Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine - Chiron Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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The first Veterinary College Building, 1891. Dr. Detmers conducted the resident clinical courses in a 30 x 60 foot wooden horse barn adjacent to the dissecting building. and con- stantly begged the Legislature for appropriations to construct a separate building to serve as a Veterinary Hospital. In 1891 the hrst Veterinary Hospital was completed for occupancy. This brick structure contained facilities for a museum. pharmacy. otlices and sleeping rooms for students, lecture rooms, an otlice for the professor in charge, a bacteriology laboratory, a photographic dark room, a 28 x 30 foot clinic room for patient examination and surgery, and a 28 x 31 foot stable to house animals under treatment. ,,.-' ,,N' SSR., A reorganization of the University took place in 1895, when all the schools were changed to colleges and their respective heads were given the title of Dean. Subsequent to the re- tirement of Dr. Detmers in the same year, Dr. David S. White became the lirst Dean of the O.S,U. College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. White, a graduate of the 1890 class, served in this capacity from 1895 to 1929. During his deanship, the four year curriculum advocated by Dr. Detmers was instituted, the student enrollment increased in number, and higher entrance requirements were established. There were a few lean years during and just after World War I when it seemed that the college might be closed or changed into a Department of Veterinary Science due to the very low student enrollment, but the persistence of Dean White maintained the enrollment and kept the doors open. Veterinary Laboratory com- pleted in 1903.

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OUR HERITAGE Veterinary Medicine at the Ohio State Uni- versity was conceived on January 6, 1871. At this time, the Board of Trustees of The Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College initiated a course of study in Veterinary Medicine within the newly created Department of Zoology and Veterinary Science. Instruction pertaining to animal diseases and treatment was not limited to this department, since the Department of Agriculture and Botany also offered courses in Veterinary Medicine. Veterinary Medicine was officially and totally transferred to the School of Agriculture in 1876. The catalogue for 1876 had Veterinary Medicine listed under the Depart- ment of Agriculture, Botany, and Veterinary Science Professor Albert H. Tuttle, who chaired the Department of Zoology and Veterinary Science, and Dr. Norton S. Townshend, the first professor in the Department of Agriculture, Botany, and Veterinary Science, both recognized the urgent need for instruction in Veterinary Medicine in the State of Ohio. They felt that losses sustained from disease were the greatest restricting factor in prohtable animal industry and both diligently offered instruction in animal health with the hope that students could return to their farms better prepared to lessen disease losses. The Board of Trustees in 1884, due to the persistant reccommendations of Dr. Townshend and Professor Tuttle, established a separate and distinct professorship in Veterinary Medicine, and appointed Dr. H. J. Detmers to this newly created position. The following year the Board created the School of Veterinary Medicine as 'a separate entity, and in 1889 appointed Dr. Detmers as Chief of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Soon after Dr. Detmers arrived to assume his new position, he projected the first four year course in Veterinary Medicine. This course was rejected because it was so far in advance of the times educationally, that it was considered too revolutionary and premature. He did, how- ever, institute courses of study in Helminthology and Bacteriology, the latter being the first such course in a Veterinary curricula in America. Veterinary Dissecting Laboratory, 1886. He also established the first Ambulatory Clinic Service in the school's history. Dr. Detmers re- quired an acceptable thesis on a special study from each candidate as a requisite for grad- uation. During Dr. Detmers's tenure as Chief'l of the School of Veterinary Medicine, twenty individuals received the Degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Classroom instruction, dissection, and labora- tory work by Professor Tuttle and Dr. Town- shend were carried on in University Hall, as was all instruction of courses of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. Not until 1886, did the School of Veterinary Medicine have a structure of its own. At this time, a 20 x 20 foot, one story brick building was constructed for dissecting purposes at a cost of 541725.

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Veterinary Clinic building erected in 1910 at a cost ofS130,000.00, Just after the turn of the century, the President ofthe University, Dr. W. O. Thompson, presented a list of buildings and improvements to the Board of Trustees which included a 325,000.00 appro- priation for a Veterinary Medicine building. In 1903, at a total cost of S37,007.75, the Veterinary Laboratory was ready for partial occupancy. This building was specially designed for instruction in Veterinary Medicine and contained a large dis- secting room, a pharmacology laboratory, lecture rooms, an amphitheater, various private labora- tories, a bacteriology laboratory, an osteology laboratory, and oflices for the Dean and Secretary ofthe College. A new Veterinary Clinic building was erected in 1910 at a cost of S130,000.00 to replace the original Veterinary Hospital. This building, which consisted of a two story central portion and two wings of one story each, contained facilities for large and small animal surgery, large and small animal wards, a large surgical amphitheater, drug and instrument rooms, pri- vate oflices, classrooms, pathology laboratories and oihces, and museums. The 255 foot long ,7 . esp, structure served for over 60 years as the Veterinary Clinic with the interior of the build- ing being changed over the years to meet the changes in the educational program. Upon the retirement of Dean White in 1929, Dr. Oscar V. Brumley, who had served as secre- tary of the college from 1912-1929, was appoint- ed Dean and held this position until his death in 1945. During his tenure as Dean he established the Veterinary College Library, and in 1933 in- stituted a one year pre-professional entrance re- quirement. Although departmentalization of the college was requested in 1906, and 1925, and an unoflicial division was made in 1929, it was not until 1934 that the ofhcial organizational ar- rangement of the college was established. With the exception of placing Clinics directly under the Office of Administration, this departmental- ization is still in existence. Dean Brumley also wrote a text on Diseases of Small Animals and served the veterinary profession as President of the American Veteri- nary Medical Association in 1936. Sisson Hall, dedicated in 1958.