Produced by the University of Michigan Center for the History of Medicine and Michigan Publishing, University of Michigan Library
Influenza Encyclopedia
The American Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919:
A Digital Encyclopedia
Columbus, Ohio
50 U.S. Cities & Their Stories
“There is no need to worry so far as Columbus is concerned. The epidemic appears to be at its peak and we can look for a lessening of the number of cases within a few days.” Thus spoke Columbus Health Officer Dr. Louis Kahn on October 3, 1918, only a week after the first cases in the city had appeared.1 Despite news from the East Coast, where the influenza was infecting and killing thousands, Kahn dismissed the disease as merely old-fashioned grippe, a centuries-old respiratory illness that annually made its appearance. Reports from cities such as Boston and Philadelphia should have convinced him otherwise.
Health Officer Kahn did issue some recommendations to the general public, however. He advised people to avoid crowds, to regulate bodily functions, to avoid coughs or sneezes from others, to stay warm and dry, and to “avoid feeling or spreading fear of the disease.” When some called for stronger measures to be implemented, Kahn refused, arguing that such a move would result in too great a hardship for many residents, and as such would only be warranted in a dire emergency.2 When, in early October, Kahn met with School Superintendent C. H. Fullerton to discuss the possibility of closing the city’s schools, Kahn declared the situation not yet serious enough, and predicted that plenty of fresh air and proper ventilation measures would be sufficient to stop the spread of influenza. The school system physician said “there is no safer place in town than the schoolroom.” Kahn also opposed postponing or halting the planned Liberty Loan parade out of fear that such a move would cause panic.3
Meanwhile, the epidemic began to spread at an accelerated pace throughout Ohio. In response, cities such as Dayton, Marion, and a host of smaller towns began closing their schools, churches, and other public places. Even East Columbus, an adjacent community that was eventually annexed to the city, closed its schools on October 9 after 42 new cases of influenza were reported among its students.4
Alarmed by the situation in the state, on October 10 Governor James Cox met with the Acting State Commissioner of Health James Bauman, the Ohio Board of Health, and representatives of all local departments of health from communities with 3,000 or more residents. After discussing Ohio’s growing influenza epidemic, Bauman, Cox, and the Public Health Council issued “Instructions to Local Health Officers for the Prevention and Control of Influenza,” series of strong recommendations to all community health departments throughout the state to close places of public gathering and when influenza became epidemic. Believing that each community be given the latitude to meet the epidemic with actions best suited to its circumstances, no statewide closure order was given. In this way, local authorities could adopt the best solution for their needs, including making any necessary provisions for enforcement of public health edicts.5
In Columbus, Health Officer Kahn ordered all theaters closed indefinitely, but allowed plans for the upcoming Memorial Hall concert and the Dairy Show to continue after members of the local Chamber of Commerce pleaded with him to be lenient. Their argument was that only the best class of people would attend the concert, and thus would not be likely to carry the influenza germs “as might be true of some other forms of entertainment.” As for the Dairy Show, they cited its national character, the fact that it was a semi-outdoor event, and the expensive and extensive preparations that had already been made. Kahn believed that the closure order should be extended to include all forms of public gathering, but agreed to await the recommendation of the public health committee of the Chamber of Commerce, scheduled to meet on October 11, before making his final decision.6 Meanwhile, Kahn requested that churches cancel their Sunday services. The groups planning the upcoming Columbus Day festivities called off their parade.7
When the state closure order recommendation was finally handed down, Kahn issued the orders nearly verbatim. The only exception he made was to strongly request that people refrain from attending church services. Columbus ministers wasted no time in issuing complaints, arguing that Kahn’s request effectively forced them to close their doors while saloons were allowed to remain open. A group of Methodist ministers was particularly outspoken, arguing that the city’s churches were halting their Sunday services out of patriotic responsibility while saloon owners were shirking their duty. They even passed a resolution declaring saloons “one of the principal sources for the spread of disease of all kinds for the reason that men congregate there in great numbers, drinking from glasses used by others which have not been properly sterilized.” There may have been some truth in the statement. But saloons in Columbus, as in nearly every industrial city in America, were not merely places to consume alcohol; they were often the principle source of cheap meals for male laborers (especially young, single men), and closing them completely would have created undue hardship for many. As for Columbus’s schoolchildren, they were spared the burden of attending class beginning Monday, October 14.8
