Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Kenniebrew first Black to own, operate hospital: New Home Sanitarium in Jacksonville treated thousands in early 1900s

He was a ground-breaker in more ways than one, and he helped thousands of central Illinoisans along the way.

Dr. Alonzo H. Kenniebrew was the first African-American to own and operate a hospital in the United States, running New Home Sanitarium in Jacksonville for nearly two decades in the early 20th century. A disciple of Booker T. Washington, Kenniebrew succeeded despite a lifetime of roadblocks because of his race.

Born in Shorter, Alabama, on May 5, 1875, Kenniebrew was the son of a former slave. He graduated from the prestigious Tuskegee Institute, as well as Central Tennessee College and Meharry Medical College, a predominately black medical school in Nashville. Kenniebrew earned a degree from Meharry in 1897 with a thesis titled “Dementia Paralytica.”

From 1897 to 1902, Kenniebrew served as Tuskegee’s medical director, surgeon-in-chief and instructor of physiology. At Tuskegee, Kenniebrew formed relationships with the some of the most accomplished African-Americans of the day. He was not only Washington’s close friend and personal physician, but he also was well acquainted with the remarkable George Washington Carver.

He then settled in Jacksonville, first residing at 950 Morton Ave. In September 1902, advertisements in the Daily Journal promoted his medical office at 221½ W. Morgan St. Kenniebrew had telephones at both his home and office, amenities that many other local doctors did not have.

As years passed, he expanded his services and moved to 323 W. Morgan. A 1906 ad in the Journal offered his expertise in “diseases of the stomach, women and children.” At the time, Kenniebrew conducted office hours 9-11 a.m. and 2-5 and 7-8 p.m. weekdays and 9-11 a.m. Sundays.

Because Kenniebrew was unable to obtain medical privileges at Jacksonville hospitals, he took the unusual step of opening his own hospital on April 12, 1909.

Dubbed the New Home Sanitarium, the facility began as a small, six-room cottage with one trained nurse, one surgeon, three beds, an operating room and, as one account reported, “a few miscellaneous articles.”

Kenniebrew’s skill and determination, however, won out. By 1922, the facility was described as “a large, modern building of 33 rooms, with four sleeping porches (and) three laboratories” with a staff of “seven nurses, three surgeons, and eight associate surgeons and physicians.”

The sanitarium placed special emphasis on surgery and obstetrics. In World War I, the U.S. War Department used the hospital as a training facility for Army surgeons.

Patients flocked to Jacksonville from across the nation for Kenniebrew’s services. In 1920, the New Home Sanitarium registry included patients from 21 states and Canada. Though every staff member was black, a Buffalo newspaper reported in 1922 that the facility had treated 2,553 patients, all but 105 of them white.

The sanitarium eventually grew to 67 rooms and Kenniebrew solidified himself as a nationally respected physician. His advertisements in the Jacksonville papers reflected his common-sense approach.

A display ad in the Journal on Christmas Eve 1920 touted the New Home Sanitarium as “the most unique institution in the state” and the “only purely surgical hospital equipped and devoted to surgery and obstetric surgery” outside of Chicago. The sanitarium had “never asked nor received a penny outside its own income,” and its “death rate was the lowest because of its equipment and devotion to surgery only.”
The following March 2, a Journal ad implored residents that “your last chance should not be wasted just because someone … told you that your time has about come to answer that roll which only angels understand.” At the New Home Sanitarium, “the nurses and surgeons … are never happier than when relieving the suffering or extending leases on borrowed physical frames.”

Kenniebrew endured a stroke in 1927, forcing an extended absence. The color of his skin also remained an issue.

In 1929, he came back to Jacksonville to reopen the sanitarium, but the city seized the property to extend a street. That same year, he also sought membership in the Sangamon County Medical Society, because he apparently had hospital privileges in Springfield.

The society then decided privileges for hospital admission should be tied to membership and Kenniebrew’s application to join the society was not granted. Around that time, he left for Evanston, where he practiced medicine and published the weekly Evanston Informer.

Kenniebrew and his first wife, Lenora, a former dean of women at Tuskegee, divorced after settling in Jacksonville. Prior to his move to Evanston, he married the former Jessie Schultz, his bookkeeper and medical stenographer, who was 31 years younger than Kenniebrew. The union produced two children.

In a 1993 interview, Jessie remembered that Kenniebrew was flamboyant, “first driving a carriage with high-steppin’ horses while wearing custom-made white gloves,” then later driving flashy automobiles.

In 1933, Kenniebrew returned to central Illinois, opening a practice on East Washington Street in Springfield. He later moved his practice to East Jackson Street. However, an advertisement in the Daily Journal in March 1938 indicates that he also was regularly seeing patients at 514 S. West St. in Jacksonville.

While in Evanston, he earned membership in the Cook County Medical Society, which he tried in 1934 to transfer to Sangamon County Medical Society. Again, he was denied.

While in Springfield, Kenniebrew resumed his publishing interests, creating the weekly Illinois State Informer. He finally retired amid health issues in 1940 and died in Springfield on May 20, 1943.

Kenniebrew is buried in East Cemetery in Jacksonville, below a tombstone that notes a handful of his accomplishments. His widow, Jessie, later remarried and became a cherished member of Springfield society until her death in 2006 at age 99. She was honored as Springfield’s First Citizen in 1976.

Today, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield hosts the Alonzo H. Kenniebrew, M.D., Forum, an annual event to discuss disparities in health and similar factors.

In 2008, the Sangamon County Medical Society issued a formal apology for its failure to extend membership to Kenniebrew.

By Tom Emery
Tom Emery is a freelance writer and historical researcher from Carlinville. He may be reached at 217-710-8392 or ilciviwar@yahoo.com.