Before There Was a Cancer Hospital in Spring House...
- Yen Ho
- Oct 12, 2023
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 5
Spring House is now well developed, but when digging through its history, there was so much more to learn about this little village. For example, there once was a small hospital to treat cancer that stood near the intersection of Bethlehem and Sumneytown Pikes. But before diving into how the Philadelphia Cancer Hospital came to be, let's go back in time to when the township was established, and how its various properties continued to be divided into smaller and smaller lots.
John Humphrey
In 1698, John Humphrey (1668-1738) landed in Gwynedd with other Welsh Quaker settlers, and purchased 574 acres in Spring House, north of Edward Foulke's land in Penllyn. He built his home out of logs by the a spring and brook. During his time, John was a wealthy man, and showed generosity to his "less fortunate" neighbors by loaning his money on bond and mortgage. He was so generous, his fellow Quakers called him out for being too worldly, and would rather have him be poor.
Fun Fact #1: Around 1709, a bridge was built across the brook. It was known as "Humphrey's Bridge."
His son Humphrey Jones took possession of his father's property, while the lower portion of the tract was given to Baltzer Wick. Unfortunately for Wick, his property was sold in 1788 to Christian Dull, a successful innkeeper of the Spring House Hotel. He owned the Humphrey farm for 30 years until selling it to the Yocum family. Reubin Yocum was the last member to own the farm until 1850.
Fun Fact #2: In 1760, there was a mention that there was a stone springhouse. Around that time, Christian Dull opened his hotel, and named it after that springhouse.
The Circus Band Leader Who Became a Farmer
In 1866, the Humphrey property was sold to John S. Walters, who built a mansion there. He died in 1873, leaving the property to his wife Martha. Four years later, she sold it to Fritz Hartman (1835-1916) for $19,000. Hartman came to America at age 12 from his homeland Germany with his step-sister. Before he was 10, he became a talented musician. Later he became a circus band leader in the 1860s and 70s for circus performers like Gardner & Hemmings, Adam Forepaugh, and P.T. Barnum. He played the cornet, but later switched to the violin as his instrument.
"The different brass bands, musical chariots, Polyhymnian organs, steam pianos, and Calliopes, &c., are equivanelt to one hundred skilful musicians. Persons anxious to see the procession should come early, as three performances a day are given to accommodate the multitudes, viz., at 10 a.m., also at one and seven o'clock in the afternoon and evening. Prof. Fritz Hartman's silver cornet band, Herr Hessler's celebrated brass and string bands, Mons. Joseph Mesmer's French cornet band, and the great orchestra Polyhymnia, will enliven the community with their choicest rhapsodies, in alternate succession, while passing through the streets."
- Thomas Frost's Circus Life and Circus Celebrities (1875), 203-204.
Fun Fact #3: He played with John Philip Sousa before becoming a band master and march king. He was also associated with Walter Damrosch and other famous composers.
Fun Fact #4: He performed at the 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia and was responsible for the music played at the inauguration balls for five presidents: Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley.
In 1895, Fritz sold the property to William Kershaw for $40,000. At one point he sold a portion to William Singerly, but later got it back.
The last sale made of a portion of the property was in March 1912 when he sold 7 acres and other buildings to Simon Sionsky (-1913).
The Philadelphia Cancer Hospital of Springhouse
In April 1920, Dr. William John Rouse (1870-1937) and his wife Mabel purchased the former Sionsky property, and turned it into a cancer hospital. The hospital was granted a charter in 1921.
Dr. Rouse was born in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada on March 5. He attended the Orillia Academy in Ontario and later the University of Toronto where he earned his doctoral degree in Veterinary Surgery. After graduation, he travelled to Southbridge, MA to work in veterinary medicine. His desire to learn more in the medical science field motivated him to return to school at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago, IL. He graduated in 1901, and moved to Cross Forks, PA, then to Williamsport, PA. Dr. Rouse finally reached Spring House in 1919 where he started his work in finding a cure for cancer.
His institution was approved by the Pennsylvania Welfare Department and the Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County. The hospital was even endorsed by Dr. Richard V. Mattison:
"From the cases at your hospital that I have examined personally, I have no hesitation in saying that the results which you achieve in your treatment of carcinoma, particularly, are so wonderful as to be almost beyond belief. For the past 50 years I have preached the well-founded doctrine that the only cure for 'cancer' is an early extirpation of the tumor, but when I see those patients whom my associates consider 'hopeless cases' - too far gone to be operated upon - turned over to you to die on your hands, and not the results of your treatments - healthy granulations, preceding a radical cure, with the subsequent discharge of the patient, who goes about her household duties and remains cured for years - I am lost in amazement, and cannot but class your treatment of carcinoma with radio, wireless, and other modern wonders. Your treatment does help suffering humanity, and the Philadelphia Cancer Hospital well deserves support from everyone - from the Rockefeller Foundation to the coal blackened stevedore - who is at all interested in relieving suffering humanity from that dreaded disease, which, under its various pathological names and types, the laity know by the general name of 'cancer.'"
