Era of the Frontier Doctors

• 1843 - Dr. George Payne arrives in Micanopy from Virginia (first resident physician in county)
• 1844 - Florida granted statehood
• 1846 - First operation under anesthesia, Massachusetts General Hospital
• 1854 - City of Gainesville is created as county seat
• 1854 - Dr. William Babcock opens first medical practice in Gainesville
• 1855 - Dr. Thomas McCaa and Dr. Gabriel Thomas arrive
• 1859 - Rudolph Virchow publishes Cellular Pathologyin Berlin
• 1860 - Fernandina-Cedar Key railroad through Gainesville and Waldo
• 1861 - Civil War begins; most local physicians join Confederate Army
• 1864 - Battle of Gainesville
• 1865 - Reconstruction era begins; Union Academy funded
• 1860 - Dr. Watson Porter, Union surgeon, sells city land to black residents
• 1867 - East Florida Seminary moved from Ocala; will become University of Florida in 1905
• 1871 - First yellow fever epidemic. Dr. McCaa and 50 others die
• 1874 - Florida Medical Assoc. and Alachua Medical Society established

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