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Isaac Coe

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Isaac Coe
Born(1782-07-25)July 25, 1782[1]
Near Dover, New Jersey, US
DiedJuly 30, 1855(1855-07-30) (aged 73)
Galena, Illinois, US
Burial placeCrown Hill Cemetery
Alma mater
RelativesDescendants of Robert Coe

Isaac Coe (July 25, 1782 – July 30, 1855) was an American frontier physician, a founder and commissioner of Indianapolis, and a leader in the Presbyterian church.[2][1][3] He is credited for saving the town from an 1821 plague of malaria. He was a founding member of the Indiana State Medical Society and served as its first chair and its second president. He founded the first church, Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, and the Sunday school and served as the superintendent. He led organizing of the state's anti-gambling society, which resulted in the state's first prohibition on gambling.

His homes in Indianapolis are now the sites of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and The Columbia Club. Coe, Indiana, is named for him.

Early life and education

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Coe was born near Dover, New Jersey, to Ebenezer and Cleopatra Coe (née Conklin). He received Christian training growing up. He is a descendant of Robert Coe, a New England Colonist and early politician.[1][3]

Coe manufactured glass in Utica, New York, before enrolling at Queen's College at age 30 to obtain a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree. He graduated in 1815 from the New Medical Institute in New York City, obtaining a Doctor of Medicine. He practiced medicine at Bellevue Hospital, then hospitals in New Jersey and Martinsburg, Virginia, for six years.[1][4][3]

In 1837, he briefly returned east to study homeopathy at the New York School of Homeopathy.[3]

Career and legacy

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Coe's second home c. 1840
The site of Coe's second home is now The Columbia Club.
See also: History of Indianapolis

Coe arrived in Madison, Indiana, in early 1821, before relocating to Indianapolis in May.[4][3] He was the town's first physician with a medical degree[a] and is credited with saving the town from a malaria outbreak that nearly wiped out the town's citizens.[5][6][4][7] He was a founding member of the Indiana State Medical Society and served as its first chair and its second president.[4] He was a founder and superintendent of the Sunday school, a Bible School for adults, and the first church, Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, which he designed and planned, and served as an Elder for 30 years.[4][2][7] He also led organizing of the state's anti-gambling society, which successfully led to the state's first prohibition on gambling.[8]

Coe was a commissioner of Indianapolis,[9][10] including the Fund commissioner the Indiana Mammoth Internal Improvement Act. The law added $10 million in funding for public works. Due to the Panic of 1837 and the area's geography, many of the projects failed and the town was nearly bankrupted.[11][12]

In his biographical sketch of Coe, Senator Oliver H. Smith said that he laughed at Coe for suggesting the capital of Indiana would someday be home to 5,000 people, which was in the woods at the time. By 1850, the capital had surpassed 8,000, and at the time of his death, more than 20,000. Smith wrote, "few men did as much as the Dr. to form society at Indianapolis".[2][13]

He is buried next to his wife, Rebecca Coe (née Cook) at the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.[4][3] His homes in the city are now the sites of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital and The Columbia Club.[3]

He is the namesake of Coe, Indiana, originally called Arcadia.[7][14][15]

Notes

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  1. ^ He was the second practicing physician in the town; the first did not attend medical school.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bartlett, J. Gardner (1911). Robert Coe, Puritan. Published for private circulation. ISBN 9780598765826.
  2. ^ a b c Smith, Oliver Hampton (1858). Early Indiana Trials and Sketches. Cincinnati, Ohio: Moore, Wilstach, Keys & Company.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g First Presbyterian Church (Indianapolis, Ind.) (1925). Centennial Memorial, First Presbyterian Church, Indianapolis, Ind. Indianapolis, Indiana: Wm. Mitchell printing Company.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Kemper, G. W. H. (1911). A Medical History of the State of Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: American Medical Association Press.
  5. ^ Price, Nelson (2004). Indianapolis then & now. Then and now. San Diego, Calif: Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 978-1-59223-208-6.
  6. ^ Minnick, Norman (January 1, 2021). The Indianapolis Anthology. Belt Publishing. ISBN 9781948742917.
  7. ^ a b c Thompson, Charles Nebeker (1925). Year Book of the Society of Indiana Pioneers. Society of Indiana Pioneers.
  8. ^ Esarey, Logan (1918). A History of Indiana. Indiana: Dayton Historical Publishing Company.
  9. ^ "Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Indiana". Indiana General Assembly House of Representatives. 22. December 5, 1837.
  10. ^ Commemorative biographical record of prominent and representative men of Indianapolis and vicinity. Chicago, Illinois: J.H. Beers & Co. 1908. LCCN 16013914.
  11. ^ Esarey, p. 359
  12. ^ Esarey, Logan (1915). A history of Indiana from its exploration to 1850. Indianapolis: W.K. Stewart co. LCCN 15005436. OCLC 4865918.
  13. ^ Visher, Stephen S. (1942). "Indiana's Population, 1850-1940, Sources and Dispersal". Indiana Magazine of History. 38 (1): 51–59. ISSN 0019-6673. JSTOR 27787291.
  14. ^ Rice, Thurman Brooks (1949). One Hundred Years of Medicine. Indiana State Board of Health.
  15. ^ Baker, Ronald L. (October 1995). From Needmore to Prosperity: Hoosier Place Names in Folklore and History. Indiana University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-253-32866-3. ...and called Arcadia.
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