On October 15, State Health Commissioner Bauman and the State Department of Health announced that influenza in Ohio was still on the rise, and that the crest of the epidemic would not likely be reached for at least another week. Mayor George Karb, eager to forestall a larger epidemic, asked downtown merchants to voluntarily shorten their hours, and asked cabarets to close by 9:00 pm rather than midnight. The Retail Merchants Association, however, lobbied strongly against the shorter hours, claiming that extra care in ventilation was all that was needed. Mayor Karb, unwilling to upset business any more than absolutely necessary and perhaps bolstered by Bauman’s statement that Columbus was the only large city in the state where influenza was not widespread, rescinded his request.9
Kahn was not so sanguine about Columbus’s immediate prospects. By Saturday, October 19, some 93 people had died of influenza or pneumonia in Columbus since the start of the epidemic, 23 of them on that day alone. With the alarming news, Kahn immediately ordered all pool halls closed and all public meetings cancelled for at least a week.10 Two days later, at the recommendation of the Ohio Health Department, Columbus officials banned all indoor and outdoor gatherings. Residents were strongly urged to avoid crowds and to walk to work. Saloons, while allowed to remain open, had to keep all doors and windows wide open and could not allow loitering. Chairs and tables could only be used to take meals. Catholic churches, which had halted their usual Sunday full mass, now voluntarily stopped the private masses they had been giving. The Columbus Railway, Power, and Light Company was ordered to provide more streetcars. The City Council appropriated $800 for extra policemen to monitor and prevent crowding on streetcars, and in shops and stores. The City Council also considered establishing an emergency hospital to handle new influenza cases.11
A week later, Health Officer Kahn ordered all places of business except drugstores, barber shops, grocery stores, or places were essential foods were sold to close by 8:30 pm. After that time, drugstores were permitted only to sell medications. To prevent the usual throng of teachers looking to receive their weekly paychecks, the school board began delivering checks to school buildings and not the Board of Education’s central office.12 By this time Columbus’s epidemic had peaked, and the city was slowly moving towards recovery. Kahn announced to his fellow residents that their city was “the brightest spot on the map.”13 He was almost correct: Columbus thus far had experienced a death rate approximately a third lower than that of Cleveland, Cincinnati, or Dayton.
By the end of October, the influenza epidemic across Ohio appeared to be coming to a rapid end. On October 31, the Ohio Health Department announced that it would allow local boards to lift their closure orders and gathering bans if they deemed it safe to do so.14 Health Officer Kahn was cautious, but agreed to remove the restrictions ever so slowly. He prohibited Halloween parties that evening, but permitted churches to begin holding short services once again. Schools, theaters, and movie houses remained closed for the time being, as did the restrictions on business hours.15 A few days later, Kahn announced that, starting on Sunday, November 10, the remaining restrictions on adults–children were prohibited from entering theaters and movie houses–would be removed and Columbus would be open once again. School Superintendent C. H. Fullerton argued for the re-opening of schools as well, but Kahn refused for the time being. It was not until the two met on November 14 that they agreed on a plan to have children return to their classrooms: schools would re-open on Monday, November 18, but sick children and children from homes with active influenza cases would not be allowed to attend school until two weeks after cleared by a physician.16
Schools re-opened with a reported 75%-90% attendance for the first few days, but within a week that number had dropped enough to concern school officials. If the number of absences did not return to higher levels by Tuesday, December 3, the school and health boards announced they would likely close schools once again. Kahn wanted to close all schools, but temporarily deferred to head school physician Dr. C. P. Linhart, who argued for closing only those schools that were highly impacted by influenza. When December 3 arrived, reports indicated that 56 out of 58 schools had more than eight-percent of their students out sick with influenza, and over a third of all students were absent either due to illness or to cautious parents who feared contagion. Kahn once again closed Columbus schools, with the exception of the High School of Commerce, the Columbus Normal School, trade schools, and business colleges. School Superintendent Fullerton wanted to keep the high schools open so as not to negatively impact seniors hoping to attend college the following year. Kahn, however, insisted that they be closed, arguing that if they were not closed pro actively they would be closed soon enough “through invasion of the disease.”17 Columbus children did not return to school until January 2, 1919.
