Location: Northwest corner of S. Grant Ave. and W. Wabash Ave., Crawfordsville (Montgomery County), Indiana 47933
Installed 2020 Indiana Historical Bureau and The League of Women Voters of Montgomery County
ID#: 54.2020.1
Text
Side One:
Physician and women’s rights leader Dr. Mary Wilhite was born and raised in Montgomery County. She graduated from Penn Medical University in Philadelphia in 1856 and opened a practice in Crawfordsville, making her one of the first trained female physicians in the state. A local philanthropist, she helped found the Montgomery County Orphans’ Home in the early 1880s.
Side Two:
A longtime proponent of women’s equality, Wilhite helped revive the women’s suffrage movement in Indiana after the Civil War. She was integral in founding the Montgomery County Woman Suffrage Association in 1869. Through her writings and speeches, she advocated for equal pay for equal work, increased educational opportunities for women, and full equality under the law.
Annotated Text
Side One
Physician and women’s rights leader Dr. Mary Wilhite was born and raised in Montgomery County.[1] She graduated from Penn Medical University in Philadelphia in 1856 and opened a practice in Crawfordsville, making her one of the first trained female physicians in the state.[2] A local philanthropist, she helped found the Montgomery County Orphans’ Home in the early 1880s.[3]
Side Two
A longtime proponent of women’s equality, Wilhite helped revive the women’s suffrage movement in Indiana after the Civil War.[4] She was integral in founding the Montgomery County Woman Suffrage Association in 1869.[5] Through her writings and speeches, she advocated for equal pay for equal work, increased educational opportunities for women, and full equality under the law.[6]
All newspaper articles cited in these footnotes are available via Hoosier State Chronicles or Newspapers.com, unless otherwise noted. Copies of all articles are located in IHB’s Dr. Mary Holloway Wilhite marker file.
[1] US Federal Census, 1840, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana; US Federal Census, 1850, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana; H.W. Beckwith, History of Montgomery County, (Chicago: H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, 1881), 168-169; “Death of Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 9, 1892; Mrs. A.S. Wilson Moore, “A Tribute to Dr. Mary H. Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, February 20, 1892; “Death of Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Review, February 13, 1892; “Wilhite, Mrs. Mary Holloway,” Francis E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century: Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, (Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893), 774.
[2] Joseph S. Longshore, M.D., “Announcement and catalogue of the Penn Medical University of Philadelphia, male and female departments, for 1857-58: with the valedictory address to the graduating classes, delivered at the public commencement, held in Musical Fund Hall, May 30th, 1857,” (Philadelphia: M.P. Williams & Co, 1857), http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101196356; J.V.C. Smith, M.D. and Edward Sutton Smith, M.D., The Medical World: A Journal of Medical Intelligence, Vol. 1, (Boston: Damrell & Moore and George Coolidge, 1857), 76; H.W. Beckwith, History of Montgomery County, (Chicago: H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, 1881), 168; “Wilhite, Mrs. Mary Holloway,” Francis E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century: Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, (Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893), 774; US Federal Census, 1860, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana; “Medical Notice,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, July 11, 1856; “Medical Notice,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, August 14, 1856; “Death of Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 10, 1892; “Death of Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Review, February 13, 1892.
Wilhite graduated and opened her first medical practice under her maiden name Holloway. She married Eleazer Wilhite on Christmas Eve in 1860, upon which she changed her last name to Wilhite. “Married,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, December 27, 1860.
Many primary and secondary sources claim Wilhite was the first trained female physician in the state or that she was the first woman from Indiana to graduate from medical school and set up a medical practice here. It is often difficult to prove or substantiate “firsts” when doing history, particularly with older records. In this case, sources clearly demonstrate that Wilhite was among the earliest trained female physicians in the state. However, Dr. Mary F. Thomas graduated Penn Medical University in 1854, two years before Wilhite finished her degree. Thomas was not born or raised in Indiana as Wilhite had been, but Thomas had resided in Wabash County, Indiana by the late 1830s or early 1840s. By the time Thomas graduated medical school in 1854, she listed her residence as Fort Wayne, Indiana, and set up a medical practice there with her husband by late July of the same year. Approximately two years later, the couple relocated to Richmond and were practicing medicine in that city by late summer 1856, the same time Wilhite set up practice in Crawfordsville. “Medical Notices: Drs. O. & Mary F. Thomas,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, July 29, 1854; “Medical Notices: Drs. O. & Mary F. Thomas,” Fort Wayne Sentinel, December 23, 1854 “O. Thomas, M.D., Mary F. Thomas, M.D.” advertisement, Richmond Palladium August 7, 1856.
