The city of Keokuk was the first home to the University of Iowa Medical Department. Twenty years later, however, it had been moved to Iowa City. Surgeon Washington Peck was appointed Dean and the school opened in 1870 with eight unpaid professors and thirty-seven students, eight of whom were women. It was the first co-educational medical school west of the Mississippi, and doctors and journalists nationwide debated the propriety of women and men sharing Iowa's dissection room. The school year lasted sixteen weeks, from fall to spring, with a two-week preliminary course for freshmen. Two years of study, one year of apprenticeship, and a thesis were the main graduation requirements.

7. University of Iowa Medical Department, first medical class, 1870-1,
courtesy of the University of Iowa College of Medicine

Once the Medical Department had survived its first few years, the Iowa Legislature was willing to appropriate money for professors' salaries and better facilities. Steady enrollments allowed for higher standards, and a high school diploma was required of 1889 enrollees. Students now faced three six-month-long academic years, and by 1901, the program consisted of four academic years of nine months each.

The Medical Department was reorganized as the College of Medicine in 1901, but changes to the curriculum and faculty were ongoing. Classes in pathology and bacteriology had been added to the regular curriculum by 1900, and "Chemistry and Toxicology" was renamed "Biochemistry" in 1924. Ironically, the 1919 creation of a Homeopathic Materia Medica chair marked homeopathy's fall from favor among doctors; the sole faculty position replaced the defunct Homeopathic Department, and it remained vacant after its occupant resigned in 1921.

8. Pasteur Bacteriology class, 1898, courtesy of the University of Iowa College of Medicine

Medical education across North America was evaluated by hospital examiner Abraham Flexner in 1909. His visit to Iowa resulted in a report containing many criticisms, directed both at the College of Medicine and the Hospital. In fact, Flexner found fault with nearly all the 155 medical schools he reviewed. Specifically, he objected to the lack of resident faculty, the deficient physical facilities, and the lack of patients for teaching purposes at Iowa. He was moderately impressed with the College of Medicine's classroom instruction.

Over the next ten years, faculty who resided elsewhere were pressured to move to Iowa City or resign, while hiring practices were adjusted to avoid "inbreeding," the practice of hiring one's own graduates. Legislative acts in the following decade brought many more patients to the Hospital. Matching funds from the Rockefeller Foundation and General Education Board enabled the University to build a new hospital facility to house the growing patient population.

The College of Medicine came under fire a second time, in 1940 when another national review was published. Syracuse University dean Herman Weiskotten found low academic standards and high student-teacher ratios when he visited Iowa City in 1936. The college dropped from a ranking in the top 10% of medical schools to a middling position as a result of Weiskotten's evalation.

Enrollment limits and stricter requirements implemented after Weiskotten's visit reduced the student body by almost half. When World War II broke out, however, the college adopted governmental standards designed to supply more military physicians by graduating more doctors. Iowa's enrollment climbed even as some faculty members left for active duty. The instructor count rebounded quickly after the war; by 1950, the College of Medicine had 150 faculty members. Student enrollment for 1950-51 was 385 students, including 19 women.