Pueblo County, Colorado
Corwin, Richard Warren

Contributed by Karen Mitchell

Corwin, Richard Dr., Hired by the Colorado Coal and Iron Co. in 1881 to establish a medical department that would serve Pueblo and its coal camps, Corwin immersed himself in the total health care of his patients. The bachelor doctor sponsored kindergartens to help non-English-speaking children succeed in school, founded Minnequa Hospital's nursing school and started cooking classes for women so they could provide more nutritious family meals.

RICHARD WARREN CORWIN, A. M., M. D., LL. D.
Dr. Richard Warren Corwin, a distinguished physician and scientist of Pueblo, was born in Binghamton, New York, May 24, 1852. He spent the greater part of his boyhood in Narrowsburg and when a youth took up the study of taxidermy in New York city. He pursued a preparatory course in Port Jervis, New York, and later secured the appointment of taxidermist to Cornell University. It was while connected with that institution that he acquired his literary education. He has ever been a man of studious habits, delving deep into one branch of knowledge after another and reaching a point of efficiency in any line to which he has directed his labors. In 1874 he was appointed curator of the museum of the Michigan State University and while preparing for the medical profession in that institution he supported himself by teaching comparative anatomy and microscopy. After his graduation, on the completion of a thorough course in medicine, he accepted the position of interne in St. Luke's Hospital of Chicago, with which institution he was connected for two years, and thus he gained that broad and valuable experience and training which can be secured as quickly in no other way as in hospital work. In 1896 the Master of Arts degree was conferred upon him by the University of Denver. Dr. Corwin's identification with Colorado dates from 1881, in which year he removed to Pueblo in order to accept the position of chief surgeon with the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. This position also includes the general management of the sociological department. He has been associated as surgeon with some of the largest corporations in the state and his prominence in the profession is indicated in the fact that he has been chosen president of the State Medical Society and also of the Pueblo County Medical Society. Moreover, he belongs to the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, the Association of Military Surgeons, the American Association of Railway Surgeons and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. In October, 1905, he was elected to the presidency of the American Association of Railway Surgeons—an honor which he well merited. He has served as a member of the Colorado State Board of Health and on the 7th of June, 1905, the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him at Boulder by the University of Colorado, in which institution he fills the chair of surgery. In 1916 he visited France and Belgium in order to further study surgery in hospitals under Drs. Carrel and Depag, and others, for the purpose of introducing the latest surgical methods and discoveries at the Minnequa Hospital. A man of pronounced ability, continuous study has resulted in the development of his powers until he stands today among the ablest medical and surgical practitioners of the west. He is perhaps equally well known by reason of his writings, for he has been for many years a well known contributor to the literature of the profession. His published writings include "Injuries to the Vertebrae or Spinal Cord and Their Treatment," "Medicine in Egypt—Past and Present," "Care of the Stump in Appendicitis; Two Cases of Interest," "Unique Case of Traumatic Hernia," "The Rectal Syphon," "Osteomyelitis—Diagnosis and Treatment," "Bacteriology in the Public Schools," "Education vs. Legislation" and "Social Betterment in the Rocky Mountains." All this indicates the breadth and nature of his reading and research and his opinions are largely accepted as authority wherever they have been expressed, through the medium of lecture platform or the press. While Dr. Corwin has confined his attention largely to his profession, he is interested in all that pertains to development and progress and served on the school board of Pueblo for twenty seven years continuously. For ten years he also served as a member of the Normal School board and served on the board of the State Agricultural College. He served on the medical staff of the Colorado National Guard and was surgeon general under Governor Adams. He was likewise made a member of the staff of Governor Peabody and of Governor Buchtel. In Masonry he has attained. high rank. In 1904 and 1905 he was right eminent grand commander of the grand commandery of Colorado and has been given the honorary thirty-third degree. It has been under his direction that the great hospital of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company has been built; and in his splendid work at this hospital he now makes use of his observations and research carried on while visiting the war hospitals of Europe in 1916. At the present hour in the country's crisis Dr. Corwin is standing loyally for American interests, giving time, effort and thought to advancing the nation's welfare. He is a fluent speaker and is one of the four-minute men who are addressing the public upon the vital questions of the day. His life work has been fraught with fruitful accomplishment and his contribution to the world's progress has been of genuine worth and value. History Of Colorado Illustrated Volume II Chicago The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1918


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