By MICHAEL BUSHNELL
Northeast News
November 14, 2012 

Published by and for the Thornton & Minor Sanitarium, this week’s card shows the second location of the hospital originally started by Dr. T.W. Thornton in 1877 at 111 W. 10th St.

In 1885, Dr. Thornton was joined by Dr. W.E. Minor and the “new” name of “Thornton & Minor” was assigned the partnership. The sanitarium specialized in “diseases of the rectum, rupture (hernia) and diseases of women” (“ahem”).

This location at the southwest corner of 10th and Oak was the location of the clinic from 1900 until it moved again in 1909 to the Reliance Building at 10th and McGee. As a reference point, the southwest corner of 10th and Oak is the location of the UMB Bank Tech Center, adjacent to the Ilus W. Davis Park. After outgrowing the 10th and McGee location, the partnership purchased the Lucerne Hotel at 921 E. Linwood Blvd. Prior to this move, patients were forced to stay in hotels near the sanitarium and “commute” to their daily treatments, obviously a trendsetter to today’s “outpatient” medical practices.

The card was mailed to Mrs. Claude Lingle of 725 E. Ohio in Clinton, Mo., on Aug. 21, 1917. It reads: “Dear Cora, I hope you got home alright. Jim is improving slowly. He suffers quite a bit and can’t hardly get up at all, it hurts him so bad to walk. He goes upstairs every day to take treatments and its about all he can do. He is much better contented now. He rested much better last night than Sunday night. As ever, Clara.”