Burroughs’ Home 125th anniversary next month: Remembering Dr. Frank R. Burroughs’ legacy

The Frank R. Burroughs home was built 125 years ago. The Ritzville Museum Volunteers will host an ice cream social on Saturday, Aug. 15, in honor of the celebration.

In many ways, Dr. Frank R. Burroughs was the father of Ritzville. While others named it and still others made fortunes from it, the doctor healed its sick and delivered its children.

Frank Robert Burroughs was born in Columbus, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 24, 1859. He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. F. R. Burroughs.

His father died when he was six years old. His mother remarried a dentist, Henry B. Blair. He grew up with his stepsister, Nellie, in Columbus and Corry, Pennsylvania.

He received his undergraduate degree from Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the University of Buffalo Medical School in 1883.

That same year he married Julia Clark at the home of her sister, Mrs. John Copp, of Sinclairville, New York. Dr. Burroughs practiced medicine in his hometown of Columbus for five years before deciding to move west.

Dr. Burroughs headed to the Washington Territory in the spring of 1888 by train. On a stop over in Ritzville, he was besieged by questions from the local citizens and soon discovered that they were in desperate need of a doctor.

Though Ritzville was a relatively new town with a population of only 200, it showed signs of future growth and prosperity so he stayed and sent for his family.

Mrs. Burroughs and their only daughter, Ellen, joined him in the fall of that same year.

In the autumn of 1888, there was an epidemic of typhoid in Ritzville. Many became sick, including Mrs. Burroughs. It was all that the good doctor could do to take care of his family and the many others who were stricken by the epidemic, but he persevered, saving his wife and many others.

This was not the only instance of typhoid in Ritzville. There were many cases, which continued to break out until an improved water system was built by the city in 1894 at the cost of $20,000.

Along with his busy medical practice, Dr. Burroughs established one of the first drug stores in town operating it from 1891 to 1898.

Dr. Burroughs was quite involved in civic affairs while still maintaining his medical practice. He was appointed U.S. Postmaster for Ritzville on Jan. 19, 1894, serving until December 1897.

He was a member of the city council for several years serving as mayor from 1897-1898. Dr. Burroughs was a member of the library board for many years and was president of the board at the time of his death.

He also was the county health officer designated by the county commissioners.

In his “spare time,” he was the physician for the Northern Pacific Railway, Pasco District. During World War I, Dr. Burroughs served as a member of the local selective service board.

Dr. Burroughs was very active in local fraternal organizations. He was a charter member of the Free and Accepted Masons Lodge No. 101 and Order of the Eastern Star Chapter No. 55. He was also a member of the Knights of Pythias Ivanhoe Co. No. 5 and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Lodge No. 58.

Dr. Burroughs liked to hunt, fish and travel. He had a hunting license in Lincoln County and belonged to several touring clubs in the day.

As a pioneer doctor with a large territory to cover, Dr. Burroughs was truly a “horse and buggy” doctor. He traveled 30 to 40 miles per day by team or by horseback over the poorly constructed county roads of the day or by trails when there were no roads.

He was undeterred by the distance or the weather, answering the calls that came night and day.

The doctor had his own stable of horses at the back of his property in town. Chief Justice Richard B. Ott of the Washington State Supreme Court took care of the animals for two years when he was a teen. Young Ott exercised the horses and milked the cow twice a day.

The good doctor even installed a phone in the barn so that his team would be ready at a moments notice. Dr. Burroughs never refused to go any place at any hour.

Former publisher of the Ritzville Journal-Times, Charles A. Sprague (governor of Oregon from 1939 to 1943), described Dr. Burroughs in his obituary as a forceful, yet gentle understanding person.

“Burroughs,” said Sprague, “saw Ritzville grow from a small, water tank station on a transcontinental railroad to a modern and progressive city and was one of the leading factors in the town’s development.”

Sprague further wrote, “He was a true pioneer doctor with a vast expanse of territory as his field of service. Unmindful of distance or personal comfort, he would travel to distant stock camps by team or horseback, over poor roads, mere wisps of trails, paths in the forest, to administer to the sick.”

Sprague went on to say, “Aside from his long professional career, no biography would be complete without due mention of his positive and forceful character. Dr. Burroughs was no trimmer. He scorned compromise. He was a forthright man, strong in his convictions and outspoken in his expression of them. We think we have never known a man so fearless in stating his views. This was shown during the war when some might be inclined to temporize or deal gently with pro-enemy sympathizers. But not Dr. Burroughs. He was a patriot to the core and bold in his loyalty.”

Dr. and Mrs. Burroughs sustained a heavy loss in February 1923, when their daughter, Ellen Louise, died following complications from an appendicitis operation in Spokane.

Only two years later, Dr. Burroughs, one of the most widely known physicians in Eastern Washington, died peacefully on Jan. 28, 1925, at his home after suffering from apoplexy (known today as a stroke) at his downtown office while seeing patients.

Funeral services took place at his home conducted by the Reverend H. S. Randall of the Methodist Episcopal (M.E.) Church. His remains were taken to Spokane by train with interment at the Riverside Park Cemetery in Spokane.

Thus ended the career of one of the most forceful characters that has ever been identified with this city.

Mrs. Burroughs moved to Spokane where she died in 1934. She is also interned at the Riverside Park Cemetery with her husband and daughter.