Looking at the Wednesday, April 14, 1886, edition of the Daily Huronite, page three has a pair of interesting artifacts. While multiple mentions are made in the edition of someone in the community or even a prominent politician who is beset with measles or another infectious illness, page three announces a new ordinance passed by the Huron city council that had taken effect.
“Section 9 of the health ordinance enacted by the city council last May thus reads:
Whenever any physician shall know that any person whom he called to visit or who is brought to him for examination is infected with any disease dangerous to the public health, he shall immediately give notice thereof to the Board of Health or any member thereof. And to the householder, hotelkeeper, keeper of any boarding house or tenant within whose house or rooms the sick person may be. The notices to the Board of Health or member therof shall state the name of the disease, the name, age and sex of the person sick, also the name of the physician giving the notice, and shall by street and number or otherwise sufficiently designate the house or room in which such sick person may be, and every physician and person acting as physician who shall refuse or neglect immediately to give such notice, shall forfeit for each such offense the sum of not less than fifty nor more than one hundred dollars.”
For perspective, fifty dollars in 1886 would be roughly $2,000 today, based purely on inflation. That was not a fine to be ignored!
If you weren’t sure who to report such information to, on the same page, the Huronite offered a listing of the city officers.
H.J. Rice was listed as mayor, and eight aldermen, representing four wards, were identified. O.W. Bair was listed as city attorney, C.M. Wilson as city clerk, T.A. Dunning as treasurer, H. Kerr as assessor, and J.E. Elson as police justice.
The city board of health was listed as C.C. Huff, M.D., Chas. Reed, and H.C. Hinkley.
The city’s board of education only listed three persons, though they were each identified by title, so it’s possible that the board had more at-large members. The president of the school board was listed as H.C. Hinckley, with T.A. Dunning listed as treasurer and E.C. Patterson cited as secretary.
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