(1783-1837). Samuel Grant Mitchell relocated to Indianapolis in April 1821. He was the first physician to practice medicine in the city. His brother-in-law, Samuel Henderson, the city’s first postmaster and eventually its first mayor, persuaded him to move to Indianapolis, at the time only a village in the forest. When he arrived, he already had practiced medicine in Kentucky for 15 years despite having never attended a course of medical lectures.

Mitchell’s office and home were situated on the northwest corner of Washington and Meridian streets. Dr. Livingston Dunlap (father of Indianapolis city hospital), who came to the city during the summer of 1821, became his partner. Mitchell published an impactful account of the fever epidemic that affected virtually the entire population of the town during 1821-1822. He was active in local and state medical societies and was an early president of both.

Revised March 2021
KEY WORDS
Medicine
 

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