The 1920s

Cleveland Clinic opens. The not-for-profit multispecialty group practice is dedicated to patient care, research and education. Founders Frank Bunts, MD; George Crile Sr., MD; William Lower, MD; and John Phillips, MD, address 500 guests at the February 26 festivities, which feature a keynote by William Mayo, MD, of Mayo Clinic. Post-hoopla, Cleveland Clinic treats its first patient: a woman from Lodi, Ohio.

X-ray therapy unit added, led by U.V. Portmann, MD. Seen here: a Cleveland Clinic radiologist analyzing a head X-ray in the 1920s.

Cleveland Clinic expands to include a 184-bed hospital. Before this, nearby houses — the Oxley Homes, named after Administrator Emma Oxley — were repurposed to provide temporary hospital space. Staff also had admitting privileges at several Cleveland hospitals. In this photo, nurses pose outside Cleveland Clinic Hospital’s main entrance. Each patient room has its own bathroom — a novelty at the time.

Henry John, MD, a member of the original Cleveland Clinic staff, is one of the first physicians in the U.S. to treat diabetes with insulin. Five years later, he founds Camp Ho Mita Koda, the first summer vacation camp for children with diabetes.

Maria Telkes, PhD, joins Cleveland Clinic as a biophysicist — the first woman on the professional staff. Dr. Crile and Dr. Telkes develop a photoelectric device for recording brain waves. Later in her career, Dr. Telkes (pictured here with a solar oven) is known as the “Sun Queen” because of her pioneering solar energy research.

Otto Glasser, PhD (left), who oversees the Department of Biophysics at Cleveland Clinic, unveils the first dosimeter. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Portmann and engineer Valentine Seitz, the device measures the amount of radiation administered to patients.

Research Building opens, connected to Cleveland Clinic Hospital by an elevated walkway. Dr. Crile’s interest in electrical conductivity of tissue is a focus of the research program in its infancy. Seen here: a typical Cleveland Clinic lab in the 1920s.

On May 15, X-ray film in the basement of the Clinic Building ignites and explodes, releasing a cloud of toxic gas. One of the deadliest hospital disasters in U.S. history, it claims the lives of 123 patients, caregivers and others, including Cleveland Clinic co-founder Dr. Phillips. Operations soon resume in temporary quarters.