Bust of Mary Harris Thompson, MD

Physician and surgeon Mary Harris Thompson (1829–1895) was one of the first women to practice medicine in Chicago. Arriving from Boston during the Civil War, she responded to the urgent need for care for female patients by founding the Women and Children’s Hospital in 1865, later named in her honor after her death in 1895. Thompson likewise led the effort to open the profession to women, establishing a medical college affiliated with the hospital. There, female students could train as doctors and nurses and then, importantly, secure employment in the city.