Traverse City Record-Eagle

Record-Eagle 150th Anniversary

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May 4, 2009

Loraine Anderson: Reading between flu lines

By LORAINE ANDERSON

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When Spanish flu came to Traverse City

It's amazing how one small personal common detail can link past and present.

Ralph Guido Wallace is my connection to the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic and World War I. He lived in my neighborhood.

I know nothing more about this local soldier other than what I read in a 1918 Record-Eagle. He died Sept. 28, 1918, of Spanish influenza, seven days after he became ill in a New Jersey hospital. He was married on June 1 and sometime later that month transferred from Camp Custer, a World War I training camp near Battle Creek, to Newark military camp.

I drove by his house last week after writing a story about the Spanish flu epidemic here in 1918. The soft-green color of the old two-story frame house merged gracefully into the dusk of a wet April night. From there, I went to Veterans Park at Division and Bay to look for his name on the World War I monument.

"Ralph Wallace," it said. No Guido, no middle initial "G.

I wondered what Traverse City officials and families of flu victims were thinking in late 1918 when they apparently decided not to follow state recommendations for preventing the spread of Spanish influenza.

Did they believe the flu here was a milder form of the worldwide epidemic that was killing millions? Were they trying to shield the business district from "necessary shopping only" limitations? Should the Record-Eagle have taken a stronger editorial stand sooner?

Or was Spanish influenza so outside their ken they had no idea how savage and unmerciful it was? Scientists of the time thought the killer flu was caused by bacteria, not a virus. Little was known then about viruses or how to treat them.

The Spanish flu taught Traverse City it needed a good city hospital instead of relying on Traverse City State Hospital and Dr. James Munson to come to its rescue. It also underlined the importance of full-time public local health workers, strict quarantines, public education and cooperation.

The city hired a health officer and public nurse in February 1920 after hundred of citizens petitioned for them. The Record-Eagle carried a front-page "Flu Situation" column for weeks that year and advocated for good local health care. Dr. James Decker Munson, state hospital superintendent since 1885, led the campaign for a hospital. It opened in 1926, when he was 76, and was named for him.

The name of Munson's son, a pathologist, is on the same World War I veterans' monument as Ralph Wallace. Capt. James Frederick Munson died in October 1918 in a New York army camp. The death devastated his father.

I don't know exactly why, but it seems important that I tell you that.

Contact Loraine Anderson at landerson@record-eagle.com or 933-1468.

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  • WILLIAM MILLIKEN
    After looking back, we look to the future

    In this last installment of the Record-Eagle's year-long 150th Anniversary History Project series, native son Bill Milliken ponders the future, including the question: What will the Traverse City area be like in 2159?

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:14 am 9 Photos
  • Derek Bailey: Cooperation is key
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    I am excited and optimistic in thinking about my predictions for the area and Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for the next 150 years. Clearly, we live in one of the most beautiful areas of Mother Earth. The GTB Tribal Nation has grown exponentially as an area and tribe over the last 29 years. We must now sustain and channel that growth.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:12 am 1 Photo
  • George McManus: Manage resources
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    The Grand Traverse Region is blessed with abundant renewable natural resources, which properly managed, will remain for the next 150 years and beyond. The community of the future depends on what direction the citizenry and leadership decide to take and external influences over which they have no control.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
  • Marsha Smith: Listen to each other
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    The Grand Vision has shown me that the people of this region love it here and have a commitment to building a better future. We care about what happens here and we care about the future. My main concern is that we sometimes forget about all things we hold in common and focus more on what keeps us apart.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
  • Joe VanderMeulen: Plan for six generations
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    We need to look forward across six or more generations of people to see 150 years into the future. What wonderful changes there may be, if we choose wisely, just get lucky, or some of both. Of course, we face many threats to our security and survival. The risks of deadly pandemics, global climate change and unimaginable wars are real.

    Continued ...
    Nov 8, 2009 7:10 am 1 Photo
  • November 2, 2009
  • Women helped build Traverse City
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    Women helped build Traverse City's library system, schools and hospital. They lobbied for clean water and clean streets. They were concerned about the needy, child labor, reforestation, international peace and the right of women to vote. They did this largely through two local women's clubs -- the Ladies Library Association and the Traverse City Woman's Club.

    Continued ...
    Nov 2, 2009 6:17 am 4 Photos
  • TC's early women leaders

    Thirteen women who influenced early Traverse City are profiled.

    Continued ...
    Nov 2, 2009 6:15 am
  • October 31, 2009
  • TC history exhibit visits TADL

    The Record-Eagle's traveling exhibit of Traverse City and newspaper history will be on display throughout November at the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere.

    Continued ...
    Oct 31, 2009 9:30 pm
  • October 19, 2009
  • Loraine Anderson: TC's 1925 earthquake
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    Earthquakes are rare in Michigan, but Traverse City residents definitely felt the earth move beneath their feet and watched electric ceiling lights sway overhead on Feb. 28, 1925. "EARTHQUAKE HERE FIRST EVER FELT: Dishes Rattle, Chairs Rock, Smokers 'Swear Off' and People in High Places Come Down," Record-Eagle headlines shouted after tremors rattled the city at 8:27 p.m. that Saturday night.

    Continued ...
    Oct 19, 2009 7:00 am 1 Photo
  • October 5, 2009
  • Water Wars: Advocating for 'public trust'
    Jim Olson

    It was a busy summer on the water front for Great Lakes advocates in what environmentalists and others are calling "The Water Wars."

    Continued ...
    Oct 5, 2009 6:18 am 3 Photos
  • October 3, 2009
  • R-E editorial decries water diversion

    Record-Eagle concern about Great Lakes water diversion dates to the early 1900s, including a Jan. 14, 1925, editorial about the U.S. governments challenge of Chicagos right to divert Lake Michigan water without consulting its neighbors.

    Continued ...
    Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
  • Summary of summer Great Lakes water issues

    Great Lakes water issues this summer included the following.

    Continued ...
    Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
  • September 28, 2009
  • 150 Years: Bay served as sewer, water supply
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    The Boardman River in Traverse City wasn't a pretty sight at the turn of the last century. It was a city sewer, and it flowed into West Bay, the source of the city's water supply.

    Continued ...
    Sep 28, 2009 7:18 am 7 Photos
  • August 10, 2009
  • 150 Years: Cartographer maps settlements
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    Helen Hornbeck Tanner, a Beulah summer resident and historian of Great Lakes American Indians and cartography, created a new historical map of the Grand Traverse region that traces early American Indian and white settlement.

    Continued ...
    Aug 10, 2009 6:39 am 2 Photos
  • July 27, 2009
  • Loraine Anderson: Tracking Titus
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    Harold Titus has been one of my favorite Traverse City historical characters since I read "Timber," his 1922 novel, last year. He intrigues me for many reasons. Part of his mystery is that he is virtually unknown today. He is "new" local history.

    Continued ...
    Jul 27, 2009 8:06 am 1 Photo