Physicians, spending most of their time working to save patients, only reported 5,000 cases of influenza during the epidemic, a figure that Kahn estimated was too low by a factor of ten. The number of deaths due to influenza or pneumonia was known: 817 between the start of the epidemic in October and the end of December 1918.18 The result was that Columbus fared well during its bout with influenza. Its excess death rate due to influenza and pneumonia during the fall of 1918 and winter of 1919 was 312 deaths per 100,000 population, second only to Toledo among Ohio’s major cities, and much better than cities in the East, South, or West.
Notes
1 “Columbus Not Much Affected by Influenza,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 4 Oct. 1918, 1.
2 “Kahn Tells How to Prevent Influenza,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 5 Oct. 1918, 1; “Epidemic at Camp Sherman is Declining,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 5 Oct. 1918, 2.
3 “Health and School Authorities Confer,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 7 Oct. 1918, 15, “Danger of Influenza Epidemic is Remote,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 8 Oct. 1918, 3.
4 “To Close Theaters,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 8 Oct. 1918, 1, “Ohio Cases of Influenza Show Rapid Increase,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 9 Oct. 1918, 3, and “Many County Schools Closed Because of Influenza Epidemic,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 9 Oct. 1918, 3.
5 “State Order May Aid in Checking Serious Epidemic,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 11 Oct. 1918, 19; Charles A. Neal, State of Ohio, Department of Health, Thirty-First Report (43rd Year) (Columbus: F. J. Heer, 1931), 24; “Controlling the Influenza Epidemic in Ohio,” The Ohio Public Health Journal 9 (Nov. 1918), 453-454.
6 “Theaters Ordered to Close as Precautionary Measure; Steps Taken to Prevent Spread of Influenza,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 10 Oct. 1918, 1, and “Concert and Dairy Show Not Under Ban,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 11 Oct. 1918, 1.
7 “267 Columbus Residents Ill from Influenza,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 11 Oct. 1918, 1.
8 “Schools Ordered to Close Monday,” Ohio State Journal, 13 Oct. 1.
9 “Epidemic Shows No Indication of Early Abatement,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 17 Oct. 1.
10 “Influenza Still Raging in All Parts of State,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 19 Oct. 1918, 1.
11 “All Columbus Meetings Are Put Under Ban,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 21 Oct. 1918, 3, “New Hospital Proposed for Plague Victims,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 22 Oct. 1918, 5.
12 “No improvement in Epidemic is Seen in Reports,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 26 Oct. 1918, 1, “Teachers Will Get Checks at Schools,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 24 Oct. 1918, 1.
13 “Early Abatement of Epidemic is Thought Probable,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 30 Oct. 1918, 3.
14 Since the Ohio Health Department had not issued a mandatory statewide closure order, it did not need to give communities clearance to re-open their public places. However, the Health Department strongly discouraged the premature lifting of closure orders and gathering bans, and did its best to ensure that local authorities kept such measures in place until conditions in the region warranted their removal. See “Controlling the Influenza Epidemic in Ohio,” The Ohio Public Health Journal 9 (Nov. 1918), 453-456.
15 “Lifting of Ban Left to Local Health Boards,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 31 Oct. 1918, 2, “Theaters Must Remain Closed Another Week,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 1 Nov. 1918, 4.
16 “Ban on Theaters to be Partially Removed Sunday,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 5 Nov. 1918, 1; “Schools to Stay Closed,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 13 Nov. 1918, 7; “Influenza Ban on Schools Will be Removed Monday,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 15 Nov. 1918, 25.
17 “Schools Not to Re-Open Friday, Officials Decide,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 26 Nov. 1918, 1; “Several School Buildings Will Again be Closed,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 28 Nov. 1918, 1; “Schools Closed for Second Time by Health Board,” Columbus Evening Dispatch, 3 Dec. 1918, 1.
18 Louis Kahn, “Report of the Department of Health, 1918,” The City Bulletin 4 (April 12, 1919), 78.
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The Great Southern Hotel & Theatre, at 21 East Main Street in downtown Columbus. The theatre featured silent films and vaudeville acts, and, like others in the city, was closed during much of the epidemic.
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Columbus’s third Union Station, completed in 1897 and demolished in 1976. Hundreds of civilian and military passengers traveled through the station each day during the epidemic.
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Columbus Mayor George J. Karb, the city’s mayor during the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic.
