Doctors Brannon
Manhattan American, Wednesday, August 28, 1985.
A memorial to a country doctor.
Dr. George H. Brannon came to Manhattan in 1889 and for 46 years he practiced medicine in the town and surrounding country. There were no good roads in the early days and Dr. Brannon traveled by horses and buggy or on horseback when he had to. The farmers could tell when someone was very sick by the way doctor drove his team - standing up and cracking the whip with the horses going at top speed down the road. Old timers recall many major operations were performed by him in patient’s homes. The doctor also had an office in Manhattan. He cared for all ages and was not only a physician and surgeon but a family counselor as well.
Dr. George H. Brannon was a practicing physician in Will County for 46 years and was one of the oldest members of the Will County Medical Society when he died on May 15, 1935. As a memorial to him, his family founded the Brannon Memorial Hospital in Manhattan. It was under the direction of his sons, Dr. Londus B. Brannon and Dr. George H. Brannon II.
Five generations of the Brannon family produced doctors and the family resided in Manhattan for three generations. Carrying out a family tradition, five generations old, the Brannon Memorial Hospital was one of the finest equipped institutions of its kind in the state. The hospital was built and equipped in 1936 and opened to the public in 1937. The hospital occupied two stories on the north east corner of State and First Streets in Manhattan directly across from the Brannon home. It had the only electric elevator in the county outside of the city of Joliet. Cost to build the hospital was $75,000. It had 16 beds, which were in constant use for many years. The hospital was equipped with complete therapeutic equipment, consultation rooms, an operating room and a drug department. Patients came from all parts of the county and even from other states.
Dr. George H. Brannon II and his brother, Dr. Londus Brannon, who was also a Will County Coroner, operated the hospital along with four nurses, Ruth Upp, Marion Hollmeyer, Evelyn Bradford and Mary Stevar. There were also two male attendants, Frank Ivec and Jay Berry. The doctor’s sister, Miss Ruth Brannon, was a deputy coroner for some time. The Brannon family was prominent in the affairs of the community for several generations.
At the present time (1985) the building which once was the Brannon hospital is an apartment building owned by Winsor Jones.
