical students and eighteen in the dental department. The medical department of Drake, which absorbs the Keokuk school, has only seventy enrolled. Most of the Keokuk students, it is believed, will remove to Drake, which they may attend upon the same terms as would have been exacted on them here had the college continued. The faculty is under obligations under the terms of the merger to assist Drake if any portion of it should be required. Possibly several of its members may give instruction at Des Moines, but nothing definite has been determined about this matter. President H. B. Bell of Drake is in Keokuk today and has already begun the work of packing the equipment and museum for shipment. The dental department will continue to be operated here until November 7, when it, too, will be transferred. The consideration received for the college is not made public.”

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“History of Keokuk college – The Keokuk College of Physicians and Surgeons was organized in St. Charles, Ill., in 1845, two courses of lectures being given. It was then removed to Rock Island and after two courses there went to Davenport, and in 1850 was removed to Keokuk, where it has continued to this date that marks its transfer to Des Moines. The College of Physicians and Surgeons was at one time the medical department of the state university. It prospered after its removal to Keokuk and soon took rank as one of the largest and best in the west. Its connection with the state university continued until 1870.”

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“The Keokuk Medical College was incorporated and its faculty organized about February 1, 1890. The following are the conditions that led to its establishment: A faculty composed of well educated physicians and experienced teachers had been teaching under great disadvantages for about ten years. All their efforts to get a better furnished building, a more thorough and modern equipment for teaching, having failed, they unanimously decided to establish and maintain a modern, well equipped medical college. The present Sixth street building was purchased and remodeled. A comfortable and convenient auditorium…”

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“The Keokuk Medical College had an enrollment of 143 at its first session, and the attendance increased annually till the consolidation of the two colleges in 1899. At a faculty meeting of the Keokuk Medical College in February, 1899, Thos. J. Maxwell, M. D., proposed that they buy the College of Physicians and Surgeons and consolidate the two colleges. A committee was appointed and negotiations were at once commenced which finally resulted in the Keokuk Medical College buying all the stock of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, including the college building, charter, appliances, museum, ect.”

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–The Keokuk Constitution-Democrat, October 23, 1908

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