Dr. John R Drake: Police Surgeon and City of Memphis MPD Free Clinic
by JVLowry
I want to share Doctor John Richard Drake’s remarkable story. Back in the day, most medical care was done at home. If you ended up at a hospital, you were almost dead. If you called for a City Hospital ambulance, there were two medics and an intern on the ambulance, and most druggists gave medical treatment in their drug store.
Beginning in 1878, the City of Memphis started providing free medical care to all citizens who could not pay. The city would hire a new doctor fresh out of medical college who had not yet set up a private practice. A fully operational clinic, located in the basement of Central Police Station, was complete with an operating table, proper lighting, beds, and a nurse with everything a doctor could need. In later years, the city added a pharmacist. The city doctor was also the Police and Fire surgeon. He also gave city physicals to the Fire and Police and treated all prisoners. He responded to fires and
treated anyone who could not pay. In 1912, a report to the city stated that for 1911-1912, 4000 cases were treated; 1,809 were white; the rest were for non-whites. There was everything from gunshots, knifings, beatings, broken bones, and all kinds of illnesses, as well as injuries from steamboat explosions (commonplace). From 1911 to 1912, there had been 1,238 knife and gunshot injuries recorded.
Doctor Drake graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School and practiced medicine for about 15 months in Bowling Green, Kentucky. In 1913, he replaced Doctor Cummings Harris as Police Surgeon, and in 1914, his office moved to the new clinic at the newly constructed Central Police Station. Doctor Drake became extremely popular, was a great doctor, and was well-liked by everyone.
1914 was a pivotal year due to the completion of the Central Police Station at Adams and Second. As mentioned, a very well-equipped basement Medical Clinic was located there. It had an operating table, oxygen tanks with a “pulmotor,” a resuscitator with compressed oxygen bottles ( 1907), white enamel furniture, and was well-lit. Several beds and two nurses were there.
World War I began on July 28, 1914. In 1915, he joined the U.S. Army as a physician. He operated a first aid station and several hospital companies in many of the well-known battles of WWI, with the 166th Ambulance Company, 117th Sanitary Hospital Train, 42 Division, and American Expeditionary Force. In 1917, he was promoted to Lieutenant and, on December 23, 1919, to Captain. The War ended on November 11, 1918.
Between January 1918 and May 1919, Dr. J. L. Andrews ran the Memphis operation. Upon his return to Memphis on May 1, 1919, Dr. Drake resumed his duties at the clinic. For the next 12 years, he served as the Police and Fire Surgeon, dedicating his time and expertise to the well-being of the community.
News Scimitar Newspapers, May 20, 1920
In October of 1920, the City of Memphis started selling morphine and cocaine to addicts at 5 cents a grain and up to 8 grains per addict. They did this to curb the violence of robbing and causing mayhem. There were 300 addicts during this time, and two hundred fifty daily visitors came to the clinic. Then, the U.S. Government stepped in and closed them down.
Doctor Drake’s role extended beyond the confines of a typical doctor. His versatility was evident in his regular assistance to the coroner, Dr. N. T. Ingram, and Chief of Detectives William Griffin in solving several crimes. He routinely used his microscope to dissect clues that could not be seen with the naked eye. In the investigation of the Hudson Murder trial in 1922-23, He extracted a bullet from a woman’s brain who was shot in the eye and left for dead in Fletcher Creek near Bartlett. (Commercial Appeal Sept 8, 1922. )
On January 28, 1928, Doctor Neuman Taylor replaced Dr. Drake, who resigned from the city and was hired part-time by the Shelby County Health Department, where he would work while also having an extensive practice, including my mother’s family as they lived next door to 1911 Lyndale Ave. My mother and his daughter Charlotte were the same age and were close friends.
He was an integral part of the city’s diphtheria shot program for city and county school children. As a military doctor, he performed physicals for all who entered the military during World War II.
He served on the YMCA board of Directors, on the advisory board for the Home for Incurables (Kings Daughters and Sons’ hospital, and was the Doctor for Southwestern College (now Rhodes College).
Dr. Drake was born September 30, 1886, and Died Sept 21, 1943, and is buried at Forest Hill cemetery. He had two sons, James D Drake and John Richard Drake Jr., and a daughter, Charlotte Henderson Drake.