- Dr. Richard V. Mattison, January 2, 1929
Since its opening, the hospital wasn't publicly noticed or even supported, but it was said to be successful in treating patients without using any special equipment like the surgeon's knife, x-rays, radium, or the electric needle. Dr. Rouse was the only doctor running the hospital. The nature of his treatments are unclear, simply being described as "salves." While his board of directors and officers gave his facility a seal of legitimacy, it appears he may have been a simple snake oil salesman.
The Case of Elizabeth Tetlow
In the early 1930s, a patient, Elizabeth "Eliza" Tetlow of West Norriton, PA bought a mortgage against the hospital for $12,600 to prevent it from being closed down by the sheriff.
Fun Fact #5: She was the wife of Henry Tetlow, an English immigrant who became one of America’s earliest cosmetics pioneers.
Prior to this, she had a "Mr. Lodge" travel to Paris and Los Angeles to find surgeons and treatment that didn't involve using radium, a common treatment before its dangers became know. Then Mr. Lodge found Dr. Rouse's hospital and had Mrs. Tetlow come with him to visit the place. After choosing to be treated at Dr. Rouse's hospital, Mrs. Tetlow was notified that she could not be admitted due to the foreclosure of the facility. That was when she asked the Montgomery Trust Company to purchase the mortgage for her to prevent the hospital from being placed in foreclosure.
Dr. Rouse performed the operation on Mrs. Tetlow at his hospital where she spent for about a year. A second operation was held at her home, and then when a third operation was performed, she died. She spent time with Dr. Rouse from August 7, 1930 to June 24, 1931, the date when she died. Before she died, she requested a bill for her three treatments, and Dr. Rouse agreed to "permit his fee to be used in reduction of the mortgage." He promised to Mrs. Tetlow he'll take care of her after she took care of his mortgage.
This led to a court case for his treatment charges of $9,000. The testimony was held after Mrs. Tetlow's death, and her physician, Dr. James R. Care, testified in front of the county court to rebut Dr. Rouse's testimony about his treatments and charges. Care said the charges should have cost no more than $150 per treatment and $25 for the home visit. He was the one who diagnosed Mrs. Tetlow with cancer of the uterus. He advised her to not go to Dr. Rouse for treatment, but she went against his request. He knew that the salves used by Dr. Rouse would "eat into living tissue and cause it to scale off." He described Dr. Rouse's treatments as being "medieval." Even though Mrs. Tetlow didn't want radium to treat her cancer, Dr. Care recommended it would be necessary to use it for her treatment.
Dr. Rouse died in 1937 after a long, unspecified illness, at 68.
Bibliography
"Dr. Care Rebuttal Tetlow Will Case." Ambler Gazette. July 6, 1933. Page 6, Column 7. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_20416.
"Famous Cancer Specialist Dies at Springhouse." Ambler Gazette. December 23, 1937. Page 1, Column 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_23913.
"F.J. Hartman Laid At Rest." Ambler Gazette. August 10, 1916. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_7168.
Franklin Survey Co. Atlas: Montgomery County 1934 Vol A, Plate 14, 1934.
Frost, Thomas. Circus Life and Circus Celebrities. (London: Tinsley Brothers, 1875): 203-204.
Jenkins, Howard Malcolm. Historical collections relating to Gwynedd, a township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, settled, 1696, by immigrants from Wales, with some data referring to the adjoining township, of Montgomery, also settled by Welsh. (Philadelphia: Howard Malcolm Jenkins, 1897): 62-66.
"Local History Sketch. Interesting Local Matter Collected by 'E.M.' The Plantation of John Humphrey--Humphrey Jones--The Former Farm of Fritz Hartman, Springhouse--An Historical Old Place Full of Interest." Ambler Gazette. June 20, 1912. Page 2. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_8521.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 29, 1916.
"Phila. Cancer Hospital Organized. Ambler Gazette. Page 8, Column 4. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_15583.
"Saved Hospital By Buying Mortgage." Ambler Gazette. April 6, 1933. Page 6. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_19405.
"Tetlow Face Powders - A Tale of Two Brothers." Collecting Vintage Compacts (blog), September 13, 2010. https://collectingvintagecompacts.blogspot.com/2010/09/tetlow-tale-of-two-brothers.html.
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