The school was located at 219 W. Cary Street, Richmond, Va. The photograph was taken in the early-20th century.
Students from the old Cary Street School (Madison School) in Richmond, Va., demonstrate handwashing before having lunch. Washing hands regularly with soap and water remains one of the most important steps in preventing the spread of many illnesses.
The school was located at 219 W. Cary Street, Richmond, Va. The photograph was taken in the early-20th century.
Lantern slide. Image taken in Richmond, Va in 1907.
The Richmond Health Department formed in 1906. One of its early initiatives (1907) was to investigate 433 cases of typhoid fever, creating the city’s first systematic study of infectious disease. In 1908, Dr. Ernest C. Levy (1868–1938), head of the Richmond Health Department, published the survey findings in The Old Dominion Journal of Medicine and Surgery. Dr. Levy discussed the generally declining rate of typhoid fever cases in Richmond from 1880 to 1907 but noted several outbreaks of the disease in 1881, 1884 and 1900.
While one cluster of outbreaks in Church Hill was determined to come from a typhoid-infected confectioner, a larger proportion of cases were from properties on the outskirts of the city that generally used well water and lacked sewage systems.