I am here today to present a biography of Dr. Alfred Miller Ridgway,
pioneer doctor of Annandale, born January 29, 1862, died May 19, 1952, at
age 90. Dr. Ridgway
was my great-uncle.
Alfred Miller Ridgway was born January 29, 1862, in
Columbus, Dodge County, Wisconsin.
He was the sixth child
of Joseph and Margaret Phillips Ridgway who immigrated to America from
Cheshire, England, around
1849. Why to Columbus, Wisconsin, is
unknown. His boyhood days were spent on the home farm, attending grammar
school and then high school. In 1882 ambition brought him to
Minneapolis. He wanted to become a doctor. To earn the necessary money
he worked in a drugstore for $35 a month, worked as a fireman on the Soo
Line Railroad for $1.50 a day, sold real estate at 245 Hennepin Ave.
finally accumulating enough money to enter the University of Minnesota
Medical Department in 1887. He graduated in 1890. He interned at
Minneapolis City Hospital, now Hennepin County Medical Center, for a
year. He was given an appointment as government surgeon at Fort Totten
near Devil's Lake, North
Dakota, but after inspection, he declined to accept the position.
In July of 1890 he came to Annandale, at the encouragement of Dr.
Skinner who was practicing in Annandale at the time. He hung out his
shingle thinking this would be
temporary. He was homesick and on the verge of leaving many times. Dr.
Ridgway had a tough time recruiting patients until a diphtheria epidemic
came along. Dr. Ridgway treated his patients with a then new diphtheria
toxin: Dr.Skinner
did not, and
his patients died. Dr. Ridgway's patients
survived, and
his practice began to increase each year until he was covering territory
from Cokato to St Cloud and Watkins to Rockford.
Annandale at that time had a population of 150 and was sparsely settled.
Roads were few and not very good. There were no telephones and one
needed to walk or ride to town to fetch the doctor. His first means of
transportation was a horse and buggy given to him by his sister, Mary
Ridgway. His young cousin, Martin Lowe (who was to become my
grandfather), drove the horse and buggy from Minneapolis to Annandale.
As neither he nor Dr. Ridgway had the money for his fare back to
Minneapolis, he
stayed in Annandale, setting up bachelor quarters. So Dr. Ridgway,
Martin Lowe, Lew Williams (a family friend from Wisconsin who he
recruited to Annandale to become the town druggist), and
Reverend Higgins (the Methodist minister) enjoyed their bachelor
establishment. They were always playing jokes on each other, short
sheeting the bed, ladling druggist syrup into unsuspecting places and
sitting in the front row of the Methodist Church in unusual attire. They
were loyal friends, as shown when Reverend Higgins was arranging a
church revival tent and a cigar slipped out of his pocket in the
presence of a church board member. Dr. Ridgway
came to his rescue asserting that the cigar was his and Reverend
Higgins was wearing his suit with the offensive cigar in the pocket.
Dr. Ridgway's expectation of a temporary stay
became permanent when in September of 1892, he and Viola Ponsford were
married.
1892 Newspaper article:
Married--On Tuesday evening September 20th at the home of the
bride's parents, Mr. and Mrs. William Ponsford, at Annandale, Minn.,
the Rev. Doctor Stafford, of Minneapolis officiating, Dr. A. M.
Ridgeway (sic) to
Miss Viola L. Ponsford, both of Annandale. Some 125 friends
and relatives of the contracting parties were present as invited
guests. Amongst the number there present from Minneapolis, the
Doctor's mother, Mrs. Ridgeway, and Mrs. Doctor Williams and M. T.
Warham, Dr.