[3] “Movement to Organize Home,” Saturday Evening Journal (Crawfordsville), 1880, Reprint in Montgomery County Magazine, June 1980, Crawfordsville District Public Library, Copy in IHB Marker File; “The Orphan’s Home,” Saturday Evening Journal, December 8, 1883, Crawfordsville District Public Library, Copy in IHB Marker File; “Montgomery County Orphans’ Home,” Indianapolis Journal, February 7, 1889; “Death of Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 9, 1892; “First Female Practitioner,” Indianapolis News, February 9, 1892; Dr. Thomas J. Griffith, Dr. J.R. Etter, Dr. T.F. Leach, “High Tribute to Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 12, 1892; “County Orphan’s Home,” History of Montgomery County, Indiana, Vol. 1, (Indianapolis: A.W. Bowen & Company, 1913); “Seventh Annual Fair of the Montgomery County,” The Crawfordsville Review, July 9, 1859; “Humane Society Officers,” Indianapolis News, June 9, 1888; “Burned Down,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, December 31, 1892; Pat Cline, “Community helped ‘unfortunate waifs,’ Montgomery County Magazine, May 1977; “Home moved,” Montgomery County Magazine, August 1999.
[4] Mary Holloway to Parents, March 25, 1855, letter, transcription, Mary Holloway Wilhite Papers, 1856-1977, Crawfordsville District Public Library Archives, Crawfordsville, Indiana; Mary Holloway to Father, January 1856, letter, Mary Holloway Wilhite Papers, 1856-1977, Crawfordsville District Public Library Archives, Crawfordsville, Indiana; “Wilhite, Mrs. Mary Holloway,” Francis E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century: Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, (Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893), 774; H.W. Beckwith, History of Montgomery County, (Chicago: H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, 1881), 169; “Woman’s Suffrage Association,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, June 24, 1869; “Female Suffrage,” Indianapolis Daily Sentinel, September 10, 1869; Mrs. C.S. McDonald, editor, “The Coming Woman: Woman Suffrage Convention,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, September 30, 1869.
[5] “Woman’s Suffrage Association,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, June 24, 1869; Mrs. C.S. McDonald, editor, “The Coming Woman: Woman Suffrage Convention,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, September 30, 1869; Pat Cline, “Local women fought hard for rights,” Montgomery County Magazine, April 1980; “Wilhite, Mrs. Mary Holloway,” Francis E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century: Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, (Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893), 774.
[6] Mary Holloway to Parents, March 25, 1855, letter, transcription, Mary Holloway Wilhite Papers, 1856-1977, Crawfordsville District Public Library Archives, Crawfordsville, Indiana; Mary Holloway to Father, January 1856, letter, Mary Holloway Wilhite Papers, 1856-1977, Crawfordsville District Public Library Archives, Crawfordsville, Indiana ; Mrs. C.S. McDonald, Editor, “The Coming Woman: Woman Suffrage Convention,” Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, September 30, 1869; “Female Suffrage,” Indianapolis Daily Sentinel, September 10, 1869; M.H.W., “Woman’s Rights,” Saturday Evening Journal, April 3, 1880, Crawfordsville District Public Library, Copy in IHB Marker File; “Woman’s Suffrage Convention,” Crawfordsville Weekly Review, May 1, 1880; “Equal Suffrage Society,” Saturday Evening Journal, June 12, 1880, Crawfordsville District Public Library, Copy in IHB Marker File; “The Coming Woman: Equal Suffrage Society,” Saturday Evening Journal, December 11, 1880, Crawfordsville District Public Library, Copy in IHB Marker File ; “Woman Suffrage,” Rochester Republican, September 22, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” The Mitchell Commercial, September 22, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” Sullivan Union, October 19, 1881; “Woman Suffrage,” North Manchester Journal, November 10, 1881; H.W. Beckwith, History of Montgomery County, (Chicago: H.H. Hill and N. Iddings, 1881), 169; “Indiana State Women’s Suffrage Convention,” Indianapolis News, November 11, 1886; Dr. Thomas J. Griffith, Dr. J.R. Etter, Dr. T.F. Leach, “High Tribute to Dr. Mary Wilhite,” Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 12, 1892; Francis E. Willard and Mary A. Livermore, eds., A Woman of the Century: Leading American Women in All Walks of Life, (Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893), 774.
Keywords
Science, Medicine, & Invention; Women