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Stonestreet Museum Rockville

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

The Stonestreet Museum on the main campus of the Montgomery County Historical Society is a museum that exhibits information about 18th and 19th-century medicine. From 1852 to 1903 the one room doctor's office served as the office for Dr. Edward ElishaStonestreet, a graduate of the University of Maryland Medical School who served as one of Rockville's main doctors. The office was originally located on Easy Montgomery Avenue in front of the Stonestreet home. After Stonestreets' death, the office was moved to Richard Montgomery High School, and then in 1972, was moved to the grounds of the Beall-Dawson house.

Images

Stonestreet Museum and former office of Dr Edward Elisha Stonestreet

Green, Wood, Property, House

Original location circa 1890

Wood, Property, Photograph, White

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Edward Elisha Stonestreet was born to Samuel Thomas Stonestreet in 1830. Interestingly, Samuel Thomas Stonestreet was an employee for Upton Beall in the Montgomery County Court, and after Beall's death, Stonestreet took over Bealls position. Edward Elisha received his first education at the Rockville Academy and then studied for two years with Dr. William Magruder of Olney. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1852, getting married the same year, his parents built his office for him between 1850 and 1853 next to their house on Montgomery Avenue and Monroe Street. Early on, Stonestreet received a good reputation for curing patients who were declared hopeless by other Rockville physicians.

During the Civil War, Dr. Stonestreet contracted with the Union Army as a Contract Surgeon. He cared for sick and wounded men returning from the Battle of Antietam in September of 1862. When a draft was instituted, Stonestreet became an examining surgeon, examining drafted men to make sure they were fit for service and exempting those who weren't. In January of 1863, his contract was annulled, although Stonestreet did temporarily serve and tend to severely ill patients in spring 1863.

Stonestreet continued practicing medicine and suffered a fatal heart attack on October 9, 1903.

Sources

Stonestreet Museum of 19th Century Medicine, Montgomery History. Accessed January 3rd 2021. https://montgomeryhistory.org/stonestreet-museum-of-19th-century-medicine/.

Hambrecht, F. Terry. Dr. Edward Elisha Stonestreet: A Nineteenth-century Doctor. The Montgomery County Story, vol. 30, no. 4. Published November 1987, https://mchdr.montgomeryhistory.org/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12366/147/mcs_v030_n4_1987_hambrecht.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Montgomery County Historical Society

MCHS

Additional Information