Munger of Fair Haven, Dr. O'Connor of Maple Lake, Rev. Davis of
Buffalo, Rev. Higgins of Annandale and others. The parlors had
been very prettily decorated for the occasion, the bridal party
standing under a beautiful arch of flowers and evergreens while the
ceremony was being pronounced. Alex. Ridgeway, the groom's
brother, and Miss A. Ponsford, the bride's sister, stood up with the
bride and groom. The ceremony that made them husband and wife
was the short but impressive ceremony of the M. E. church and at its
conclusion the happy pair received the hearty congratulations of
their very many friends. The wedding feast was elegant, rich
and abundant after which there was music, vocal and instrumental,
and at the proper time, with many and oft repeated congratulations,
and earnest wishes for the future, health, happiness and prosperity
of the bridal pair, the guests took their departure and the young
Doctor and his lovely bride went to their own cozy home already
prepared and furnished. There were numerous valuable and many
costly gifts and tokens of esteem and friendship. Dr. Ridgeway
has succeeded in building up a successful and lucrative practice and
is on the right road to still more gratifying success, his estimable
wife is to the "manor born" and is loved and respected by all.
They took up residence in an apartment over the drugstore until 1903
when they moved into their newly built home at Park Street and Oak
Avenue. This became their life-long home. Dave
and Judy Ferrell are now the owners of this fine house.
In the years living above the drugstore Dr. Ridgway stabled his prized,
purebred Hamiltonian horses at the rear of the drugstore. The horses
were cared for by Jake Lantto. That space is now [in 2009] occupied by
State Farm Insurance Agency.
He used 6 horses in the summer and 8 in the winter to make his rounds.
Incidentally my home is located on what was the summer pasture for his
horses. His first automobile was a one cylinder chain drive Cleveland
car. The horses had to come out and get him more often that not. After
that, he owned 18 cars in a row starting with a Ford and staying with
the same make and same dealer all through the years.
Lundeen Brothers are still in business today.
Dr. Ridgway was a good diagnostician without the help of today's
technology. His operations were often performed in the homes of his
patients, often
on scrubbed kitchen tables by lamplight, no
x-ray, laboratory, lighting, or modern conveniences. Reaching the
patient might also be hampered by broken buggy wheels or sleigh runners,
getting stuck on muddy roads or having to walk.
I'm sure you remember the day when the
Advocate reported Mr. and Mrs. Somebody visited Mr. and Mrs. Somebody
Else Sunday afternoon. Here are a couple
regarding Dr. Ridgway visits.
Dr. A. M. Ridgway assisted by his brother, Dr. Alex
Ridgway of Belgrade, performed a critical operation at Kimball
yesterday. Fred Theide of that village is
suffering from stricture of the oesophagus, being unable to swallow
food. Dr. Ridgway inserted a tube in Mr. Theide's side through which
food is transferred to the stomach. The operation was
successful.
-Annandale Advocate, October 14, 1897
Dr. A. M. Ridgway, assisted by Dr. Moore of Minneapolis,
performed a very successful operation on Mrs. T. V. Willett for
Appendicitis, one week ago Sunday and by
the careful attendance of Dr. Ridgway, Mrs.
Willett is getting along
nicely. Mrs. Peter Larson and Mrs. P. S. Rudolph assisted
during the operation. Mrs. Abbie Bradley, an
experienced nurse from Minneapolis, arrived Tuesday to take charge
of the case, and will remain until Friday. Mr. and Mrs.
Willett are very grateful to the Drs. and neighbors for their
kindness to them.
-Annandale Advocate, May 4, 1899
Nobel Shadduck writes this account in his book Small
Boy In The Big Woods of
Dr. Ridgway having to amputate the leg of Polk Heberling: "Something
bad happened to one of Polk's legs and Dr.
Ridgway said they would have to cut it off and all the neighbors had to
come and help hold him down when he struggled as the sawing got going.
They were going to perform the operation on the kitchen table and unless
Polk was kept still he might tip over the table and make more trouble.
Dr. Ridgway made Polk drink a big glass of whiskey before the operation
started. Polk survived the surgery and walked with a wooden leg. By the
way, the
saw that cut off Polk's leg is over at Pioneer
Park."
A train wreck on the Soo Line Railroad near Annandale in 1922 gave Dr.
Ridgway first hand experience in caring for multiple injuries in an
emergency situation. Dr. Ridgway assessed and cared for many injured,
treating them in nearby houses as there was no hospital in Annandale. He
handled the situation so well the Soo Line appointed him Railroad
Surgeon. He acted as such for 40 years, being called to points in North
Dakota and Canada to look after patients injured in Soo Line accidents.
To further his education, every five years Dr. Ridgway would leave
Annandale and travel to large cities to take post graduate work, which
together with his long experience and extensive reading perfected him as
a country doctor. He had a well grounded medical education, good common
sense, and a genial disposition, which
made him a very successful country doctor and credit to his profession.
He had a gift to inspire confidence in his patients and their families.
What it must have meant to some farmer's wife
or suffering patient, in those difficult days, to see him come into the
home and feel certain you'd be all right
because the doctor was there.
Dr. Ridgway delivered over 3500 babies over the years, most being born
at home. Most were uneventful births and the doctor often spent nights
sleeping or reading on some chilly, hard
farmhouse floor. In those early years of practice Dr. Ridgway was paid
in whatever manner folks could manage. Some brought wood, some delivered
various forms of farm produce and livestock and in bad crop years he
would forget their bills.
In 1930 as Dr. Ridgway began having more patients than he could handle
alone, he set out to find an assistant to relieve some of the load. He
looked over a number of prospects until he interviewed Dr. Lester
Bendix, who he hired on the spot. By 3PM that same day they were hard at
work. Dr. Bendix remained in Annandale, taking over after Dr. Ridgway
retired and continued to practice here until he retired in 1983.
The idea of honoring Dr. Ridgway had it's
origin with the Annandale Improvement Club and on June 14, 1940, the
town of Annandale honored Dr. Ridgway with "Ridgway
Days" celebrating
50 years as country doctor. In these 50 years he delivered more than
3500 babies. Some of you may be one. The entire town turned out to honor
him and pay respects to the family doctor whose faithful
service meant so much to them.
Dr Ridgway was active in civic affairs as well as medical duties as
country doctor. He was a director of the Annandale State Bank, president
of the Village Council, Mayor of Annandale, served on the Annandale
Board of Education, was a supporter of the Electric Light and Power Co.,
a Mason and Oddfellow, an active member and supporter of the Annandale
Methodist Church. He helped organize the Wright County Medical
Association. He belonged to many societies and associations including
the Minnesota State Medical Society, the American Medical Association,
American Red Cross and American Association of Railroad Surgeons to name
a few.
Dr. and Mrs. Ridgway lived in Annandale throughout their married life.
They had no children, but made a home for many young people and helped
them to complete their education. In his 62 years of practicing
medicine, Dr. Ridgway won the affectionate title of "Minnesota's
Country Doctor" and
the distinction of being the states oldest physician in age and years of
service.
Dr. Ridgway served the Annandale area from 1890 until his death May 19, 1952, at
his lifelong home of coronary insufficiency and bronchopneumonia.
Dr Ridgway had three brothers and a sister who graduated in medicine.
Gainsford Ridgway graduated in medicine, pharmacy and dentistry. His
brother Joseph Ridgway practiced medicine in Minneapolis and Alex
Ridgway practiced medicine in Wright County including South Haven and
Belgrade.
Pioneer Park in Annandale displays many of Dr. Ridgway's
medical devices and books in the replica Doctors Office on the
boardwalk.
In closing, I have fond memories of Dr. Ridgway from
my childhood. I grew up in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, but
spent many Sundays visiting Dr. Ridgway and Viola, who we called Uncle
Alf and Fefe. I remember his large vegetable and flower gardens, rows of
lilacs and apple trees in his large yard.
My fondest memory is being given 25 cents and walking down main street
to the Candy Castle to spend a great deal of time selecting a bagful of
penny candy. I remember my mother's stories of
riding along on doctor calls to farms and playing in the barn while Dr.
Ridgway attended to his patients. Once she
went along on a call to Clearwater
Lake to examine a drowning victim. Her
favorite story is of
Dr. Ridgway carrying his hypodermic syringe in a sock to keep it clean.
My how times have changed.
